Posted on 07/17/2026 2:28:35 PM PDT by CedarDave
Billy the Kid continues to make headlines, 145 years after being gunned down in Fort Sumner.
Thursday historians announced new evidence that he was Catholic — a detail that adds more layers of intrigue to one of the Wild West’s mythologized figures. Billy the Kid died July 14, 1881, after being shot by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett.
On the first day of the Wild West History Association Roundup, Allen Sanchez said certificates of Billy the Kid’s baptism and his parents’ marriage were located inside St. Peter’s Church in New York City. St. Peter’s is connected to the Sisters of Charity ...
It was with this order that Sister Blandina Segale served and helped start hospitals in Santa Fe and Albuquerque ...
“(Finding the certificates) means he had some religious formation and that has an effect on how people live their lives,” Sanchez said after his presentation. “And it kind of gives clues to Billy’s loyalty to people, which is kind of what got him in trouble.”
The certificates were uncovered during research to canonize Segale, whom some called the “Fastest Nun in the West.” In May, Vatican theologians voted to advance her sainthood cause, said Sanchez, a petitioner for the cause of canonization.
Maria Rosa Segale was born on Jan. 23, 1850, in Cicagna, Italy. Her family migrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, when she was 4 years old. In 1866, she entered the Sisters of Charity before being sent to work out West six years later ...
In Trinidad, Colorado, Segale reportedly met Billy the Kid, also known as Henry McCarty.
In her diary, “At The End of the Santa Fe Trail,” Segale described Billy as having “steel-blue eyes,” and being “innocent looking, save for the corners of his eyes, which tell a set purpose, good or bad.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
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Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Not a very good one.
👍👍
The “Deacon” Jim Miller was supposedly religious, but he didn’t let his religion define his behavior much, either. He was raised up not far from here...
Very interesting.
Don’t forget the Presbyterians while you’re at it, they sent missionaries to many Indian tribes and later established Indian schools and churches.
Interesting. And I never knew that religion aspect, despite my homestead being on land that Billy (or at least his horse :-) ) certainly had tread, probably more than once, upon a time.
And among my possessions is a document signed by Pat Garrett.
If you’re confirmed you are always a Catholic unless excommunicated. Even then with repentance and the approval of a bishop- Rusty can rejoin the club (Far Side reference)
But I’m going to guess based on his behavior he missed a lot of masses and didn’t make confession. So while Catholic, he wasn’t in good standing.
A Baptist minister is a Catholic if he was in that denomination as a kid?
That was one of the stories about Bob Olinger who was one of the deputies guarding Billy.
He (Olinger) supposedly bragged to Billy that he had loaded his shotgun with dimes, and threatened him (Billy) with it a few times trying to scare him. Billy ended up shooting Olinger with his own shotgun during the escape ... but probably with lead buckshot...the “Dimes” story is probably not true.
A 10 Ga with a full load of dimes in those days was probably a week’s salary for Olinger. and as firearms experimenters have proven since, dimes make a pretty poor shotgun load.
“I am a literal descendant of a member of Billy’s gang.“
You have a rich history, and didn’t know about the religious divide. Always thought it was about power and money only, but clearly other items I dint know. While some glamorize, and some vilify, few understand the territory as it was during his lifetime. I cannot see William or his gang, as anything other than someone fighting for survival in essentially a lawless environment with no real government. We cannot judge them by today’s standards, because what existed there does not exist in the United States today. Thank you for educating me.
Yes, he was raised about 20 miles from me. He used home made armor pltes under his coat to stop bullets and it saved him at least twice. His preferred weapon was a shotgun. Kind of an unusual character, to say the least, along with being a church deacon...:)
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