The Further Adventures of Sister Blandina

One afternoon twelve injured men were brought in from the rail works. They had been working in a cut at Apache Canyon, the very canyon where the US Army marched triumphantly into Santa Fe during the Mexican-American War. The rails were now closing in on the city. The injured men were caught in a blast triggered by a fuse that went off prematurely. The sisters scrambled to find enough beds for the newcomers.  They ended up giving their own mattresses to accommodate the suffering men.

   To top off her day, at six o’clock Sister Blandina saw flames on the chimney above the rooms where the recent patients had been settled! “Mother of Mercy, help us!” she shouted and sprang into action. She ran to the convalescent ward and organized those men who could stand up to form a bucket brigade: “marvel how composedly I acted, because the thought uppermost in my mind was that the last patients will be cremated if the fire is not extinguished,” she later recalled.

   She was able to climb a ladder up onto the roof of the first story section of the building where she had a good view of the blaze. She yelled down to the men below and ordered two of them to put a third man on their shoulders so they could hand up salt and water. “I threw the salt down the chimney. The sparks rushed out, but the blaze subsided. Water was handed to me in the same manner. I poured one bucket down the chimney and nothing came out but black smoke; the fire was extinguished!”

   She was strong enough through the emergency, but when the fire was out she began trembling, felt weak and sat down on the roof to recover. Suddenly she heard the voice of Dr. Symington asking how in the world she got up on the roof.  

   “Diving quickly into psychic phenomena I knew I had been the subject of mind over matter."