An Italian-born nun who once challenged Billy the Kid, calmed angry mobs, opened hospitals and schools in the American Southwest, amd whose canonisation Cause is underway, will now be the subject of a TV series.

Saint Hood Productions, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will announce today a series on Sister Blandina Segale, a 19th-Century nun whose clashes with Old West outlaws and work with immigrants have become legendary.

At the End of the Santa Fe Trail is a semi-fictional account based on Sr Blandina’s life and largely based on material from the nun’s 1932 book with the same name. The book consists of Sr Blandina’s letters to her sister about the lawlessness in Trinidad, Colorado, and in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It also describes her work with immigrants and prisoners.