A Catholic
Southwest
Catholic leaders in Baltimore
and Rome moved quickly after the US–Mexico War to consolidate their dominance
in this new US territory. The Pope created a diocese centered in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, and chose a French priest with American missionary experience as bishop.
Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy
disapproved of the distinctive forms of Catholic ritual that had blossomed in
this region. Considering these practices excessive and uncivilized, he set out
to refashion local Catholicism in a European mode. “Almost everything needs to
be created,” he wrote. Lamy condemned the Hermandad
de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (“Penitente” Brotherhood), built a
cathedral in stone instead of adobe, and imported statues of the saints in
plaster rather than procuring local statues made of wood.
The Bishop also instituted
Catholic schooling aided by the Sisters of Loretto, who arrived on the Santa Fe
Trail. The Lorettines established a school for girls and nurtured novices. They
earned the respect of Hispano Catholics by learning and teaching in Spanish.
Despite the Bishop's efforts,
most New Mexicans chose to maintain their religious customs. Older traditions
continued alongside Lamy’s changes. The mix would create a more diverse
Catholic community than Church leaders expected.
*For more on the Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, see the previous section, “Sacralizing the Landscape.”
“Street
view in Santa Fe,” Harper’s Weekly,
1866
Patricia
D. Klingenstein Library, New-York Historical Society
Jean
Baptiste Lamy (1814–1888)
Bishop of Santa Fe (1853–75)
Archbishop of Santa Fe
(1875–85)
Jean Baptiste Lamy arrived in
Santa Fe in 1851, charged with leading local Catholics from a “self-centered
religiosity” to a “church-centered faith.” His immense diocese encompassed the
current states of New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.
The new bishop’s earlier service as a
missionary prepared him for the
challenge.
Lamy had arrived in Ohio from
France in 1839, a time of fierce competition between Protestants and Catholics in
the region. Rising to the occasion, Lamy ministered to the growing population
of Catholics—working as an itinerant priest and as a church- and parish-builder
in Ohio and Kentucky.
In Santa Fe, Lamy began work
on a European-style cathedral (completed in 1887) that enclosed the older adobe
church, which was quickly dismantled. The cathedral's dramatic stained-glass
rose window was imported from France.
Vestments belonging to Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy
On loan from the Sisters of Loretto Heritage Center
Catholic Community
Bishop Lamy sought to display
the grandeur of the Catholic faith. A visiting Jesuit missionary gave Lamy
these beautiful vestments, which were handmade in France. This monstrance was
used in Denver by Lamy aide Father Machebeuf when he was appointed bishop of a
new diocese. Monstrances hold the Eucharist—the wafer that demonstrates for
Catholics the presence of the sacramental body of Jesus Christ.
The annual Corpus Christi
procession, shown in this photo, provided an opportunity to inspire the
faithful, helping Lamy nurture his Catholic community. Rites such as the San
Ysidro Feast Day, seen earlier, cultivated spiritual connections to the land
and its bounty. The Corpus Christi procession directed participants to also look
for God’s presence within the Church and its sacraments.
Sister Magdalen Hayden, the
first Lorettine Superior in New Mexico, described a New Mexican Corpus Christi
procession soon after the Bishop’s arrival:
“After Vespers there was a procession with the Cross and banners, finally Vicar Machebeuf carrying the Blessed Sacrament under a canopy. The procession moved forward in clouds of incense, the singing of hymns, the bursting of sky rockets, the roaring of cannon, which almost made the earth itself tremble with the deafening noise.”
Monstrance
On
loan from the Sisters of Loretto Heritage Center
Corpus Christi procession on the plaza, Santa Fe,
New Mexico, ca. 1868
Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo
Archives (NMHM/DCA), 38022
The Sisters of Loretto
The congregation of the
Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross was founded in Kentucky in 1812. In
1852, Bishop Lamy recruited the sisters to join him in Santa Fe. Church leaders
meeting in Baltimore had just instructed all bishops to open a school in each
Catholic parish. In pursuit of that mission, a handful of Lorettines
volunteered to make the hazardous 1,200-mile journey along the Santa Fe Trail.
The sisters opened Our Lady
of Light Academy in Santa Fe in 1853, serving boarders and day students. It
became a favored destination for daughters of the Hispano and Anglo elite, but
the sisters turned away no one, and only Catholic students were required to
study religion.
By the mid-1860s, the Sisters
of Loretto had opened new schools in Taos, Mora, and Denver. The local Superior
reported that 25 sisters were now “wearing the black veil” in Santa Fe—a
majority Hispana.
Sister Lucia
Dolores Perea (1843–1918), pictured
here after her reception as Sister Lucia, was the first Hispana to become
Superior of the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe.
The Perea family—wealthy and
prominent New Mexicans—enrolled Dolores and three other girls in the initial
class offered by the sisters in 1853. Dolores was 10 years old. Six years
later, she joined the convent. After completing her studies, Sister Lucia
taught music to students at Our Lady of Light Academy and then served in
increasingly responsible administrative roles.
Sister Lucia’s calling gave
her access to a robust education and allowed her to honorably remain single and
pursue a vocation outside the home.
Sister Lucia Perea
Sisters of Loretto Heritage Center
The Lorettine Rosary
This rosary belonged to
Rosanna Dant (1834–1916), one of the half dozen sisters who set off to Santa Fe
with Lamy in 1852. One sister died of cholera en route. Illness forced another into
a lengthy recuperation with Lorettines in Missouri before she could finish her
journey to Santa Fe.
Rosary belonging to Sister Rosanna Dant, SL
On loan from the Sisters of Loretto Heritage Center
