Dennis Partridge

Twenty-six miles southeast of our Mission at St. Michael’s is situated the flourishing city of Gallup with a population of about 3000. It is surrounded by a number of coal mines, and forms one of the main divisions of the Santa Fe Railroad. Situated between the Navajo and Zuni Indian Reservations, Gallup has numerous wholesale houses, which supply the Indian traders on the reservations. Gallup is in the Mexican village of Cebolleta, 110 miles away, to Gallup. For 18 years Father Juillard had labored zealously and successfully in this extensive and difficult parish. When he accepted the position of Assistant … Read more

In crossing the Navajo Reservation, years ago, I had passed over the mountain range the first day, and the second day I had been riding all blessed day over the barren, dry and dreary desert, when, upon reaching the high bluffs of the river, the beautiful San Juan Valley lay of a sudden before my astonished gaze. Instinctively the old Patriarch Lot, viewing the banks of the Jordan, came to my mind, of whom Scripture tells us: “And Lot lifting up his eyes saw all the country about the Jordan which was watered throughout before the Lord destroyed Sodom and … Read more

Beauty and utility crowd each other closely in the Pecos Valley of New Mexico, and Roswell, as the central feature of this remarkable section, is a splendid illustration of the development of the great American desert. It should be remembered that in a state which has a history running back for hundreds of years, the Pecos Valley is comparatively a newly settled section. Fenced off by a range of mountains, it did not attract the attention of the conquistadores, and the cross of the early Fathers was not raised over its peaceful slopes, simply because it was un-peopled save by … Read more

The new Kingdom of St. Francis in our Southwest comprises at present 56,000 square miles, a territory as large as the State of Illinois. Our 8 parishes number 1200 Americans, living in 13 different towns and settlements; 800 Croatians in 4 mining camps; 11,000 Mexicans, in 64 towns, villages and ranchitos; 3 tribes of Pueblo Indians, living on 9 reservations, in 20 different villages and numbering 6,670 souls; the Jicarilla Apache Indians, numbering 878; and the Navajo Indians, numbering 23,000; a total of 8 parishes, 101 towns and villages and mines and settlements and two large reservations of nomadic Indian … Read more

In an article written for the Indian Sentinel of 1908, I have dealt at some length with the Navajo Indians in general, and with the condition of the Mission and School for these Indians here at Saint Michael’s, Arizona. This sketch and others which have appeared in various publications no doubt have made a number of the readers of the Franciscan Missions of the Southwest familiar with the work now in progress. When in 1897 the Franciscan Province of Saint John the Baptist of Cincinnati, Ohio, accepted the Mission for the Navajo Indians it undoubtedly realized the extent and difficulty … Read more

Cortez had conquered Mexico; Pizarro was conquered in Peru; Balboa had discovered the South Sea (the Pacific Ocean) and all Spain was aflame with gold lust. Narvaez in great pomp and ceremony, with six hindered soldiers of fortune many of them of good families and high social station, in his five specially built vessels sailed to gain fame, fortune and the fountain of perpetual youth in what we now call Florida. Disaster, destruction, death, I had almost said entire annihilation, followed him and scarce allowed his expedition to land, ere it swallowed him up, so that had it not been … Read more

Written in emblazoned letters on the pages of history of the Catholic Church is the great work done by the early Franciscans in America, particularly in the southwestern part of the present United States. Arriving on the first ships, even with Columbus himself, these humble followers of the Seraphic Saint at once entered upon the difficult task before them with great energy and devotion. Neither lure of adventure nor lust for gold was their incentive, but the one desire to win souls for God, pursuant to Christ’s command: “Going, therefore, teach all nations. In 1539 a Spanish Franciscan, Fray Marcos … Read more

Every Sunday Holy Mass is said at Gibson, N. M., about three miles distant from Gallup. The school-house where Mass is said, is a small building about 50 feet long, divided into two rooms. One is used for the Kindergarten, and the other for divine services. A small but neat little altar, with statues of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Conception, an organ, about a dozen school benches and a home-made confessional comprise the entire church furnishing. As may be imagined, the “church” cannot hold more than about 80 people and then it is taxed to its utmost. Considering … Read more