Missions

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 …

Order of Friars Minor Explore New Mexico 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 …

Franciscans in New Mexico and Arizona, 1539 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 …

Missions at the Coal Mines near Gallup Read More »

In 1617 there were eleven churches in New Mexico the ruins of one of which, that of Pecos, can still be seen a few miles above Glorieta on the Santa Fe main line. This pueblo was once the largest in New Mexico but it was deserted in 1840, and now it’s great house, supposed to have been much larger than the many storied houses of Zuni, is entirely in ruins. The pueblo and church rested upon a natural fortress like elevation a few acres in extent, walled on three sides with the adobe wall of the church protecting the fourth …

Churches of New Mexico Read More »

Artesia was of much later establishment than Roswell, the building of the pleasant little city of today beginning with the completion of the railroad in 1898. There are now about 2,000 people in Artesia, and it is coming to be one of the most important cities on the slope. The artesian well is altogether responsible for Artesia, the irrigation ditches from the streams stopping far to the north. Under the artesian wells, some 15,000 acres of orchards and alfalfa are now smiling productively, and the indications are that their area will be steadily increased even though the present promise of …

Artesia, New Mexico Read More »

But now it was high time for me to be off for Santo Domingo and the Mexican Mission of Domingo where I was also expected today. I took leave of my parishioners and mounted my faithful bronco, held in readiness at the church door. At first rather wild and unmanageable, it is a Navajo pony, it soon became gentle as a lamb. Cautiously it stepped over the new iron bridge, carefully lifting its legs, lest it stumble over the shadow of the rail-posts, cast by the light of the moon. It was, indeed, a beautiful night. The vast expanse of …

Christmas at Santo Domingo Read More »

As at the approach of Christmas the heart of every good Christian is filled with joyful anticipation, so too, the San Felipe and Santo Domingo Indians are similarly affected. Weeks and even months in advance they inquire how long it is until noche buena, the holy night, (literally the “goodnight”), conies and then in their own primitive fashion try to count again on their fingers the number of days. True, the majority of these Indians might hardly grasp completely the real significance of this most beautiful of all feasts; still their tradition, though somewhat confused, tells them; that it must …

Christmas at San Felipe Read More »

All over the Southwest the thrifty city of Carlsbad, the county seat of Eddy County, is known as Carlsbad the Beautiful. Stately shade trees overarch the broad, well kept streets, even in the business sections of the town, while the residence section, with homes enveloped in shade and flowering plants and shrubs, has made the residences of Carlsbad justly celebrated throughout the state. Commercial thrift has furnished Carlsbad with substantial business blocks, good hotels and handsome public buildings with the usual accessories of a modern up-to-date community. A complete waterworks system furnishes every house in town with city water; an …

Carlsbad, New Mexico Read More »

In 1901 the Society for the Preservation of the Faith among Indian children, now commonly known as The Preservation Society, was established by the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, at Washington, D. C, and in 1902 the Indian Sentinel, its official organ, was published for the first time. As it was, however, often scarcely possible for the Catholic Indian Bureau to raise even sufficient funds for the Missions and schools which are entirely dependent upon it for their maintenance, our own Mission could not hope for material assistance from this Bureau which itself is struggling for the very existence of …

Introduction, Old Missions of New Mexico and Arizona Read More »