USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume I > Part 68
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The young bishop traveled by way of St. Louis and New Orleans, thence by boat to Galveston, thence through Texas by wagon. Upon his arrival in Santa Fé he found that the priests there had no notification of his election and refused to recognize him, whereupon he soon departed for Durango, and there received from the Bishop of Durango the papers necessary to show that jurisdiction over the newly created vicariate was no longer claimed by him. Bishop Lamy made this entire journey on horseback. Upon his return he set himself to the task of organizing mis- sions. By decree of Pope Pius IX, of July 29, 1853, the vicariate was raised to the rank of an episcopal see. By decree of February 12, 1875, it was made a metropolitan see and Bishop Lamy made its archbishop, with the vicars apostolic of Colorado and Arizona as suffragans. The new archbishop was invested with the pallium June 16, 1875, in St. Mi- chael's College. This was one of the most impressive events in the his- tory of the Catholic church in New Mexico. After the ceremony the
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people, headed by the college band, accompanied their archbishop to his residence. A banquet was served in his garden, by the inhabitants of the city, to the clergy and a large number of guests.
February 19, 1885, Right Rev. J. B. Salpointe came to Santa Fé as coadjutor bishop. He was promoted to the archiepiscopal see of Ana- zarba October II, the same year, and succeeded to the see of Santa Fé July 18, 1885, by the resignation of his predecessor. After his resigna- tion Archbishop Lamy retired to a small country place near the Tesuque river, which he had purchased in 1853, and named "Villa Pintoresca." Here, early in January, 1888, he contracted a cold and, at his expressed wish, was taken to Santa Fé, where his death occurred February 14, fol- lowing. Two days later his body was deposited in a vault which is now covered by the main altar of the cathedral.
The life of Archbishop Lamy in New Mexico was one of great sacri- fice and full of trials and tribulations. In order to build up the missions of the Territory he visited Europe for the purpose of securing more priests and teachers, in which he was successful in finding men and women well adapted to the needs of the country. When he came there were but few fruit trees to be found, and in order to develop fruit culture in his diocese he brought from St. Louis in his own conveyance, a number of different kinds of trees, which lie planted in his garden. Many of these were the first of their kind in New Mexico. It was he who founded the most of the schools and nurtured them through their most trying days. One of the most disagreeable tasks he was called upon to perform was to preside at the trial of Father Martinez, of Taos, and a number of other priests, who had been accused of gross immorality and who defiantly continued to lead lives not in conformity with the rules of the priesthood, which de- mands that its members be celebates. The result of this trial was the excommunication of Father Martinez and the other priests found guilty of violation of this canon of the church.
"Bishop Lamy was pious, humble and charitable," wrote Archbishop Salpointe in his "Soldiers of the Cross." "Anybody, poor or rich, found him always accessible and ready as far as was in his power to help the needy. For long years he looked for the means of having a good cathedral built in the city by his episcopal see, and before dying he brought to a conclusion the main body of the intended structure."
Archbishop Salpointe's work in New Mexico was most invaluable. He established a number of Catholic schools in various parts of the Terri- tory, including a number for the education of the pueblo Indians. On August 21, 1891, at his request, the Rev. P. L. Chapelle, priest in charge of St. Matthew's church in Washington, D. C., was appointed his co- adjutor, with the title of Bishop of Arabissus. November Ist of that year he was consecrated, in Baltimore, by Cardinal Gibbons. December 7th fol- lowing he arrived in Santa Fé and began his work. During a visit to Rome in 1893 the Pope conferred upon him the title of the archiepiscopal see of Sebaste. Upon the resignation of Archbishop Salpointe, he became Archbishop of Santa Fe January 7, 1894, and was invested with the pallium October 17, 1895. The occasion was the most remarkable in the history of the Catholic church in New Mexico. Cardinal Gibbons presided, and the prelates present were: Archbishop Kain of St. Louis, Bishop Donahue of Wheeling. Bishop Hennessy of Wichita, Bishop Montgomery of Los
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Angeles, Bishop Dunn of Dallas, Bishop Gabriels of Ogdensburg, Bishop Beaver of Springfield, Bishop Bourgade of Tucson, Monsignor Stephan of Washington, besides the retiring archbishop and his successor. On the day following the reception of the pallium Archbishop Chapelle conse- crated the Cathedral of Santa Fé.
February 28, 1896, was marked by the visit to Santa Fé of Cardinal Satolli, delegate apostolic to the United States. On the next day, Sunday, he celebrated a pontifical mass.
After a service of less than two years in Santa Fé, Archbishop Chapelle was appointed to the see of New Orleans, where he died of yel- low fever in 1905 while ministering to those who had been stricken with that disease. He was succeeded by Archbishop Peter Bourgade, then Bishop of Tucson, who was installed April 6, 1899. Archbishop Bourgade, who still occupies that office, came from France to New Mexico with Bishop Lamy in 1869, and since that year has been constantly engaged in re- ligious work in the southwest. His chief assistant, Very Rev. Anthony Fourchegn, vicar-general of the diocese, was appointed rector of the San- ta Fé cathedral August 14, 1892, and has been vicar-general since April 24, 1894. He was born in France and came to New Mexico in 1867, since which time he has labored in this territory.
Very Rev. James H. Defouri was recognized as one of the best authorities on the ecclesiastical history of New Mexico. He was born in France in 1830, and completed his philosophical and theological courses in the seminary at Chambery, and in 1854 was ordained priest. Two years later he came to America and labored in the jurisdiction of Bishop Milge. From 1862 to 1880 he was located in Topeka, the last five years serving as vicar-general. In 1881 he came to New Mexico on account of ill health, having been appointed second vicar-general, pastor of the American con- gregation of Santa Fé and private secretary of the archbishop. From there he went to Las Vegas as pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Sor- rows in 1895. He was a member of several scientific societies and a fre- quent contributor to newspapers and magazines. He also published "A Historical Sketch of the Catholic Church in New Mexico," "The Martyrs of New Mexico," and other works.
The Church of Our Lady of Light at Santa Fé, sometimes known as the Castrence, was erected for the special use of the soldiers in the Spanish army late in the eighteenth century. From the date on the altar piece, which has been preserved, it is believed to have been built in 1791. This church was of the exact size of the Guadalupe church of today. The troops were all in the habit of attending services once a month, and on special occasions. These special occasions were frequent-whenever the soldiers went out after the savage Indians and returned victorious to the capital, bringing captives to be made Christians, a special high mass being celebrated in the Castrence and a Te Deum sung in celebration of the victory. The altar of the church contained many valuable paintings, and in the center there was a carved stone, which at that time was considered the most valuable of its kind in the Territory. Don Simon Delgado gave the property afterward occupied by San Miguel College in exchange to Bishop Lamy for the Castrence. He at once tore down the church and built his home upon the historic site. Governor Armijo made it a custom
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to attend services at the Castrence once each month, accompanied by his staff in full uniform and all his troops.
The Immaculate Conception church at Albuquerque was founded in 1882, Rev. Lawrence Fede being the first priest in charge. Rev. Father A. M. Mandalari, S. J., the present pastor, a native of Italy, has been in charge since 1894. He is regarded as one of the most able pastors and organizers in the Territory. The Immaculate Conception school, con- nected with the church, was built by the Jesuit Fathers in 1893 at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars. Albuquerque Council No. 641, Knights of Columbus, was instituted February 2, 1902. O. N. Marron is Territorial deputy.
Father H. C. Ponget, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Con- ception (R. C.), Las Vegas, New Mexico, was born and received his early education in France. He pursued a course in philosophy in Mont- real, Canada, from which place he came, in 1888, to New Mexico. He continued his studies in Baltimore Seminary in September, 1889, and was appointed teacher in the classical department of St. Charles College, Bal- timore, the following year. November 4, 1891, he was ordained a sub- deacon by Bishop Chapelle, then just appointed coadjutor bishop of Santa Fé, and consecrated three days before; May 1, 1892, was ordained priest by Bishop Chappelle; and June 28, of the same year, came to Las Vegas. On the Ioth of July he was made assistant priest at the cathedral of Santa Fé, in which capacity he served until August, 1893, when he was appointed chancellor. In May, 1894, he was sent as pastor to San Marcial, but was recalled to Santa Fé as chancellor the following year. In No- vember, 1896, he was made pastor of the church at Taos, and continued as such until September, 1898, since which time he has occupied his pres- ent position, that of pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Las Vegas. March 25, 1905, he was appointed chaplain of the First Squadron of Cavalry, New Mexican National Guards.
Father Ponget's work, wherever he has been, has always been char- acterized by an ardent devotion to the cause of the Master, and in the various places where he has labored he has won his way to the hearts of the people, all of whom hold him in highest esteem.
Our Lady of Belen .- The earliest records of Our Lady of Belen, at Belen, New Mexico, are found in the baptismal record commencing with the year 1793, with the Franciscan father, Cayetano Jose Bernal, superior (menestro) in charge. There are no records in the parish showing when the old church was built. It was abandoned in 1856, owing to a division that came up between the people as to whether to rebuild the old church or to build a new one. The priest at that time was Fr. Antonio Juillard. The Castillo and Baca families favored remov- ing and were opposed to Francisco Sanchez, who never repented, also Juan Domingo Valencia and Miguel Baca. Those opposed were excom- municated on account of having forcibly removed the sacred vessels from the new church back to the old church. About that time Fr. Juillard was removed and Fr. Paulet appointed, and by his tact and good manage- mient he united the two factions. The present church edifice was begun in 1856 and completed in 1861.
Fr. J. A. Picard, now in charge, studied in France, and took orders in Santa Fé in December, 1885. His first position was as assistant priest
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at Mora, and later priest at Sapello. Then from 1897 until 1901 he was · parish priest at Mora, when he came to Belen, where he is yet located. Since taking charge he has made many splendid improvements in the church.
PROTESTANT CHURCHES.
There seems to be no doubt that the first permanent religious organ- ization, aside from the established Roman Catholic church, in New Mexico was effected by the missionaries of the Protestant Episcopal church.
So far as can be learned at this late date, the first Protestant services of any kind held in the old town of Albuquerque were conducted in the fifties, by a missionary named Reed, who had been sent out by the mis- sionary board of the Methodist Episcopal church. How long he remained is not known, but he was not able to organize a permanent society of that denomination. In 1870 the Rev. John Cornell, a native of New York, and a graduate of the General Theological Seminary, who had been lo- cated as a missionary at Laramie, Wyoming, was sent to Old Albuquerque by Bishop Randall. He received much encouragement and assistance from Judge Hezekiah S. Johnson, who had just been appointed a justice of the district court, with headquarters at Albuquerque. About this time the citizens of Socorro were up in arms against their mother church-the Roman Catholic, as the result of the injection of politics into the church, and Judge Johnson, who had married a native woman and felt that he had great influence among the native people of Socorro county, suggested to Mr. Cornell that it might be a propitious time to undertake the organ- ization of an Episcopal mission in that town. The attempt was made at once, but as soon as it was found that outside religious influences were at work, with fair promise of a successful issue the Catholic authorities made desperate efforts to effect the necessary reconciliation, and the ef- forts of Mr. Cornell and Judge Johnson were unavailing. Mr. Cornell abandoned his missionary labors at the close of a year, after having con- ducted services in many places throughout the Rio Grande valley. Judge Johnson frequently accompanied him, acting as interpreter of his dis- courses, which were delivered in English, though Mr. Cornell usually read the services in Spanish.
The first official visitation of any Protestant Episcopal minister to Santa Fe (of which there is any official record) was that of Right Rev. Joseph Cruikshank Talbot, then missionary bishop of the Northwest, when he acted as chaplain to a civil and military Fourth of July procession. July 5, 1863, the next day (Sunday) he preached in the Presbyterian church of Santa Fe, after morning prayer by Rev. William A. Rich and Rev. A. H. De Mora. After evening prayer Rev. William A. Rich preached. Bishop Talbot administered Holy Communion, according to the reformed ritual. for the first time in New Mexico, to five persons, be- sides the clergy. The services of the church were conducted by Rev. John Woart, chaplain at Fort Union, and Rev. L. A. Latourrette of Fort Garland at intervals during the years 1867-9. In February, 1867, the Territory was placed under charge of Bishop Randall bv the house of Bishops. He made his first visit to Santa Fé in July, 1868. In Septem- ber, 1870, lay reading was commenced in the parlor of Colonel F. Bridg-
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man's house and Good Templar's Hall. August 18, 1871, Rev. John Cor- nell arrived there, being appointed by Bishop Randall as the first resident minister, and was elected Rector August 23, 1871. A vestry had been organized September 14, 1868, under the name of the Church of the Good Shepherd, afterwards changed to St. Thoms' Church and afterwards to Church of the Holy Faith. Rev. John Cornell commenced services in Good Templars' Hall, facing on the plaza, then in a government building on Lincoln avenue. Mr. Cornell was the pioneer in the Episcopal church in Albuquerque. He is now (1906) canon missioner of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine of New York City.
The missionary jurisdiction of New Mexico and Arizona was created at the General Convention of 1874, the Bishop of Colorado being relieved from the oversight of New Mexico, and Arizona being separated from Nevada. Rev. William F. Adams, rector of St. Paul's church, New Or- leans. La., was elected first Bishop of the new jurisdiction. He was con- secrated in his parish church January 17, 1875, by the Bishop of Missis- sippi, Right Rev. William M. Green, assisted by Bishop Wilmer of Louisiana and Bishop Beckwith of Georgia. February 6, 1875, Bishop Adams, accompanied by Rev. Henry Forrester, reached Santa Fé. March Ist the Bishop started on a visitation of Southern New Mexico and Arizona. He was accompanied as far as Albuquerque by Mr. Forrester, and there, on March 4th, Judge Hezekiah S. Johnson was ordained to the restricted diaconate. Very few Americans then lived in Albuquerque, and Judge Johnson himself had a Mexican wife. The first service was held in a room in the Exchange hotel, the congregation consisting of but nine persons.
Bishop Adams continued his journey by stage to southern New Mex- ico, stopping at Fort Selden, Las Cruces, Mesilla and Silver City. From the latter point he started by buckboard for Tucson, Arizona, but being taken ill on the road he was compelled to return to Silver City, and thence to Mesilla. There he was called to New Orleans, where his family was sick; and on account of his own serious condition his physicians forbade him to return to New Mexico until he became entirely well. Under these circumstances Mr. Forrester, who was temporarily in charge of the parish at Santa Fé, took up the general missionary work, acting as the bishop's representative. In the fall of 1875 he visited Las Vegas, Cimarron, Socorro, the Magdalena mines, Las Cruces, Mesilla, Silver City, George- town, the Mimbres reduction works, and Forts Craig, Selden and Bayard. At Mesilla, then the principal town in southern New Mexico, a large house was obtained for the church. It was paid for by Rev. Dr. James Saul of Philadelphia. In the summer of 1876 Bishop Adams, finally finding him- self incapacitated for the arduous work in New Mexico and Arizona, re- signed, though the House of Bishops deferred action upon his resignation for a year, when it was accepted. In the spring of 1877 the new chapel of Mesilla was furnished, and placed under the care of George D. Bow- man, lay-reader. Church schools were extablished at Santa Fe and Me- silla, but both were soon abandoned that the Episcopalians might combine with the Congregationalists, who had founded a system of academies in the Territory.
When Bishop Adams' resignation was accepted in 1877, Rev. D. T. Knickerbacker was elected to succeed him, but as he declined to be con-
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secrated the Episcopate was left vacant. In 1878 the jurisdiction was placed under the care of Bishop Spalding of Colorado. Rev. J. A. M. Latourrette, a chaplain in the United States army stationed at Fort Union, was now transferred to the jurisdiction, and Bishop Spalding appointed the following to be the first standing committee: Mr. Latourrette, presi- dent; Rev. Henry Forrester, secretary; Colonel J. P. Willard, U. S. A., and George D. Bowman. In 1879, as the Santa Fe railroad approached the Territory, services were begun at Las Vegas, and Bishop Spalding made his first visit there in August of that year. November 9th following he opened St. John's chapel there. Immediately afterwards Mr. For- rester moved from Santa Fe to Las Vegas. A month later Rev. D. A. Sanford was sent to assist in the work, and regular services were held thereafter in Albuquerque.
In May, 1880, the primary convocation of the jurisdiction was held at Albuquerque under the presidency of Bishop Spalding. The members were Bishop Spalding, the Revs. J. A. M. Latourrette, Henry Forrester and D. A. Sanford, and L. Bradford Prince of Santa Fé, W. H. Cobb of Mesilla, Charles Wheelock of Las Vegas, and W. C. Hazledine, W. K. P. Wilson and R. C. Rose of Albuquerque.
At the General Convention of 1880, Rev. George Kelly Dunlop, then rector of Grace church at Kirkwood, Missouri, was elected to the vacant episcopate. Despite the fact that he was thoroughly aware of the dis- couraging conditions which had confronted his predecessor in the two Territories, and realizing that missionary labor was accompanied by hard- ships of such a character as to have driven the first bishop from the field in despair, and prompted another to decline the vacant episcopate, Bishop Dunlop bravely accepted the great responsibility which the church offered to place upon his shoulders, and on November 21, following his election, he was consecrated to his high office in Christ church, St. Louis, by the bishop of Minnesota, assisted by the bishops of Missouri, Iowa, Quincy and Springfield, Illinois.
The work accomplished by Bishop Dunlop, who, amid difficulties and discouragments from which others had shrunk in dismay, planted the seed and nourished the early-day growth of the present establishment, was so important and had such a beneficent effect upon the development of spiritual life in the southwest generally that some account of his personality and labors forms an invaluable chapter in the annals of New Mexico.
George Kelly Dunlop was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, November 10, 1830. His parents were Robert and Margaret (Kelly) Dunlop, both of whom were of Scotch descent. He received his education at the Royal College of Dungannon and at the Queen's University, Galway, from which he was graduated in 1852, ranking second among eight men who won classical scholarships. In October following his graduation he came to America, and was ordained deacon and priest by Bishop Hawks of Mis- souri, in 1854 and 1856, respectively. For seven years he served as rector of the church at Lexington, Missouri, where he also filled the chair of Latin and Greek in the Masonic College. He was then called to Grace church, Kirkwood, Missouri, where he remained for seventeen years, or until his election to the episcopate. Bishop Dunlop early abandoned the use of written sermons, speaking fluently without notes, and soon acquired an extended reputation as an eloquent preacher and expositor. He was a
Geo. K. SAMUEL
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member of the standing committee, was examining chaplain, dean of the convocation of St. Louis, and deputy to the General Conventions of 1871, 1877 and 1880. The mutual love of rector and people found expression in a memorial altar in Grace church at Kirkwood, and in a "bishop's chair" and "robing room" in St. Paul's church, Las Vegas, now his memorial and tomb ; also in this church is a magnificent altar in white Italian marble with panels of pink roselle and columns of Mexican onyx, highly polished, the gift of the Women's Auxiliary of the Diocese of Missouri, and also several handsome memorials from the congregation of St. Paul's, and similar memorials are to be seen in other churches in New Mexico and Arizona.
As has been stated, a bishop had been consecrated for New Mexico and Arizona, and after having looked over the field, had resigned; and an- other bishop had refused to be consecrated after his election. Rev. Henry Forrester, who accompanied the first bishop, remained for six lonely years before Bishop Dunlop arrived to spend December, 1880, in a preliminary visitation. Unavoidably delayed, it was not until March 31, 1881, that Bishop Dunlop occupied his jurisdiction and brought his family to Santa Fé. He died March 12, 1888, after an illness of nearly five months, so that his active episcopate covered a period of a little less than seven years. Though he found the field one of great discouragement, he uttered no com- plaint, but worked on, full of cheer and hope and courage. He visited, more or less often, Fort Union, Hillsboro, Kingston, San Marcial, Fort Bayard, Georgetown, Huachuca, Bisbee, Wilcox, Fort Wingate, Springer, Camp Grant, Camp Thomas, Nogales, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Prescott, Raton, Shakespeare, Lordsburg and Cerrillos, in addition to his organized missions, conducting services and administering sacraments to the people, sometimes remaining several days at various points. In his labors nothing appeared to daunt him. During all seasons of the year, in sunshine and storm, in heat and cold. he traveled about the country doing the work of the Master. Funds were scarce, church people few, and frequently he traveled with no better conveyance than a buckboard, in which he made cold night rides, sometimes facing fully realized dangers from hostile Indians, which then infested the country. As an instance: On one of his visits to Nogales, on the Mexican frontier, he found great excitement in the place on account of the bloody work of the Apaches, who had just killed seven or eight men only two or three miles away, the bodies of three of whom had been brought into town for burial. For more than two years there was great financial depression and the Indian war raged continuously for over a year. The spirit of a weaker or less unselfish man would have yielded to dis- couragement in the presence of such difficulties. To give a better idea of the conditions which Bishop Dunlop found confronting him upon his ar- rival in the jurisdiction. it should be mentioned that only the following prop- erties had been acquired by the church: In Las Vegas there was a small adobe chapel, on one of five lots ; in Mesilla, one lot and the adobe mission house occupied by the devout layman, Mr. George D. Bowman and family, who held regular services and conducted a Sunday school therein. These properties were the result of the patient labor of Rev. Henry Forrester. In Santa Fé there was one lot. Services were held, conducted by Hon. L. B. Prince. In Arizona, absolutely nothing in things material.
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