LAMY OF SANTA FE His Life and Times [SOLD]

LAMY OF SANTA FE His Life and Times

By Paul Horgan

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York

Hardback, no dust jacket.  First edition, first printing, 1975. 523 pages

This 1976 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History chronicles the life of Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy (1814-1888), New Mexico’s first resident bishop and the most influential, reform-minded Catholic official in the region during the late 1800s. Lamy was born in Lempdes, Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of France.  Following his seminary studies,  Lamy served at several missions in Ohio and Kentucky when, to his surprise, he was notified that Pope Pius IX was appointing him as bishop of the recently created Apostolic Vicariate of New Mexico on July 23, 1850.

After an arduous journey on primitive transportation, Lamy reached Santa Fe in the summer of 1851. He was welcomed by the Governor of the territory, James S. Calhoun, and many other citizens, however, Juan Felipe Ortiz, a Spanish priest who was responsible for administration of the Catholic Church in New Mexico, told Lamy that he and the local clergy did not recognize his authority and would remain loyal to Bishop José Antonio Laureano de Zubiría of the Archdiocese of Durango, Mexico.   Lamy went in person to Durango, Mexico, to meet with Zubiría, showing him the papal document that appointed him.  In light of this, Zubiría had to agree to inform the priests of the change.

Lamy’s accomplishments, including the endowing of hospitals, orphanages, and English-language schools and colleges, formed the foundation of modern-day Santa Fe and often brought him into conflict with corrupt local priests. His life story, also the subject of Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, describes a pivotal period in the American Southwest, as Spanish and Mexican rule gave way to much greater influence from the United States.

Historian Paul Horgan chronicles the life of Archbishop Lamy in this Pulitzer Prize-winning book that is filled with adventure, and tales of Lamy’s magnificent strength of character. 

CONTENTS

i.      France 1814-1839

ii.     The Middle West 1839-1850

iii.    To Santa Fe 1850-1851

iv.     The Desert Diocese 1851-1852

v.      The Antagonists 1852-1856

vi.     Scandal at Taos 1852-1861

vii.    The Colonists 1858-1863

viii.   The Painted Land 1863-1867

ix.     Rome and Battle 1867

x.      Increase 1868-1874

xi.     Archbishop 1875-1880

xii.    Gardener and Apostle 1880-1885

xiii.   Day’s End at Santa Fe 1884-1889