Abiqiu, Cura de Taos, La Honra de Su Pais, Maria de La Luz, Padre Martinez, Taos

PADRE ANTONIO JOSE MARTINEZ, CURA DE TAOS Y HONRA DE SU PAIS

This website is dedicated to the person and legacy of Padre Antonio Jose Martínez (1793-1867) who during his life was known as the Curade Taos (Priest of Taos).  Upon his death in 1867, the NM Territorial Legislature called him La Honra de Su País (The Honor of His Homeland). He was orginally buried in his private chapel by his home in the center of Taos, and twenty-four years later his remains were removed to the “American Cemetery” on land that the Padre had donated for the burial of the Americans killed in the 1847 Uprising, located in what is now called Kit Carson Park.  The encomium LA HONRA DE SU PAIS/THE HONOR OF HIS HOMELAND was inscribed on his upright gravestone as part of the epitaph.  The NM State Legislature in 2004, under the leadership of Senator Carlos Cisneros, reprised that phrase in a unanimously passed resolution that provided funding for a public arts project.  Two years later, that phrase became the title for the larger than life-sized bronze memorial of Padre Martinez sculpted by San Luis artist Huberto Maestas and erected in the Taos Plaza.

 

Antonio José was born along the Chama River in Abiquiu, avillage established in 1739 west of Santa Cruz (next to Española) along the RioGrande. When he was eleven, in 1804, he moved to Taos together with his parentsand younger siblings.  At nineteen,Antonio José married Maria de La Luz Martinez, a distant cousin.  Within a year, his young wife died as shewas giving birth to their daughter who was named for her mother. 

 

The widower decided to study for the priesthood, left hisdaughter with her maternal grandparents, and made his way to the seminary inDurango where he excelled in his studies, especially canon (church) law andphilosophy. A major influence in his life was Padre Miguel Hidalgo, father ofthe Mexican nation.  From his parish ofOur Lady of Sorrows and under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in 1810,Padre Hidalgo shouted for independence from Spain.  Eleven years later, in 1821, a year before Antonio José wasordained a priest, Hidalgo’s shout for independence bore fruit.  La Nueva España, including New Mexicoand all of what is today called the “southwest,” became La Republica deMéxico.

 

Shortly after his ordination, Padre Martinez returned to hisnative home in Taos.  He was supposed tohave stayed for another year in Durango to obtain some pastoral experience andcontinue his theological studies.  However,he was sickly—asthma (?)—so he returned to live for awhile at his parents’ homewhere some of his younger siblings were still living. The young Padre Martinezhelped the aging Franciscan priest who was the pastor of San Geronimo (St.Jerome) parish, the main church of Taos founded at the Indian Pueblo at thedawn of the seventeenth century.  PadreMartinez also helped with baptisms, funerals, and wedding preparation at thechurch of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Taos Plaza, about three miles to thesouth.  Guadalupe was not yet its ownparish, but was still a mission dependent on the main church of San Geronimo.

 

After he recuperated from his illness, Padre Martinez wasassigned to a couple of parishes where he had the opportunity to show hisspecial love for the poor—at Tomé located south of Alburquerque and at theparish of Santo Tomás in Abiquiu where he had been baptized as an infant, andwhere his wife was buried and his daughter was living with hergrandparents.  By 1825, the young Maríade La Luz also tragically died at the very young age of twelve, and within ayear, Padre Martinez was reassigned to be the priest in charge at Taos.  This was his fondest hope, now realized.

 

This blog will explore in some detail—through biography,correspondence and other documentation– the forty-two years that PadreMartinez spent in Taos from 1826 until his death in 1867.  I warmly invite you to MARK THIS BLOG AS ONEOF YOUR FAVORITES.  Beinteractive, and share what especially intrigues you with others who may beinterested.  Please help get the wordout.  Invite others to track this blog.

 

Padre Martinez distinguished himself as a religious leader,educator, journalist, author, printer, publisher, rancher, lawyer andstatesman. The last decade of his life was clouded by serious controversy withhis new bishop, the Most Rev. Jean Baptiste Lamy.  Martínez was a “liminal man” straddling the threshold of variouseras of New Mexican history–the Spanish period that lasted until 1821, theMexican period that lasted until 1846, and the American period that BenjaminRead called that most “transcendant epoch.” [Illustrated History of NewMexico, 1912]

 

Digital Access

Digitalizing Padre Martinez

Michael Olivas, a native of Santa Fe, an attorney and professor of law athe the Univrsity of Houston Law Center, is convoking a working group to meet NM State Records Center and Archives on Monday, August 17.  The focus of the meeting is to discuss various research projects being conducted on Padre Antonio Jose Martinez of Taos for the purpose of possibily digitizing and storing digitally on one website books and other materials published by the Padre and maybe works about the Padre.  It is a laudable enterprise, and I wish Mr. Olivas every success. 
Sandra Jaramillo, the Director of the NM State Archives will host the meeting at the Records Center in Santa Fe.   Besides her and her staff, others invited are Archdiocesan representatives Jerome Martinez and Marina Ochoa, UNM professors Laura Gomez and Gabriel Melendez, Palace of the Governors staff Tomas Jaehn and Tom Leech, filmmaker Paul Espinosa, and independent scholars Robert Torrez, Tom Steele, Juan Romero, and Vicente Martinez.

THE PADRE MARTINEZ LETTER FOR JOHN ROWLAND AND ENCARNACION MARTINEZ

PADRE MARTINEZ 1842 LETTER OF TRANSIT FOR JOHN ROWLAND AND ENCARNACION MARTINEZ

Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Taos, New Mexico
September 3, 1842

[To whom it may concern:]

I, Don Antonio José Martinez, the parish priest and pastor of Taos, Department of New Mexico, hereby certify in the fullest way fixed by law that Don Juan Rowland, a foreigner from the United States of North America, is married to Doña María de la Encarnación Martinez, a Mexican.  He is [therefore] naturalized in this Republic, and hence a Mexican Citizen as is his wife.  He is [also] a Catholic as is his wife and all their family as shown in the parish record books of this parish of which I am in charge.

He is accustomed to receive Holy Communion regularly, and he contributes to the support of the Church.  He faithfully and religiously obeys the laws, and enforces them when holding a position of authority.   Moreover, he does so with such a degree of charity that each day has been a greater credit to him.  It is also known to me that in his social life he is held in the highest regard as an honored citizen.  He is faithful to the state and to the government, and respects its laws.  He is quiet and peaceful in all his acts, complying with his duties and responsibilities.   In the same manner, this is also his attitude toward the Church. He strictly complies with his promises and contracts when dealing with others.  He is well regarded by the inhabitants of this region, and is highly esteemed by its authorities.   He has never been accused or even suspected of violating the laws, since he has never given any cause or reason for that.  In short, he has always been a man of fine behavior as his qualities as set forth above testify.

Therefore in witness of this, I issue the present certificate from this parish jurisdiction of Taos on the third day of the month of September of this year one thousand eight hundred and forty two.
                               Sincerely yours,        
        (Signed)      Antonio Jose Martinez, Cura de Taos    

[Ms. Lillian Dibble, a granddaughter of John Rowland, owned the original letter published in Leonore Rowland’s ROMANCE OF LA PUENTE, pp. 13-14, Pasadena City Library.  Ms. Dibble’s  lawyer fashioned an English translation that I amended into a more fluid English version.  The original translation may be found more easily in Donald E. Rowland, JOHN ROWLAND AND WILLIAM WORKMAN: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PIONEERS OF 1841, Arthur Clark Co. and the Historical Society of Southern California Spokane, 1999, p. 73.]

Padre Antonio José Martínez, the Cura de Taos wrote this Letter of Transit—a kind of passport– for John Rowland and his wife Encarnación Martínez and their family. The letter is dated September 3, 1842.  John Rowland, together with William Workman, had fled New Mexico to California in 1841 because of political troubles.  

Although both Rowland and Workman were married to native New Mexicans of Taos, and were therefore naturalized citizens of the Republic of Mexico and therefore had the right to own property, they retained certain “Anglo” sympathies.  They both had declared themselves in favor of the intent of the Lone Star Republic to claim New Mexico as part of Texas as far east to the Rio Grande.  New Mexico, of course, strongly opposed the idea, and Governor Armijo denounced Rowland and Workman as “traitors to the nation.”  They fled to California where Encarnación Martinez, the wife of John Rowland, already had business dealings for several years.  The major commerce between California and New Mexico at the time, and for some years to come, was the trade of New Mexican blankets for California horses and mules.

When John Rowland first arranged to settle in California in 841, Manuel Alvarez–the Spanish-born American Consul living in Santa Fe–provided a Letter of Transit for him.  

                Santa Fe
                August 11, 1841
 
[Mr. John Rowland] is…. a native of the United States of America, a naturalized [Mexican] citizen and since the year 1823, a resident of this jurisdiction [of the Department of New Mexico, Republic of Mexico].  

He is an industrious and peaceful man, very well known and respected in this country.  I know him very well, and have associated with him since the early years of his settling here…Whatever favor you may deem worthy of extending to Mr. Rowland, I shall thank you for it.  
 
                Kissing your hands, I remain,
                Manuel Alvarez
                Consul of the U.S., Santa Fe

After his first visit to California, John Rowland established a residence on the eastern portion of La Puente Rancho in what is today Rowland Heights, twenty-two miles east of Los Angeles.  In those days, it was a space where San Gabriel Mission used to graze cattle.  Rowland then returned to Taos in order to escort his wife and family to their new California home.

Padre Martinez, parish priest for the Rowlands—John, Encarnación and their family– had been away from Taos when Rowland and Workman left in their first expedition of 1841 to California.  He was on a year of continuing education in Durango, and was also taking care of personal business.  

Upon the return of Padre Martinez, Rowland was quick to ask him for a Letter of Transit so that he could take it with him on his return trip to California in 1842.  Rowland sought such a letter of recommendation from the Pastor of Taos for reasons similar to those that had initially prompted his request to Alvarez.  In addition, Rowland correctly surmised that a Letter of Transit from his pastor might help neutralize the objections to his obtaining La Puente Land Grant that the pastor of San Gabriel Mission and his successor harbored. Padre Tomas Estenaga of San Gabriel Mission strongly opposed Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado’s attempt to divest what he considered Church patrimony in order to sell it to Rowland.  For his part, Rowland was hoping that Padre Martinez’ letter would neutralize the objections of the San Gabriel clergy so that Governor Alvarado could effect the land grant over their clerical objections, thus making it the first Mexican land grant in California made to Anglos.  
 
Encarnación Martinez was related to the Padre’s father, Severino Martinez of Taos. Although Padre Martinez had been a Mexican nationalist for most of his years, he nevertheless graciously and generously acceded to John Rowland’s request to write the very positive letter for him and his wife who was the Padre’s relative. The letter was shown to the equivalent of customs officials (or border patrol agents) between New Mexico and California, different departamentos—equivalent to states or territories–of the same Republic of Mexico.  The letter also served as an effective credential with politicians and priests, including the governor of Alta California and the pastor of San Gabriel Mission.  Indeed, it must have helped Rowland’s effort to eventually own property in California, his new adopted homeland.  It was a case where family blood (through intermarriage) trumped politics!

PADRE

YEAR OF THE PRIEST

This Sunday, June 21,  is Fathers’ Day and the beginning of summer.  In addition, Pope (meaning “father”) Benedict XVI  has proclaimed this year, beginning last Friday–that was the Feast of the Sacred Heart–be observed throughout the Catholic World as the  YEAR OF THE PRIEST.  This augurs well for the re-establishment of the web log dedicated to the life and legacy of Padre Antonio José Martínez, Cura de Taos.  Padre Martínez was a legitimate father in fact as well as the spiritual father for the thousands of people he served during his long ministry as the Cura de Taos in northern New Mexico.  As a young man of 19, he had married María de La Luz  Martínez, a distant relative from the same village of Abiqiui, NM–westerly of Santa Fe and Taos.  She died while giving birth to their daughter, and was buried in the church yard of Santo Tomás in Abiquiu.  Antonio José had been baptized there as an infant , and at the age of 29 would return there for one of his first assignments as the priest in charge.  The maternal grandparents of little María de La Luz brought up the child in the unity and love of an extended family of which  Antonio José was a part.   Nevertheless, after a few years, Antonio José felt the call to priesthood, and traveled to Durango to pursue the calling through seminary study.  Not long after María de la Luz turned twelve, she also died an untimely death.


On this Fathers’ Day, I salute my own father José Tobias Romero!  He he had the good sense and blessing in 1934 to marry my mom, María Claudia Garcia.   They had know each other as children and in fact used to be high school sweethearts.  Mom died in 1969, forty years ago this November.  About a year and a half later, dad went to the seminary, and in 1975 was ordained as a Claretian priest.  Dad had four things in common with Padre Martinez of Taos: 1) both were “of Taos,” 2) both were married and had children, 3) both were widowers, 4) and both became priests after the deaths of their respective spouses.  The life of Padre Martinez, however, was tainted by the bitter struggles and controversies with his new Bishop, Jean Baptiste Lamy who arrived in 1851 at Santa Fe as Vicar Apostolic.  Unlike Padre Martinez, my father always maintained a deservedly very wholesome reputation.

May this Year of the Priest be a time of affirmation for  good priests, a time of conversion for  bad priests, and a time of healing for priests who have strayed from faithfully living their vocation. 

Stay tuned to this blog, and pray for all priests.


  
RESURRECTION

WE’RE BACK!

Welcome to the Taos Connection <thetaosconnection.com>!  This blog is dedicated to the person and legacy of Padre Antonio José Martinez,Cura de Taos (1793-1867).  It used to be on AOL Journals until that ceased to operate.  I have retrieved these web logs, and am in the process of editing and posting.  Come back when there is more.  Enough for now.
Fr. Juan Romero
[Born in Taos, ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles forty-five years ago.  Retired from administration.  This past year, I have beenhelping at Our Lady of Perpertual Help parish in Indio, and will return there in the fall.  Dring the summer, I will be helping at my home parish of Sacred Heart in Los Angeles (Lincoln Heights).]

Blog about Padre Antonio José Martínez, Cura de Taos. When he died, his peers in the USA Territorial Assembly for NM wrote on his epitaph, "La Honra de Su País" – The Honor of His Homeland. The last decade of his life–in the years following the American occupation– was clouded by controversy with his new bishop. Fray Angelioc Chavez in My Penitente Land called him "New Mexico's greatest son." This blog is dedicated to the life and legacy of this priest, educator, printer-publisher, lawyer-politician, rancher, patriot.