Jean-Baptiste Lamy (October 11, 1814 – February 13, 1888), was a French-American Roman Catholic prelate who served as the first Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Willa Cather's novel ''

Death Comes for the Archbishop ''Death Comes for the Archbishop'' is a 1927 novel by American author Willa Cather. It concerns the attempts of a Catholic bishop and a priest to establish a diocese in New Mexico Territory. The novel's U.S. copyright expired on January 1, 20 ...

'' is based on his life and career.

Early life

Lamy was born in

Lempdes Lempdes (; Auvergnat: ''Lende'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. Population Sights The neo-romanesque parish church of St Étienne was built in 1867, replacing a previous church building that dated f ...

, Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of France, 10 km east of the main regional city of Clermont-Ferrand. He completed his

classical studies Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

in the minor seminary at Clermont and theological coursework in the Major seminary at Montferrand, where he was trained by the Sulpician Fathers ( Society of Saint-Sulpice).

Career

He was ordained a priest on December 22, 1838. After a few months as an assistant priest in his native diocese, in 1839 Lamy asked for and obtained permission to answer the call for

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

of Bishop John Baptist Purcell, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Episcopacy

As a missionary in North America, Lamy served at several missions in Ohio and Kentucky when, to his surprise, he was notified that

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

was appointing him as bishop of the recently created Apostolic Vicariate of New Mexico on July 23, 1850. At the same time, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Agathonice. He was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

a bishop on November 24, 1850 by Archbishop

Martin Spalding Martin John Spalding (May 23, 1810 – February 7, 1872) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Louisville (1850–1864) and Archbishop of Baltimore (1864–1872). He advocated aid for freed slaves follow ...

of Louisville; Bishops Jacques-Maurice De Saint Palais of Vincennes and

Louis Amadeus Rappe Louis Amadeus Rappe (February 2, 1801 – August 9, 1877) was a French-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Cleveland in Ohio from 1847 to 1870. Biography Early life Louis Rappe was bo ...

of Cleveland served as co-consecrators. After an arduous journey on primitive transportation, Lamy reached Santa Fe in the summer of 1851. As such, Lamy was joining a long list of French people who explored, traded and settled in New Mexico since the 16th century; specifically, French priests dominated New Mexico’s Catholic Church from 1841 to 1914. Lamy entered Santa Fe on 9 August 1851, and was welcomed by the Governor of the territory,

James S. Calhoun James Silas Calhoun (1802–1852) was best known as the Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1851 to 1852. He had many careers, though, including time as a Georgian politician, military officer, and bureaucrat in the United States government. ...

, 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 José Antonio Laureano de Zubiría y Escalante (4 July 1791 - 28 November 1863) was Bishop of Durango in Mexico from 28 August 1831 until his death. He was a supporter of the Centralist Republic of Mexico, and was strongly opposed to the United St ...

of the Diocese of Durango, Mexico, who had visited Santa Fe just a few months before. Lamy wrote to Zubiría asking him to explain the change of responsibility to the New Mexico priests. When his request was unanswered, he went in person to Durango to meet with Zubiría, showing him the papal document that appointed Lamy. In light of this, Zubiría had to agree to inform the priests of the change. On July 23, 1853, the Vicariate of New Mexico was raised to the Diocese of Santa Fe, and Lamy was appointed its first bishop. His early efforts as bishop were directed to reforming the New Mexico church, the building of more churches in the territory, the creation of new parishes, and the establishment of schools. He ended the practice of concubinage widely practiced by the local priests and he suppressed religious brotherhood societies within individual communities. He participated in the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecu ...

from 1869-1870. Lamy was responsible for the construction of the

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( es, Catedral basílica de San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Saint Francis Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is the mother church of the Arc ...

(commonly known as St. Francis Cathedral) and Loretto Chapel. Both churches were built in French styles familiar to Lamy — the Cathedral is Romanesque Revival, while the Chapel is Neo-Gothic. On February 12, 1875, the Diocese of Santa Fe was elevated to an

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

with Lamy as its first archbishop. On May 1, 1885, Lamy consecrated

Peter Bourgade Peter Bourgade (October 17, 1845 – May 17, 1908) was a French-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Tucson (1885–1899) and Archbishop of Santa Fe (1899–1908). Biography Early life and priesthood Bourgade was ...

as bishop; Bourgade would later become the fourth Archbishop of Santa Fe. Lamy ended his tenure as bishop when he resigned in 1885. He was appointed Titular Archbishop of Cyzicus later that year.

Death and legacies

He died of pneumonia in 1888 and is buried under the sanctuary floor of the basilica. A bronze statue, dedicated in 1915, stands in his memory outside the front entrance of the Basilica, and the village of Lamy, New Mexico, was named after him near the source of the sandstone for the Cathedral. Lamy was succeeded as Archbishop of Santa Fe by

Jean-Baptiste Salpointe Jean-Baptiste Salpointe (February 22, 1825 – July 15, 1898) was the first Bishop of Arizona and the second Archbishop of Santa Fe. Early life and education Salpointe was born in Saint-Maurice-près-Pionsat, Puy-de-Dôme, to Jean and Jeanne (n ...

, also from Puy-de-Dôme, France. The Archbishop Lamy's Chapel in Santa Fe, built in 1874, survives and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Willa Cather's novel ''

'' fictionalizes his life, missionary journeys, and erection of the Santa Fe cathedral.

References

;Citations ;Sources * * *

External links