Holy Faith of Santa Fe, 1865-2000 by Stanford LehmbergReview by: Gretchen A. AdamsThe Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 108, No. 4 (Apr., 2005), pp. 570-571Published by: Texas State Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30240446 .

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570 Southwestern Historical Quarterly April

region for junior-or community--college growth that at the time bragged of not only previously mentioned Stockton Junior College and Modesto, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley, but such other leading two-year institutions as Fresno Junior College and Sacramento City College. All of this experience led to Dr. Priest's eventual emergence as a leading authority on community college ed- ucation, a reputation that only increased as he led the Dallas County Communi-

ty College District from 1965 to 1980. Kathleen Krebbs Whitson's book is one that anyone interested in higher ed-

ucation and its history, particularly the emergence of two-year colleges and their

offerings to communities, must read.

Tarrant County College Patrick Foley

Holy Faith of Santa Fe, 1865-2ooo. By Stanford Lehmberg. (Albuquerque: LPD Press, 2004. Pp. iv+22o. Foreword, preface, illustrations, epilogue, appen- dices, notes, index. ISBN 1-890689-12-2. $29,95, cloth.)

The Episcopal Church was a decade behind most Protestant denominations in July 1863 when the Missionary Bishop of the Northwest ventured into Santa Fe. His experience was not a happy one. He left quickly but not before record-

ing his distaste for the town with its "narrow, uneven, and dirty streets" (p. 11). More startling was a population he found remarkable for its "loose morals" and

"open adultery" (p. 12). But other Epsicopalians came (and stayed) and by 188o the denomination could claim a firm foothold in the town as The Church of the

Holy Faith (simply translating "Santa Fe" into English). Stanford Lehmberg, a noted historian of Reformation England and a current member of the parish, documents the life of the church in a book marked by his trademark fine schol-

arship and erudition. The history of the early years of Holy Faith offers a view of a primarily (in

New Mexico terminology) "Anglo" congregation composed of an assortment of merchants, territorial officials, military men, and "TB cases." Turnover in the

early parish registers is often marked by the plaintive notation "gone away" (p. 41). Nevertheless, Holy Faith's congregation had its foundation in New Mexico's

Anglo elite. Future senators Thomas Benton Catron and Bronson Cutting (who also published the major daily newspaper) and L. Bradford Prince, who served both as territorial chief justice and governor, were all influential members of the church. In the first half of the twentieth century, the well-known architect of "Santa Fe style," John Gaw Meem (also a member), designed significant addi- tions to the building.

The last quarter of the twentieth century brought great change to the na- tional church. The ordination of women and homosexuals, changes in the litur-

gy, and the rise of evangelical movements within the American Episcopal Church raised questions that divided congregations and threatened the unity of the broader international Anglican Communion. Santa Fe's Church of the Holy Faith was no exception. Offering Holy Faith as "a fascinating case study of prob-

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2005 Book Reviews 571

lems affecting the Episcopal Church" (p. 7), Lehmberg uses his interviews and archival records to paint a picture of a profoundly conservative parish. One of- ten "dominated by powerful anti-clerical lay leaders" (p. 207) and suffering from

absent, personally troubled, or weak clerical leadership. He does not shy away from the controversial elements of the church's past even to the point of quot- ing one description of the congregation as a "bunch of sharks" (p. 169).

The sort of broad and deep context that Stanford Lehmberg brings to his work on Reformation England will not be found in this volume. But the profes- sional skill he brought to that earlier work is just as critical and in evidence here. Solid research, sharp analysis, and clear prose make this book an important study for students of the Epsicopal Church, particularly those interested in the

development of New Mexico's institutions and communities.

Texas Tech University Gretchen A. Adams

Wake for a Fat Vicar: Father Juan Felipe Ortiz, Archbishop Lamy, and the New Mexican Catholic Church in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century. By Ang6lico Chivez and Thomas E. Chavez. (Albuquerque: LPD Press, 2004. Foreword, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 1-890o689-o6-8. $25-95, cloth.)

Fray Angdlico Chivez, one of the foremost New Mexican authors and histo- rians, began writing this study a few years before his death. It was finished by his

nephew Thomas Chavez, an historian in his own right. Their primary intent was to present "a totally different picture" (p. 19) of the clergy who began serving in New Mexico during the Mexican period from the negative one given by Bishop Lamy, his vicar Father Machebeuf, and most subsequent writers. As such, it com-

plements earlier biographies by the elder Chavez of the more famous contempo- raries of Juan Felipe Ortiz, Fathers Martinez (But Time and Chance, 1981) and

Gallegos ("Tris Macho, " He Said, 1985). The authors consider Ortiz "a much bet- ter person than the other two" (p. 205).

Juan Felipe Ortiz was a secular priest native to New Mexico, ordained in

1824, who for two decades (1832-1851) was the vicar or agent in that territory for the bishop of the Mexican Diocese of Durango. Serving also as a pastor of Santa Fe and belonging to one of its leading families, he was one of New Mexi- co's most prominent citizens. This study sheds some light on church and society in those decades and Ortiz's involvement in both. But the far greater portion of the work is a defense of Father Ortiz and the New Mexican Catholic clergy and

laity in face of the biased descriptions of several Anglo Americans in the 1840s and Lamy and Machebeuf in the 185os. A year and a half after arriving in New Mexico in 1851, Lamy divided Ortiz's Santa Fe parish. Ortiz, who had been ap- pointed as pastor-for-life under the Mexican church, resigned in protest and un-

successfully attempted to reverse Lamy's decision in Durango. When he returned to Santa Fe two years later, Lamy suspended him for uncooperative and conspiratorial behavior. Ortiz died less than three years later, mourned by a

great throng of all classes.

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