The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-11-14
CATHOLIC CHURCH IN UTAH.
CONTINUED from page II


received in the scrimmage Otermin retreated to
Ell Paso leaving for time the Indians IN pos
session of Santa ke.
In this treacherous uprising of the natives,
men, women. children and babes at the breast We're
ruthessy slaughtered. They wrecked Santa Fe
with the exception of the Casas reales and the Plaza
held by the Spaniards Of the hundred and fifty
men shut up in the Casa, but one hundred we're fit
to bear arms and the victory of these fighters over
three thousand Zuni warriors is of the most
brilliant feats of recorded in the annals Of
New Mexico.
From 1850 to 1895 the history of New Mexico
is record of thrilling events. After the retreat
of the Spaniards the nine rebellions tribes the
Tanos Teguas, Pecos, QUERIES and the rest.
quarreled over the possession of Santa Fe and the
right to rule the country. Meanwhile Otermin,
who had established fortified camp at San LO-
renzo nine miles from FL Paso had reinforced his
command and on the 18th of November, 1881; set
out with one hundred and fifty mounted men and
detachment of friendly Indians for Santa Fe.
He was accompanied by Father Ayeta and the other
missionaries who had escaped the massacre.
Through the influence of the priests, the governor
hoped to prevail upon the rebels to return to their
allegiance to the Spanish crown, and if coneiha-
ton failed, he was prepared to whip them into
subsection. With the exception of few tribes
who fed to the mountains, the Indians in
duced to submit Santa Fe was taken possession of
and reconstructed and the pueblo missions again
opened.
The next fifteen years in the life of the country
are spattered with blood. The Spaniards were
again driven out and again came back, individual
A. IL
replaced them, missions were destroyed and re-
built, tribes were subdued in the south while 9TH
ers revolted in the north.
cat last" say the "ReIaciones" of Padre Zarate
Salmeron, Seeing that their pueblos were coming
to an end, the rebels resolved, on the advice Of
their medicine-men, to join together and to offer
in common to the devil the sacrifice of a young
girl to propitiate the demon"
But the bloody ceremony failed to produce the
desired result; the Indians submitted to the in
evitabe and struck truce with the Spaniards.
Meanwhile the remains of the martyred priests
were, far possible collected and given Chris
tan burial. From the open prairie from caves.
ash heaps and the ruins of old burned buildings.
the bones and ashes of the devoted friars were
gathered together and decently inferred
An old manuscript records that in 1854 the
governor of New Mexico in the company of two
missionaries visited with his staff the abandoned
pueblos of the Pieuries and Quarac to exhume the
bones of two venerable priests and inter them in
conseerated ground. Led by q grizzled old Indian.
they found the remains of Padre Ascension Zarate
in the debris of the decayed Church of San Lo-
reno of the Picuries, and those of Fray Geronimo
de la Llama amid the ruins of the church at
Quarae. The bones of Fathers Juan de Jesus
murdered by the Indians of Jemez were found in
an old cave and buried in Santa Fe but of the
eighteen priests done to death by the tribes the
mutilated bodies of nearly all we're reduced to
ashes or devoured by wild beasts But what mat
it for the bodies of the just who are at peace
those who SOW in tears will reap in joy and their
names will live from generation to generation
The Spaniards were now (1760) masters of New
Mexico, and outnumbered the Indians by many
thousands. The sedentary population, one hun
bred and eighty years after Onate's first attempt
at colonization, numbered $4,000; of these the
spaniards counted 10000 and the Indians 5000.
With the exception of an occasional raid from the
Comanches. who were not known In the region un-
til brought in by the Utes, OF an attack now and
then by the Apaches of the southwest New Mexico
was at peace The pueblo Indians were converted
to the faith and cultivated their lands OF raised
nerds of sheep and cattle for the Santa Fe mar
1et.
The Spaniards were now free to give some at
IGNITION to the examination of the unexpored re-
yions lying to the north of New Mexico The
eader will not fail to notice that all expeditions
# discovery and exploration were either piloted
or accompanied by Spanish priests and that in
many instances most important explorations we're
by individual priests such as Fathers
Zinc, Garces and Esealante. Under the admins
ration of Governor Vees Cachupin an exploring
'arty was sent out in 1853 to examine the country
forth of New Mexico, which is now the state of
Colorado. The expedition was accompanied by
father Alonzo Posadas who for fourteen years
ED position of ecclesiastical Importance in New