View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of New Mexico New Mexico Quarterly Volume 17 | Issue 3 Article 4 1947 Saints and New Mexico Roland F. Dickey Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq Recommended Citation Dickey, Roland F.. "Saints and New Mexico." New Mexico Quarterly 17, 3 (1947). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol17/iss3/ 4 This Contents is brought to you for free and open access by the University of New Mexico Press at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Mexico Quarterly by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Dickey: Saints and New Mexico l I SAINTS AND NEW MEXICO* Roland. F. I!ickey EW MEXI.CAN CHILDREN write "J. M. J." on the corners of examina-_ N tion papers-"Jesus, Maria, Jose." Here, as in every CatholIc country, the Holy Family and the saints are earnestly implored in every crisis. Each ,saint has his sphere of special efficacy, ,and the language is rich with deference to holy pe~sons. From the Guadalupe Moun~ins to the San Agustin Plains, from the San Juan River to·the Santa Rita copper mines, Southwestern geog raphy is an index of popular saints. Cities and towns, too, are com memorative, usually named from the saint's day of their founding. Children are baptized under the guardianship of the holy person . age on'whose festival day they are born; and no New Mexico family is without an almanac designating the Church fe!1Sts for each day of the I year.