Event Details

Father Jose de Jesus Baca, the priest of San Albino in Mesilla, engaged in dramatic conflict with Vicar Apostolic Jean Baptiste Salpointe of Tucson. The struggle came about because ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Mesilla Valley and El Paso regions was being transferred from Santa Fe to Tucson. What was at stake, however, was more that church governance, the very way Catholics in the region had lived their faith from time out of mind was threatened as French clergy replaced local Hispanic priests.   Speaker Biography: Rick Hendricks is the New Mexico State Records Administrator, having previously served for nine years as state historian. Hendricks worked at the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University for a total of twenty-seven years. He received his PhD from the University of New Mexico in 1985. He has published extensively on the history of New Mexico and Mexico.