My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New MexicoThis unusual book, Fray Ang lico Ch vez's personal meditation on his cultural heritage, is also a kind of spiritual autobiography of the Hispano people of New Mexico. The spirit of New Mexico, he feels, grows out of its dry mountain terrain whose hills and valleys resemble those of Spain and of ancient Palestine. Just as this kind of landscape helped the Hebrew shepherd Abraham to find his God, so in Fray Ang lico's view, have New Mexico's mountains kept her people close to their God. In evoking this special closeness between the divine and the human, the author returns repeatedly to the Penitentes of New Mexico-the societies of men who scourge themselves and replay the Crucifixion each Holy Week to share the sufferings of their Savior. Some of his ideas will spark controversy over the meaning of New Mexico's past, but Fray Ang lico Ch vez's viewpoint, representing that of many native Spanish Americans, deserves the attention of every reader with an interest in the state's Hispanic heritage. No one can read this book without gaining a new understanding of the world of the New Mexican Hispano imbedded in the dry, hilly landscape of the majestic Sangre de Cristo mountains. FRAY ANG LICO CH VEZ has been called a renaissance man and New Mexico's foremost twentieth-century humanist by biographer Ellen McCracken. Any way you measure his career, Fray Ang lico Ch vez was an unexpected phenomenon in the wide and sunlit land of the American Southwest. In the decades following his ordination as a Franciscan priest in 1937, Ch vez performed the difficult duties of an isolated backcountry pastor. His assignments included Hispanic villages and Indian pueblos. As an army chaplain in World War II, he accompanied troops in bloody landings on Pacific islands, claiming afterwards that because of his small stature, Japanese bullets always missed him. In time, despite heavy clerical duties, Fray Ang lico managed to become an author of note as well as something of an artist and muralist. Upon all of his endeavors one finds, understandably, the imprint of his religious perspective. During nearly seventy years of writing, he published almost two dozen books. Among them were novels, essays, poetry, biographies, and histories. All true aficionados of the American Southwest's history and culture will profit by collecting and reading the significant body of work left to us by the remarkable Fray Ang 1ico Ch vez. Sunstone Press has now brought back into print some of these rare titles. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 3 | |
| 7 | |
Broad is Castile | 18 |
Same as Jerusalems | 27 |
Into the Promised Land | 38 |
The Miserable Kingdom | 52 |
THE NAZIRITE | 61 |
ANIMA HISPANICA | 119 |
Semitic Spain | 121 |
Conquistador and Penitente | 136 |
A New World Babel | 154 |
The Lost Tribe | 172 |
Return from Babylon | 186 |
SANGRE DE CRISTO | 203 |
Secular Interlude | 205 |
Blood and Sand | 63 |
The Consecrated Ones | 75 |
Way of the Cross | 83 |
Flagellanti versus Francis | 101 |
The Cross and the Book | 110 |
The Mexican Interlude | 227 |
Stars and Stripes | 248 |
The Spanish New Mexican | 265 |
Other editions - View all
My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New Mexico Angelico Chavez,Fray A. Chavez No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
Abraham adobe American ancestors ancient anima hispanica Armijo Aztec began Benavides bishop blood brought called Castile Castilian landscape castizo century chapel Chávez Chihuahua Chimayó Christ Christian church cities colonists colony conquistador Conquistadora Cortés Cross death desert Diego de Vargas divine Don Diego Don Quijote Durango European Extremadura faith Father flagellation forebears Francis Franciscan Fray friars genizaros governor Greek Hebrew hesed hidalguía Hispanic Holy Week human Iberian Iberian peninsula Indians Jesus Jews Juan Juan de Oñate Kingdom land language later living Manuel Armijo Mexican Mexico mission Moorish mountain native Nazarene nazirites northern Oñate Oñate's Padre Palestine Palestinian pastoral Pedro penance penitence Penitentes Piro pueblo plains priests Promised pueblos ranchos regard religious Roman royal Santa Cruz Santa Fe scourging Scriptures Semitic Sierra Spain Spaniards Spanish Spanish soul story Taos town tradition tribes upland valley villages Villagrá Virgin word Yahweh