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Abe Peña's Cíbola Beacon newspaper column

All material used with the kind permission of the author, given to me personally.

Published Tuesday, February 24, 2009 9:18 AM MST

Hermanos Penitentes - the brotherhood

In our youth, the Lenten prayer services at the morada (chapel) of the Hermanos Penitentes were part of our religious life in the village of San Mateo and other villages in northern New Mexico.

Today, there is some confusion regarding the origin and history of the Penitentes in New Mexico and in southern Colorado.

Charles Lummis, in his book “The Land of Poco Tiempo,” said they were introduced into New Mexico with the Franciscan Friars, giving the impression they came with the early Spanish colonists who were accompanied by Franciscan Friars in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

On the other hand, Fray Angelico Chavez, one of the most notable historians and writers on the colonial period and author of “My Penitente Land,” said “Charles Lummis was a well meaning but impetuous author, who resolved that Penitentes had come with the very first Spanish settlers and Franciscan missionaries who accompanied them,” adding, “Subsequent writers kept on parroting Lummis's mistaken assumptions.”

Fray Angelico continued, “As it turned out, New Mexico's particular society of Penitentes had not come with the original colonists more than three centuries ago, but only appeared at the beginning of the 19th century.”

My research concurs with Fray Angelico. In 1821, when Mexico won its independence from Spain, Mexico claimed all the territories to the north, including New Mexico. Mexico did not trust the loyalty of the Spanish priests, and expelled them back to Spain.

The concern was that Spanish priests were loyal to Spain and would influence their parishioners to be disloyal to Mexico. Only a few native-born New Mexico priests who had trained in Durango, Mexico remained. New Mexico did not have any seminaries to train priests, at that time.

The handful of Mexico-trained priests could not minister to all the far-flung parishes. Distant and isolated parishes were closed, and the people were left without priests. In Catholic churches, only a priest can celebrate the Mass. When the churches closed, the people usually went up the canyon and built moradas to continue their communal prayers and rosaries as best they could.

They organized into the brotherhood, “Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno,” and elected an hermano mayor to lead them. The brotherhood had a very loose connection to other brotherhoods in other villages. There was some contact, especially during Holy Week when visiting penitentes arrived, usually on foot, from other moradas on the east and south side of Mount Taylor.

Most of the hermanos were men, but they did have some women. Many of the cantos and alabados blended the self-taught voices of the men and women to produce a funereal quality to the cantos.

Remembering that their purpose was to offer penence by imitating the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

During the 40 days of Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, there was a Rosary prayed every Friday at the Morada. The chapel was usually full of people. In my youth, there were about 250 people in San Mateo, and about 35 or 40 were members of the Hermandad.

In 1846-48, when the United States won the Mexican War and claimed New Mexico and other southwestern states, the American flag replaced the Mexican flag over Santa Fe, and priests returned. But, this time, they came from the See of Baltimore . . . and they spoke English. Our Hispanic ancestors spoke Spanish, and there were misunderstandings because of cultural differences. La Hermandad had grown in numbers, and became an integral part of our religious culture.

Archbishops, starting with Jean Baptiste Lamy in 1850, never recognized the Hermandad. The Most Reverend Archbishop Edwin D. Byrne accepted them in 1947. In a statement issued at that time, he wrote, “The Brotherhood constitutes a society of individuals, united in charity to commemorate the passion and death of the Redeemer, and the society is a part of the Catholic Church. It deserves its protection as long as it observes and practices the teachings of the church.”

He concluded his lengthy statement, “In a way, we owe these groups of penitential brothers, although certain excesses entered their practices, the preservation of the faith during those sad and harsh days, and they have my blessing and help.”

There are still some Penitentes in some of our villages, observing the Lenten days of prayer and penance. The villages of San Mateo and San Rafael hold Friday rosaries. I recall the long service prayed on our knees. After the five mysteries and other prayers and songs, our legs felt like jelly. It was an effort to stand, but it seems that our hearts were full. I can't recall feeling closer to God, except maybe when we adored the Christ Child in the crib for Christmas."