Introduction

I lift up my eyes to the mountains;
whence shall help come to me.
My help is from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
—Psalm 121

Psalm 121, the song of Hebrew pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem to celebrate their faith, suits our homeland, Colorado. From the eastern plains, the central peaks, and the western plateaus, we join our voices with the men and women who have gone before us. With them we proclaim, "O Lord, you have been our refuge through all generations. Before the mountains were begotten and the earth and the world were brought forth, from everlasting to everlasting you are God" (Psalm 90:1-2).

When we celebrate anniversaries, our hearts and minds—almost without conscious effort or forethought—turn spontaneously to the people, the events, and even the places of those times. The 1987 celebration of the 100 years of the Catholic Church of the Rocky Mountain region was no exception. Part of that centennial was launching this book by Tom Noel of the University of Colorado at Denver. This is not just a history of the Archdiocese of Denver, it is a testament to that heritage we hold dear as Catholics in Colorado; to the faith of those early pilgrims and their children, who sacrificed to plant its seeds and nurture its growth. Three centuries ago, Hispanic Catholic priests were singing their praises to God in the untamed, uncharted Colorado wilderness. And when the gold rush came, Bishop Jean Lamy of Santa Fe added the Pike's Peak region to his already vast vicariate of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Lamy assigned his compatriate and right-hand man, Father Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, to the mission of Colorado and Utah in 1860. Machebeuf opened St. Mary Church in Denver for Christmas Eve Mass that winter. The following spring, he began his missionary treks to establish churches in the mountain mining towns and the agricultural hamlets of the high plains. In a short time, Machebeuf established Catholicism as the largest and strongest Christian community in the Rocky Mountain West. For spiritual and financial support, Machebeuf appealed to the older churches of the San Luis Valley and New Mexico.

"Down among the Mexicans, who owned nothing but a mud house and a burro, he could always raise money. If they had anything at all, they gave," Willa Cather wrote in her great novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop. With such support, Machebeuf transformed the mission of Colorado into what became, in 1887, the Diocese of Denver.

When Father Machebeuf became the first bishop of Denver, he chose as the symbols of his newly established diocese the symbol of Christianity itself—the Holy Cross—and the sign of the sinless Mother of God—the crescent moon. The cross had been impressed upon the Colorado landscape even before the Crucifixion—in the granite sides of the Mount of the Holy Cross. This 14,005-foot-high peak in the Gore Range between Leadville and Vail has inspired the countless faithful who have witnessed its grandeur or heard about its wonder.

One popular legend tells of the first sighting of the Mount of the Holy Cross by two Spanish priests in the early 1700s: Crossing the Rocky Mountains, the two became hopelessly lost in a raging blizzard and were on the verge of death. Suddenly, the clouds parted, and the cross was revealed. Having thus been renewed in faith and hope, the pilgrims resumed their journey and found their way safely home.

Believing in the special care of the crucified and risen Christ for this newborn Church, the first pilgrims to this land would naturally seek the maternal protection of our Savior's Mother. As she had stood vigil at the foot of her Son's cross, so our ancestors sought her constant watchfulness for themselves and for those after them whose Catholic faith would be nurtured in the majesty of the Rockies and the simplicity of the plains. On the great seal of the archdiocese, against a red background, the two arms of her crescent moon embrace the cross, symbolic of two great geological regions of our archdiocese—the mountains and the plains.

It is my confident prayer that the cross of Christ will always reign over this land and in the hearts of those who make their home here. It is my further prayer that all who are blessed to call themselves Catholic will always and forever embrace that cross—the source of all fruitfulness. And it is my prayer that the cross of Jesus in eternity will be our glory whether we are farmers or ranchers, skiers or hikers, businessmen or businesswomen, homemakers and educators—our hearts and hands for God.

+ J. Francis Stafford
Archbishop of Denver