Sources

As I was asked to write a popular history and keep it much shorter than this is, footnotes have been omitted. When quotes or statements seemed to cry out for documentation, I have tried to provide the source in the text.

History is only as accurate as its sources—which are fallible. In many cases I have relied on oral history, on wonderful sources like Monsignor Gregory Smith, who remembers Bishop Matz's burial and meeting William J. Howlett, the pioneer priest-historian of Colorado Catholicism. The best single source, to which I am deeply indebted, is Monsignor William Jones's meticulously documented book, The History of Catholic Education in the State of Colorado. Covering far more than its title claims, this book provides parish and institutional sketches as well as school history. Readers wanting fuller detail and documentation would be well advised to consult it.

The archdiocesan archives, organized in a most helpful fashion during the 1970s by Sister Elizabeth Skiff, are the major source for this book. They contain extensive file boxes for each bishop and archbishop as well as for each parish and agency of the church. Once again, Monsignor Jones's book, which has lengthy chapters on each bishop through Vehr, is also invaluable. William J. Howlett's Life of Bishop Machebeuf, recently revived in a third edition edited by Tomas Steele, SJ, and Ronald Brockway is the definitive source for Machebeuf, though copies of Machebeuf's letters (in the original French and in English translation) at the archives are irresistible.

The financial, personal, and personnel difficulties of Machebeuf and Matz, including the revelations that Machebeuf used a spittoon at Mass and that several of his priests tried to assassinate Matz, are explored in documented detail in Thomas Francis Feely, Leadership in the Early Colorado Catholic Church (University of Denver, History Ph.D. Dissertation 1973), which presents the often overlooked darker side of church affairs. Such exposés are not available for later bishops, though rumors survive that Tihen was forced to resign.

For bishops Tihen and Vehr, Monsignor Jones's book is the best source, supplemented by the papers of these prelates at the archdiocesan archives. Robert A. Goldberg's first-rate Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado is enlightening on that spooky era, as were Monsignor Gregory Smith's transcribed memoirs and my interviews with him.

For the Casey and Stafford eras, the lack of published sources and a dearth of archival material led to a heavy reliance on the Denver Catholic Register, oral history interviews, and secular sources. Growing reliance on the telephone, alas, has left the historian at a loss for revealing letters, diaries, and written documents.

For the brief sketches of parishes, I am indebted to parishes for providing records and previously published histories, and for reviewing and correcting drafts sent to each pastor. Apologies to many a parish for the abbreviated treatment here, which generally precluded mention of assistant pastors, short-term pastors, sisters, donors, deacons, active parishioners, and other important people. Those wanting fuller histories should consult the parish or the archives.

Previously published histories, available for most of the parishes, range from lavish books with color photos to one-page typescripts. Besides these sources, I have relied on interviews and on files, arranged by parish, at the archdiocesan archives. At the Colorado Historical Society, archivist Stan Oliner kindly provided me with copies of the previously unused and most helpful 1930s WPA State and Local Records Survey of Colorado Churches. These architectural and historical reports on many of the Colorado parishes provided revealing descriptions of churches, their history, their record-keeping, and their staffs. Published county and community histories often yielded additional data.

Readers who wish to explore the history of Catholicism in a wider context are well-advised to look up Jay P. Dolan's books, including The Immigrant Church and The American Catholic Experience; James J. Hennesey's American Catholics; or John Tracy Ellis's American Catholicism and A Guide to American Catholic History.

Archival Sources

Boulder. University of Colorado. Norlin Library. Western Historical Collections.

• Westermeier, Clifford P. and Therese S. Collection.

• Archdiocese of Denver. Mission and Ministry in Northern Colorado: Archdiocese of Denver Quinquennial Report to the Holy Father. October, 1983.
• Archdiocese of Denver. Metropolitan Area Census Survey, November, 1967. Washington, D.C.: Census Management, 1967.
• Archdiocese of Denver. Quinquennial Report for the Archdiocese of Denver. 1978.
• Archdiocese of Denver. Review and Planning for the 1970s: A Study of the Catholic Charities Program. New York: Ralph Whelan & Associates, 1970.
• Archdiocese of Denver. Presbyteral Council Minutes.
• Catholic Charities Files and Annual Reports. 1925-present.
• Howlett, William J. Diocese of Denver: History of Churches. 131-page typescript. Undated.
• —Pioneer Priests of the Denver Diocese. 183-page typescript. Undated.
• —Recollections of My Life and Reflections on Times and Events During It, 1847-1936. 98-page typescript. Undated.
• Machebeuf, Matz, Tihen, Vehr, Casey, and Stafford Collections.
• Parish Records.
• Smith, Gregory. Taped and Typescript Memoirs. A 1977-79 oral history project conducted by the Archdiocesan Archivist, Sister Elizabeth Skiff.
• Smith, Matthew. Memoirs. Bound copy of articles serialized in the Denver Catholic Register, 1948-49.

• CWA Interviews. Alamosa, Conejos and Costilla Counties. 1934.
• WPA Federal Writers Program Manuscripts. Architecture of Denver Churches. 1939.
• Photo Collection.
• Place Name Files.

• WPA Survey of State and Local Historical Records. Colorado. Church Records. 1936-39.

• Clippings Files.
• Photo Files.

• Clipping Files.
• Photo Collection.
• Place Name files.

• Miscellaneous Documents.

• Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Loose Documents, Letters to and from Bishops Lamy and Machebeuf, 1853-1860.

Newspapers and Periodicals

• The Catholic Periodical and Literature Index (formerly the Guide To Catholic Literature. Bimonthly. Haverford, Penn.: The Catholic Library Association, 1930-1988.
• The Colorado Catholic (Denver)
• The Denver Catholic Register
• The Denver Post
• The Guild: Official Magazine of St. Thomas Seminary (Denver)
• Rocky Mountain News (Denver)

Books and Booklets

• Archdiocese of Denver. Official Directory. Denver: Archdiocese of Denver, 1960-Annual.
• Arps, Louisa Ward. Cemetery to Conservatory: A History of the Land Around Denver Botanic Gardens, 1859-1978. Denver: Denver Botanic Gardens, 1980.
• Arps, Louisa, ed. Faith on the Frontier: Religion in Colorado Before 1876. Denver: Colorado Council of Churches, 1976.
• Bolton, Herbert E. Pageant in the Wilderness: The Story of the Escalante Expedition to the Interior Basin, 1776. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Society, 1950.
• Breck, Allen D. The Episcopal Church in Colorado, 1860-1963. Denver: Big Mountain Press, 1963.
• Casey, M. Celestine, SL, and M. Edmond Fern, SL, Loretto in the Rockies. Denver: Loretto Heights College, 1943.
• City Club of Denver and Denver Public Library. Art in Denver. Denver: 1928.
• Cochran, Alice Cowan. Miners, Merchants and Missionaries: The Roles of Missionaries and Pioneer Churches in the Colorado Gold Rush and Its Aftermath, 1858-1870. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press and the American Theological Library Association, 1980.
• Darley, Alex M. The Passionists of the Southwest: Or, the Holy Brotherhood, A Revelation of the Penitentes. Pueblo: 1893; reprint by Rio Grande Press, Glorietta, New Mexico, 1968.
• Denver City Directories, 1873-1988 (various publishers). Annual.
• Dyer, John L. The Snow-Shoe Itinerant: An Autobiography. Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe, 1889; reprint by Father Dyer United Methodist Church, Breckenridge, 1975.
• Eberhart, Perry. Ghosts of the Colorado Plains. Athens, Ohio: Swallow Press, 1986.
• Gibbons, James Joseph. In the San Juan, Colorado Sketches. Chicago: Calumet Book and Engraving, 1898; reprint by St. Patrick's Parish, Telluride, 1972.
• Hallett, Paul H. Witness to Permanence: Reflections of a Catholic Journalist. San Francisco, Calif.: Ignatius Press, 1987.
• Hays, Alice Marie, OSB. A Song in the Pines: The History of Benet Hill Community. Colorado Springs: Benet Hill Benedictine Sisters, 1976.
• Horgan, Paul. Lamy of Santa Fe: His Life and Times. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975.
• Howlett, Willam J. Life of Bishop Machebeuf. Ed. with new foreword, endnotes and index by Thomas J. Steele, SJ, and Ronald S. Brockway. Pueblo: 1908; reprint by Regis College, Denver, 1987.
• Jones, William H. The History of Catholic Education in the State of Colorado. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1955.
• Malone, T. A. The Idea Persistent. Denver: Smith-Brooks, 1916.
• Manion, Patricia Jean, SL. Only One Heart: The Story of a Pioneer Nun in America. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1963.
• McMenamin, Hugh L., ed. The Pinnacled Glory of the West: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Denver: Smith-Brooks Printing, 1912.
• McNeill, Charles J. "The Catholic Church in Colorado." pp. 437-476. In LeRoy R. and Ann Hafen, Colorado. Denver: Old West, 1943.
• Mulroy, John R. Catholic Charities on the Wider Front, 1927-1951. Denver: Archdiocese of Denver, 1951.
• Noel, Thomas J. Denver's Larimer Street: Main Street, Skid Row and Urban Renaissance. Denver: Historic Denver, 1982.
• —. Denver: Rocky Mountain Gold. Tulsa, Okla.: Continental Heritage, 1980.
• Noel, Thomas J., and Barbara S. Norgren. Denver: The City Beautiful and Its Architects. Denver: Historic Denver, 1987.
• Official Catholic Directory. Wilmette, Ill.: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1817- .
• O Ryan, William, and Thomas H. Malone. History of the Catholic Church in Colorado. Denver: C.J. Kelly, Art Printing, 1889; reprint by the Denver Catholic Register, 1961.
• Rist, Martin. "History of Religion in Colorado." Vol 2. pp. 199-224. In LeRoy R. Hafen, ed., Colorado and Its People. N.Y.: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1948.
• Salpointe, Jean Baptiste. Soldiers of the Cross: Notes on the Ecclesiastical History of New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. Banning, Calif.: St. Boniface's Industrial School, 1898.
• Segale, Blandina, SC. At the End of the Santa Fe Trail. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Bruce Publishing, 1948.
• Shaffer, Ray. A Guide to Places on the Colorado Prairie, 1540-1975. Boulder: Pruett Publishing, 1978.
• Shikes, Robert H. Rocky Mountain Medicine: Doctors, Drugs and Disease in Early Colorado. Boulder: Johnson Books, 1986.
• Skiff, Elizabeth, SC. "Roman Catholics." pp. 98-104. In Louisa Ward Arps, ed. Faith on the Frontier: Religion in Colorado Before 1876. Denver: Colorado Council of Churches, 1976.
• Smiley, Jerome C. History of the City of Denver. Denver: Times Publishing, 1901; reprint with index by Western Americana, Denver, 1971.
• Stansell, Harold L., SJ. Regis: On the Crest of the West. Denver: Regis Educational Corporation, 1977.
• Stauter, Patrick C. The Willging Years. Chicago: Adams Press, 1986.
• Vález de Escalante, Silvestre. The Dominguez-Esclante Journal: Their Expedition through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in 1776. Trans. by Fray Angelico Ch vez and ed. by Ted J. Warner. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.

Articles

• Anthony, Brother Claudius, FSC. "Kit Carson, Catholic." New Mexico Historical Review 10 (December 1935): 331-36.
• Casey, James V. "Another Holocaust: The Nuclear Arms Race." Catholic Mind 76 (October 1978): 2-5.
• —. "Denver's Archdiocesan Investment Guidelines." Catholic Mind 77 (February 1979): 11-12.
• Espinosa, J. Manuel. "The Neapolitan Jesuits on the Colorado Frontier, 1868-1919." Colorado Magazine 15 (March 1938):64-73.
• Goodykoontz, Colin B. "Some Controversial Questions Before the Colorado Constitutional Convention of 1876." Colorado Magazine 17 (January 1940): 1-17.
• McMenamy, Claire "Our Lady of Guadalupe at Conejos, Colorado." Colorado Magazine 17 (September 1940): 180-83.
• Murphy, E.P. "Keeping the Record: Journal of Sister Blandina Segale." Commonweal 19 (November 17, 1933): 72-73.
• Noel, Thomas J. "Spiritual Rebirth: Hispanic Denver's Annunciation Parish." Colorado Heritage 3 (1988): 42-47.
• O Conner, Thomas F. "Bishop Machebeuf." Colorado Magazine 12 (July 1935): 130-39.
• —. "An Early Episcopal Visitation of Colorado: 1860 Letters of the Rt. Rev. John Baptiste Miege, S.J., D.D." Mid-America Magazine 18 (October 1936): 266-71.
• O'Hayre, Paul, as told to Bernard Kelly. "Father Howlett—Colorado's Centennial Priest." Empire Magazine of The Denver Post, (November 14, 1976): 41-52.
• Owens, M. Lilliana, SL. "Christ of the Rockies." Colorado Magazine 18 (May 1941): 110-13.
• —. "Julia Greeley, Colorado Angel of Charity." Colorado Magazine 20 (September 1943): 176-78.
• —. "Coming of the Sisters of Loretto to Denver and the Founding of St. Mary's Acadamy." Colorado Magazine 16 (November 1939): 231-35.
• —. "Denver's Pioneer Academy." Colorado Magazine 14 (May 1937): 85-92.
• Singular, Stephen. "Archbishop James V. Casey: Cautious Shepherd to a Restless Flock." Denver Magazine (December 1981): 47-49.
• Stafford, J. Francis. "On Being Catholic and American: This Home of Freedom." Origins 17 (June 11, 1987): 53-63.
• Sweeney, Elizabeth Ann. "The Catholic Church at Central City." Colorado Magazine 17 (September 1941): 180-86.

Interviews

• Anderson, John V. Denver. December 11 and 12, 1986.
• Babbs, Dorothy. Cincinnati Historical Society. Telephone interview, July 23, 1987.
• Barry, Thomas. Denver. March 18, 1987.
• Benjamin, Julia, OSF. Denver. February 26, 1988.
• Boggs, Julia. Denver. December 16, 1987.
• Bowles, Richard J. Denver. December 3, 1987.
• Chamberlain, Michael J., JCL. Denver. December 19, 1987.
• Downey, Mary Lucy, SCL. Denver. November 24, 1986.
• Hoffmann, Edward M. Denver. December 12, 1987.
• Jones, William H. Denver. November 5, 11, 1987.
• Keegan, Rosemary, SL. Denver. November 20, 1986.
• Kraus, William, OFM, CAP. Denver. February 25, 1988.
• Leonard, Dorothy. Denver. June 6, 1986.
• Mauck, James H. Denver. February 18, 1987.
• McCook, William J. Denver. February 11, 1988.
• McGath, Marie Therese, OP. Denver. September 27, 1987
• McGlone, Frank. Littleton. July 27, 1987.
• McManus, Jarlath, CSJ. Denver January 28, 1988.
• McNichols, Stephen L. R. Englewood. April 1, 27, 1987.
• Newell, Hubert M. Denver. January 29, 1987.
• Riedou, Alphonse. Denver. August 5, 1985.
• St. Peter, Lawrence. Denver. December 29, 1987.
• Smith, Gregory. Denver. March 23, 24; November 2, 1987; January 24, 1988.
• Smythe, Pete. Estabrook. June 26, 1988.
• Stafford, J. Francis. Denver. December 5, 1986; August 25, 1988.
• Stansell, Harold L., SJ. Denver. October 29, 1987.
• Woodrich, Charles B. Denver. December 29, 1987.

Dissertations

• Courbois-Moore, Marie-Annick de. The Stained Glass Windows of St. Thomas Seminary's Chapel. Boulder: University of Colorado M.A. Thesis. Fine Arts, 1984.
• Feely, Thomas Francis. Leadership in the Early Colorado Catholic Church. Denver: University of Denver Ph.D. Dissertation. History, 1973.
• Fowle, Mary Peter, RSM. The Beginnings of Catholic Education in Colorado before . . . 1887. Denver: University of Denver M.A. Thesis. 1938.
• Hastings, Martin F. Parochial Beginnings in Colorado to 1889. St. Louis: St. Louis University M.A. Thesis. 1941.
• Leonard, Stephen J. Denver's Foreign Born Immigrants, 1859-1900. Claremont, California: Claremont Graduate School and University Center Ph.D. Thesis. History, 1971.
• Linscome, Sanford A. A History of Musical Development in Denver, Colorado, 1858-1908. Austin: University of Texas Ph.D. Dissertation. Music, 1970.
• Madden, Loretto Anne, SL. The Social Apostolate of Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, First Bishop of Denver. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America M.A. Thesis. 1956.
• Rosen, Bernard. Social Welfare in the History of Denver. Boulder: University of Colorado Ph.D. Dissertation. History, 1976.