In the Footsteps of Giovanni the Hermit
Padre Martínez speaks about his own excommunication
“I’ve always had trouble speaking and keeping my opinions to myself,” Padre Martínez continued. “I feel that I have a need to speak out, especially whenever there is social injustice by those who think they know what our own people need. That was the case with the first Bishop of Santa Fe.”
Giovanni looked up at him with compassion in his eyes. He could see that Padre Martínez was wrestling with mixed feelings as he tried to recall a painful episode in his life.
“Tell me, tell me what happened to you,” he said.
“Bishop Lamy had come to see me here in Taos shortly after his arrival here in New Mexico. He tried to preach to me about the state of the Church here, although he had only been in this area a few days. I have lived here all of my life!”
Again he paused and gathered his thoughts, trying to stifle the anger welling up in his throat.
“Lamy told me that he had a conversation with the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX. He told me that the Pope himself was very inexperienced, having come to the Chair of St. Peter only two years previously.”
The Hermit smiled, thinking of the power held by “the Chair.” He knew the humble wooden chair of St. Peter was encased within a gold reliquary in his cathedral in Rome. In fact, the word “cathedral” itself came from the ancient Greek word kathedra meaning “chair.”
“The Pope was quite busy at that time,” Padre Martínez continued. “He was trying to resolve some rumors started by a halfwitted peasant girl in Lourdes, France named Bernadette Soubirous. She was claiming that she had seen ‘a beautiful lady’ in a cave by the town dump. The lady had identified herself as ‘The Immaculate Conception.’ The Pope did not have the experience to make the ruling on the peasant girl’s claim by himself. He summoned forth his cardinals.
“Together they claimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception as indisputable. In order to add more weight to their ruling, they also proclaimed that the Pope, by the grace of God, cannot make a mistake. They called that ruling the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility.
“No wonder that when The Pope, not knowing the state of affairs in New Mexico, asked the Bishop Lamy to disband the Penitente Brotherhood, he had precious little knowledge of what it was. When Bishop Lamy had come to me with the Pope’s order, enforced by the encouragement of Cardinal Barnabo, I grew angry.”
“What did the bishop do then?” asked the Hermit.
“He asked his Chancellor Joseph Machebeuf and sent him here to Taos with but three words in French: ‘Fouetez le chat’ (‘Whip the cat’). This began a tradition here in Northern New Mexico by which the bogeyman always carries a whip.”
The Hermit smiled again at the idea that the first Bishop of Santa Fe was being compared to the bogeyman.
“And so it was,” continued Padre Martínez, “that Fr. Machebeuf arrived in Taos. He posted the writ of excommunication at the church door. As I approached to read it, he raised the paschal candle high with his right hand and pointed an accusatory finger to me with his left. With the lit candle still held over his head he began to chant in Latin by saying: ‘In nomini Patris et Filii et Spiritui Sancti,’ (‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost’), Padre Martínez, you stand excommunicate from Holy Mother The Church and in peril of your own immortal soul.’
“Then he snuffed out the light of the paschal candle and he plunged it into the waters of the baptismal font by the front door. I still don’t know just how he engineered it, but the water began to bubble and to sputter. Those who were watching thought that it was a sure sign that my soul was being damned to Hell for all time. The people quit going to the services in the moradas at least publicly. So great was their fear of the bishop. The Penitente Brotherhood was made pariah and driven underground. Something needed to be done by the people to show their dissatisfaction with the local church and its officials.”