Jean-Baptiste Salpointe

{{Infobox Christian leader

| type = Bishop

| honorific-prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend

| name = Jean-Baptiste Salpointe

| title = Archbishop of Santa Fe

| image = Bishopsalpointe.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| church =

| archdiocese = Santa Fe

| diocese =

| see =

| term = July 18, 1885 – January 7, 1894

| predecessor = Jean-Baptiste Lamy

| successor = Placide Louis Chapelle

| motto =

| ordination = 20 December 1851

| ordinated_by =

| consecration =

| consecrated_by =

| rank =

| other_post = Vicar General of the Arizona Missions (1864–1868)
Bishop of Arizona Territory (1868–1885)

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1825|2|25|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Saint-Maurice-près-Pionsat, Puy-de-Dôme, France

| death_date = {{death date and age|1898|7|15|1825|2|25|df=yes}}

| death_place = Tucson, Arizona,
United States

| previous_post =

}}

Jean-Baptiste Salpointe ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ batist salpwɛ̃t}}; February 22, 1825 – July 15, 1898) was a French-born prelate who serve as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in New Mexico in the United States from 1885 to 1894.

Salpointe previously served as vicar apostolic of the Arizona Territory from 1868 to 1885.

Early life and education

Salpointe was born in Saint-Maurice-près-Pionsat, Puy-de-Dôme, France, to Jean and Jeanne (née Mandigon) Salpointe. He received his preparatory education in a school in Agen and studied the classics at the College of Clermont in present-day Clermont-Ferrand, France. He subsequently studied philosophy and theology in the Grand Seminary of Montferrand in Montferrand, France.

Salpointe was ordained a priest on December 20, 1851, and in 1859 he volunteered to come to the New Mexico Territory in the United States as a missionary.

Priesthood

In 1860, Salpointe was assigned to the parish in Mora, New Mexico, where he served for six years. The expanse of that parish extended for over 200 miles from north to south. Among his accomplishments at Mora was his success in persuading the Sisters of Loretto and the De La Salle Christian Brothers to come to the parish and establish schools there.

=Vicar Apostolic of Arizona=

In August 1864, Bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy of Santa Fe was informed that the Jesuits in Arizona had been recalled by their Superior and that the Arizona territory was left without priests to care for the spiritual wants of its people. Salpointe was appointed Vicar General of the Arizona Missions.

On February 7, 1866, Salpointe arrived in Tucson, Arizona, along with two priests from Santa Fe. At the time Arizona consisted of approximately 6,000 settlers in some half a dozen settlements and several mining camps, as well as the Native Americans that inhabited the territory. Salpointe set about building churches, organizing new congregations, and founding schools and hospitals in the territory. Salpointe helped complete the San Agustin Church in Tucson.{{cite news |url=https://tucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-downtown-street-name-honors-tucson-s-religious-roots/article_8810c540-7da5-5387-8856-b7608498c55f.html |first=David |last=Leighton |title=Street Smarts: Downtown street name honors Tucson's religious roots |work=Arizona Daily Star |date=December 9, 2014}} This was the first cathedral church built in what was then called the Arizona Territory, now the State of Arizona. In 1868 Arizona was given the status of a Vicariate Apostolic by the Church and Salpointe was appointed its first bishop.

=Back to Santa Fe=

On February 19, 1885, Bishop Salpointe was appointed coadjutor to Archbishop Lamy of Santa Fe, but remained as administrator of the Vicariate of Arizona until the appointment of his successor, Bishop Peter Bourgade, in early 1885. Salpointe then succeeded Lamy as Archbishop of Santa Fe on July 18, 1885.

Retirement and death

Archbishop Salpointe retired on January 7, 1894, and moved to Tucson, where he wrote a history of the Catholic Church in the Southwestern United States. Salpointe died on July 15, 1898, and is buried under the altar of St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson. Salpointe Catholic High School in that city is named in his honor.

References

{{Cite book| publisher = Banning, Cal. : St. Boniface's Industrial School| last = Salpointe| first = Jean-Baptiste| title = Soldiers of the cross. Notes on the ecclesiastical history of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado| accessdate = 2018-03-31| date = 1898| url = https://archive.org/details/soldiersofcrossn00salp}}
{{Cite book| publisher = Río Grande Books| isbn = 978-1-890689-57-5| last = Salpointe| first = Jean-Baptiste| title = The Indians of Arizona and New Mexico : nineteenth century ethnographic notes of Archbishop John Baptist Salpointe | location = Los Ranchos, NM| year = 2010}}

External links

{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Salpointe, Jean Baptist|year=1900 |short=x |notaref=x}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060207153258/http://www.archdiocesesantafe.org/ Archdiocese of Santa Fe]

{{succession box

| title=Vicariate Apostolic of Arizona

| before=Vicariate Created

| years=1868–1885

| after=Peter Bourgade

}}

{{succession box

| title=Archbishop of Santa Fe

| before=Jean-Baptiste Lamy

| years=1885–1894

| after=Placide Louis Chapelle

}}