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  Featured Books: Catholic
 
BRIDLEWOOD
(Forgive Me Father, for You Have Sinned)
By C. Frederick Long

Father Richard has settled into his new parish, Our Lady of Damascus Catholic Church, in the peaceful Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. It’s a far cry from New York City, his home for most of his life, but a married couple in his parish, Janet and Curtis, welcome him with open arms. They befriend their new priest, and he begins to settle into his new surroundings with ease, thanks to them. Unfortunately, his friendship with Janet soon grows into a forbidden love affair that takes them down an atmosphere of deception and intrigue. They go to any lengths to protect what they believe is an anointed union. The discovery of the affair not only devastates Curtis, but he also gets labeled as the town’s villain, leaving him with nowhere to turn in order to save his family until an unsuspecting ally gives him hope. Are the powers behind Father Richard too much for him to overcome? Includes Reading Guide

C. Frederick Long lives in Appalachia and is a practicing Roman Catholic. He is a graduate of Emory and Henry College and attended graduate school at East Tennessee State University. His areas of study are religious studies and American history. For several years, studying the Catholic Church and their practices concerning priesthood, marriage, and their views on celibacy for its priests has been of particular interest to him.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-602-8
122 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-318-8
122 pp.,$18.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-326-2
122 pp.,$3.99


BROTHERS OF LIGHT
The Penitentes of the Southwest
By Alice Corbin Henderson

Introduction to this edition by Lynn Cline.

In New Mexico, during Lent and Holy Week each year, the Penitent Brotherhood enacts a primitive Passion Play, which in its traditional ritual of self-torture represents a curious survival of the Middle Ages. Much lurid journalism has been devoted to the Penitentes, but in this sympathetic account by Alice Corbin Henderson, an eye-witness, the ceremonies are presented in their true aspect, with the historic background and reason for the survival clearly indicated. From this it appears that the religious custom of self-inflicted penance was introduced into the Southwest as early as 1598 by the Franciscan priests who accompanied Don Juan de Oñate and his soldiers and colonists on their way to the permanent settlement of the province of New Mexico—originally embracing all of our present Southwest. From that day the customs then inaugurated have been traditionally observed by the humble descendants of the Conquistadores.

Alice Corbin and William Penhallow Henderson lived in New Mexico and know its people and its colorful landscape intimately. The striking illustrations in black and white that appeared in the original 1937 edition are an integral part of the text of this new edition.

Also included in this edition along with an introduction by Lynn Cline is “Alice Corbin, An Appreciation” from New Mexico Quarterly Review in 1949, an article by Marc Simmons from The Santa Fe New Mexican, and a review of the book from New Mexico Quarterly at the time of publication of the original edition in 1937 by T. M. Pearce.

Sample Chapter

Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-573-1
192 pp.,$34.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-894-3
192 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-648-5
192 pp.,$5.99


CHARITY'S SISTER
The Story of Sister Mary Joaquin Bitler, SC
By Mari Graña

In 1951, when Sister of Charity Mary Joaquin Bitler was called to Santa Fe, New Mexico to be the Supervisor of Nursing at Santa Fe's antiquated St. Vincent Hospital, she remarked that the 1910 Catholic hospital was surviving on "nerve and hope." Later, as Administrator (1960 – 1976), she was lauded locally and nationally for her achievements in health care and for bringing that care to the poor of New Mexico. Considered by many a brilliant businesswoman, she turned St. Vincent's into a state-of-the art facility in its time, managed by a community corporation. Sister Mary Joaquin's story tells of a very complex personality. A tough hospital administrator, she had many admirers as well as some enemies; a devout nun, she drew strength from her religion to open her heart to the poor and the sick, while she herself suffered a chronic and debilitating illness.

In 1977, after succeeding in her goal to build Santa Fe a new and greatly expanded community-owned hospital, Sister Joaquin retreated to a life of contemplation and prayer in a little hermitage in central Mexico. Appalled by the poverty and sickness around her—the distended stomachs of hungry children, the heart-breaking number of infant deaths from dysentery and other parasitic diseases—she opened a small clinic in her hermitage to treat the villagers, most of whom had never seen a doctor or had any access to health care. Her last years were spent living as a hermit in New Mexico's Christ in the Desert Benedictine Monastery until her death in 2003.

Charity's Sister is a book that will appeal to students of medicine, Southwest history and women's history, as well as being a testament to one woman's profound strength of will, to one who always sought divine guidance in dealing with adversities in her own life and in the many lives she touched.

Mari Graña has published books on New Mexico history and on western women in medicine. Her memoir, Begoso Cabin, won the Willa Cather Award from Women Writing the West for best memoir of 2000, and the biography of her physician grandmother, Pioneer Doctor, was a finalist for the same award in 2006. Charity's Sister is the third in a series on women in medicine. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sample Chapter
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Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=tmSVyqpSO1AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=9780865347779&hl=en&ei=5aCkTJno

Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-604-2
166 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-777-9
166 pp.,$19.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-189-3
166 pp.,$5.99


COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS
A History of The Sacred Heart Church, Nambé, New Mexico
By Carolina M. Romero de Luján and Alfredo Celedón Luján

Order from Sunstone: (800) 243-5644

Like a sentinel, The Sacred Heart Church—La iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús—sits at the crossroads atop a hill overlooking the bucolic green valle of Nambé, New Mexico. From the panoramic and hallowed church property, one has clear vistas of the magnificent Sangre de Cristo Mountains. In this most tranquil setting, members of the parish gather every Sunday morning for mass at 8:30. The masses, celebrated by many revered priests and gifted musicians and vocalists over the years, are holy and serene—calm for the soul.

This book, through research and interviews by Carolina Romero de Luján, is a compilation of the church history and is co-authored by her son, Alfredo Celedón. Its purpose is to document, thus preserve, the oral history of the church and cemetery in written form and is designed for the reading and viewing pleasure of the families of Nambé and their succeeding generations, as well as for readers who are interested in northern New Mexico history. This book also serves as a reminder that Nambeseños, through their collective good spirit and work ethic, built the church over 100 years ago, rebuilt it after it burned down in 1946, and continue to maintain its architectural dignity through constant care to this day.

Carolina Romero de Luján is a life-long resident of Nambé and a meticulous record keeper. She is the daughter of Juanita Sena de Romero and Petronilo, the wife of Ismael Ernesto, and the mother of Alfredo, Ernie, and Jessica Ramona. She raised her family in the valley where she attended Nambé Elementary School and is a graduate of Pojoaque High School. She is retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Alfredo Celedón Luján is hijo of Carolina and Ernesto. He is the husband of Amy and the father of Amanda, Mabel, and Peter. He attended Nambé Elementary School and is a graduate of Pojoaque High School. He is a career educator in northern New Mexico, graduate of New Mexico State University and the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College.


Softcover:
8 1/2 x 8 1/2
ISBN: 978-0-86534-943-8
132 pp.,$18.95


GOD'S WARRIOR
Father Albert Braun, OFM, 1889-1983
By Dorothy Cave

Fellow priests called his ministry “just short of a miracle.” A superior castigated him as “an adventurer,” Apaches and migrant Mexicans claimed him “one of us.” To his fellow soldiers he was “a man’s man.” Of himself he chuckled, “I’ve been in mischief all my life.”

He was Father Albert Braun, OFM, in turn mule-headed, explosive, or penitent. Vigorously outspoken, he once charged a group of august bishops to “get off your butts and out among the people.” His sense of duty was profound, his humor crusty. He arrived in New Mexico as missionary to the Mescalero Apaches just after Pancho Villa’s raid, was a highly decorated chaplain in both World Wars, and after World War II he participated in the top-secret birth of the first hydrogen bomb on a south Pacific atoll.

Drawing on archival and military records, letters, memoirs, and interviews, Dorothy Cave chronicles the amazing life of this last of the frontier priests from his birth in the lusty, brawling California of 1889, to his death and burial in 1983 in the church he built for his beloved Mescaleros. This book is at once a biography and a kaleidoscopic history of the tumultuous times in which he lived. From it there emerges the inspiring saga of a man who changed thousands of lives with faith, humor, dedication, and a generous dash of pure hard-headed cussedness.

Dorothy Cave spent much of her childhood exploring with her geologist father the isolated villages and mountains of northern New Mexico, a practice she continues today. Although her formal education was at Agnes Scott College and the Universities of Colorado and Wyoming, she feels her true education has come from these remote but rapidly vanishing hamlets and pueblos and from the soil-rooted wisdom of those who live in them. Cave has traveled widely, danced with the Atlanta Ballet, acted, and taught. She is the author of two histories: Beyond Courage, which won the New Mexico Presswomen's Zia Award, and Four Trails to Valor, both from Sunstone Press. Her two novels, Mountains of the Blue Stone and Song on a Blue Guitar were also published by Sunstone Press. Cave served as historical consultant for two documentary films: Colors of Courage, produced by Scott Henry and E. Anthony Martinez for the University of New Mexico’s Center for Regional Studies; and for Aaron Wilson’s award-winning A New Mexico Story, based largely on her Beyond Courage. She appears in both films as narrator/commentator. Beyond Courage also inspired composer Steven Melillo’s musical opus of the same title, acclaimed on two continents.

Sample Chapter
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Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=OERBzum8eN0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=9780865345201&hl=en&ei=oCHQTsX5

Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-421-5
576 pp.,$46.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-520-1
576 pp.,$32.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-264-7
576 pp.,$7.99


THE GUADALUPE HISTORIC FOUNDATION
How a Secular, Non-profit Organization Saved Santa Fe’s Most Religious Site
By Kay Lockridge

A history of the Guadalupe Historic Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico and how they restored and preserved the Santuario de Guadalupe built in the 18th century in Santa Fe.

Order from Sunstone Press: (800) 243-5644

The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe envisioned by a peasant in 16th century Mexico has been told over and over throughout the ensuring centuries, as has that of the Santuario de Guadalupe built in 18th century Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Franciscan friars who accompanied the Spanish Colonial colonists on the Camino Real (Road of the Royals) from Mexico to Santa Fe, bringing with them their Roman Catholic faith and devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. While the Santuario was not the first shrine to Our Lady in what became the United States, it is the oldest, still-used such structure in this nation. Yet, by the middle of the 20th century, the Santuario was in such disrepair that the parish considered demolishing it and paving over the site for a parking lot. Some said only a miracle could save it. This book goes behind the scenes and tells—for the first time—how a small, dedicated group of volunteers formed a secular, non-profit foundation in 1975 and proceeded to save the Santuario for generations to come. Over the next 30 years, these people, and hundreds more, gave their time, money and efforts to accomplish this miracle.

Journalist Kay Lockridge has covered breaking news, both locally and nationally, since she was a teenager. Newspapers, magazines and The Associated Press have carried her byline for the past fifty years. What began as an independent investigative effort in 2015 developed into this book.


Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-158-0
88 pp.,$18.95


HISTORIC CATHOLIC CHURCHES ALONG THE RIO GRANDE IN NEW MEXICO
By David Policansky

In this stunning collection, the photographer/author has fulfilled a long-term mission to photograph the captivating and evocative historic Catholic churches of the state of New Mexico. The mission became a journey that covered the highways, back roads, and SUV trails of the state, from north to south, east to west. He has driven these roads, photographing these churches that reflect New Mexico’s complex history and beautiful landscapes, and talked to many people who attend, maintain, and love them. His descriptions of the churches reflect that complex beauty and provide enough information for the reader to find each of them. The photographs and descriptions also reflect an urgency: many small, rural, historic churches in New Mexico lack funds for maintenance as rural populations decline, and some of them are at risk of disappearing forever. This volume covers the churches along the Rio Grande, a transportation and trade corridor for millennia and home to many of New Mexico’s oldest Catholic churches. The churches include famous and imposing ones like Holy Cross in Santa Cruz de la Cañada, with its glorious artwork, and more-modest ones off the beaten track like San Antonio Mission Church in Alamillo. They include churches from near the Mexican border in the south to Taos County in the north, covering not only a geographic span but a time span from the early 1700s to the 20th century. The churches reflect the diversity of New Mexico’s communities and history. Each is unique and each one claims the Land of Enchantment as home.

David Policansky was born in Cape Town, South Africa and came to the United States for his higher education. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford University and masters and PhD degrees in biology from the University of Oregon. He taught biology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and did research, and has published more than 35 scientific papers. He later worked as a staff officer and scholar at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC where he directed or contributed to about 60 published reports. After living in Washington for many years, he and his wife spent more and more time in New Mexico, where they now live for half of the year, attracted by its spectacular landscapes and diverse and fascinating history and cultures.

David has been interested in churches, especially Catholic churches, for many decades. He began photographing New Mexico’s historic adobe, stone, and brick churches in 2005 and has continued to do so, with increasing urgency as it becomes clearer that these churches do not last forever. He says that he is not a historian or a regular church-goer, but photographing New Mexico churches together has deepened his appreciation of New Mexico’s marvelous cultural and natural landscapes, including the fact that the descendants of these New Spanish/Mexican colonists have been here as long and are just as American as the descendants of the Mayflower pilgrims. He adds that when you consider the even longer history here of the Native Americans, you can begin to understand the complexity and profundity of the factors that have led to the presence of these beautiful buildings all over New Mexico.


Hardcover:
11 x 8.5
ISBN: 978-1-63293-368-3
126 pp.,$50.00

Softcover:
11 x 8.5
ISBN: 978-1-63293-364-5
126 pp.,$40.00


HISTORIC CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO
By David Policansky

In this second collection, the photographer/author has continued his long-term mission to photograph the captivating and evocative historic Catholic churches of the state of New Mexico. The mission became a journey that covered the highways, back roads, and trails of the state, from north to south, east to west. He has driven these roads, photographing these churches that reflect New Mexico's complex history and beautiful landscapes, and talked to many people who attend, maintain, and love them. His descriptions of the churches reflect that complex beauty and provide enough information for the reader to find each of them. The photographs and descriptions also reflect an urgency: many small, rural, historic churches in New Mexico lack funds for maintenance as rural populations decline, and some of them are at risk of disappearing forever. This volume covers the churches in central and southern New Mexico, churches south of Interstate 40. The churches include famous and imposing ones like San Esteban del Rey in Acoma Pueblo, and more modest ones off the beaten track like San Isidro Mission Church in Borica. They include churches from near the Mexican border in the south to the Arizona border in the west and the Texas border in the east, covering not only a wide geographic span but a time span from the 1600s to the 20th century. The churches reflect the diversity of New Mexico's communities and history. Each is unique and each one claims the Land of Enchantment as home.

David Policansky was born in Cape Town, South Africa and came to the United States for his higher education. He received a bachelor's degree in biology from Stanford University and masters and PhD degrees in biology from the University of Oregon. He taught biology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and did research, and has published more than 35 scientific papers. He later worked as a staff officer and scholar at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC where he directed or contributed to about 60 published reports. After living in Washington for many years, he and his wife spent more and more time in New Mexico, where they now live for half of the year, attracted by its spectacular landscapes and diverse and fascinating history and cultures. David has been interested in churches, especially Catholic churches, for many decades. He began photographing New Mexico's historic adobe, stone, and brick churches in 2005 and has continued to do so, with increasing urgency as it becomes clearer that these churches do not last forever. He is not a historian or a regular church-goer, but photographing New Mexico churches has deepened his appreciation of New Mexico's marvelous cultural and natural landscapes, including the fact that the descendants of these New Spanish/Mexican colonists have been here as long and are just as American as the descendants of the Mayflower pilgrims. When you consider the even longer history of the Native Americans, you begin to understand the complexity and profundity of the factors that have led to the presence of these beautiful buildings all over New Mexico.


Hardcover:
11 x 8.5
ISBN: 978-1-63293-394-2
150 pp.,$60.00

Softcover:
11 x 8.5
ISBN: 978-1-63293-393-5
150 pp.,$45.00


HISTORIC CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NORTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO
By David Policansky

In this third stunning collection, the photographer and author continues his long-term mission to photograph the captivating and evocative historic Catholic churches of the state of New Mexico. The mission became a journey that covered the highways, back roads, and 4WD trails of the state, from north to south, east to west. He has driven these roads, photographing these churches that reflect New Mexico’s complex history and beautiful landscapes, and talked to many people who attend, maintain, and love them. His photographs and descriptions of the churches reflect that complex beauty and provide enough information for the reader to find each of them. They also reflect an urgency: many small, rural, historic churches in New Mexico lack funds for maintenance as rural populations decline, and some of them are at risk of disappearing forever. This volume covers the churches in northeastern New Mexico, churches north of Interstate 40 and east of Santa Fe County and of the western half of Taos County. The churches include famous and imposing ones like San Francisco de Asís in Ranchos de Taos, and more modest ones off the beaten track like the Chapel of San Isidro in Tinaja. They cover not only a geographic span but a time span from the early 1700s to the 20th century. Each church is unique, each has its own story, and each one claims the Land of Enchantment as home.

David Policansky, born in Cape Town, South Africa, came to the United States for his higher education. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford University and master’s and PhD degrees in biology from the University of Oregon. He has published more than 35 scientific papers. He also worked at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, where he contributed to about 60 published reports. He and his wife have long loved New Mexico, where they now live for half of the year, attracted by its spectacular landscapes and diverse and fascinating history and cultures. David began photographing New Mexico’s historic adobe, stone, and brick churches in 2005 and has continued to do so, with increasing urgency as it becomes clearer that these churches do not last forever. This interest in New Mexico’s churches led to his previous books, Historic Catholic Churches Along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Historic Catholic Churches of Central and Southern New Mexico. He says that he is not a historian or a regular church-goer, but photographing New Mexico churches has deepened his appreciation of New Mexico’s marvelous cultural and natural landscapes, including the fact that the descendants of these New Spanish/Mexican colonists have been here as long and are just as American as the descendants of the Mayflower pilgrims. He adds that when you consider the even longer history here of the Native Americans, you can begin to understand the complexity and profundity of the factors that have led to the presence of these beautiful buildings all over New Mexico.


Hardcover:
11 x 8.5
ISBN: 978-1-63293-543-4
156 pp.,$65.00

Softcover:
11 x 8.5
ISBN: 978-1-63293-542-7
156 pp.,$50.00


HOLY WEEK IN TOMÉ
A New Mexico Passion Play
By Thomas J. Steele, S. J., Translator

Order: (800) 243-5644

Like so many folk customs, the Tomé (New Mexico) Passion Play was passed along orally from generation to generation for nearly two hundred years. The same drama that Fray Francisco Dominguez mentioned in 1776 was still being performed in 1947 when it was filmed by a local resident. It was at this time that Fred Landavazo, Edwin Berry and Juan Estevan Zamora realized that the drama, already threatened by a modern, disinterested world, should be preserved in a more permanent form. Through their efforts a script was produced before the final performance of the play in 1955. HOLY WEEK IN TOME, an important religious and historical folk document, is now for the first time made available in its original form with translations and annotations by Fr. Thomas Steele.

Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=mbriIiUHJVAC

Softcover:
5 1/2 x 8 1/2
ISBN: 978-0-91327-063-9
208 pp.,$16.95


LA CONQUISTADORA / Chavez
The Story of a Famous Religious Statue
By Fray Angélico Chávez

Order from Sunstone: (505) 988-4418

Written as an autobiography, the author lets this famous willow wood statue speak for herself, tell her own story from the time she was brought to New Mexico in 1625 by Fray Benavides until the present. Many photographs bring this remarkable history to life. Fray Angélico researched, translated and annotated facts about the statue's history, its religious society, its fiestas and chapels, correcting the mistakes and folklore held as truth for more than two centuries.

Fray Angélico Chávez has been called a renaissance man and New Mexico's foremost twentieth-century humanist by biographer Ellen McCracken. Any way you measure his career, Fray Angélico Chávez was an unexpected phenomenon in the wide and sunlit land of the American Southwest. In the decades following his ordination as a Franciscan priest in 1937, Chávez performed the difficult duties of an isolated backcountry pastor. His assignments included Hispanic villages and Indian pueblos. As an army chaplain in World War II, he accompanied troops in bloody landings on Pacific islands, claiming afterwards that because of his small stature, Japanese bullets always missed him.

In time, despite heavy clerical duties, Fray Angélico managed to become an author of note, as well as something of an artist and muralist. Upon all of his endeavors, one finds, understandably, the imprint of his religious perspective. During nearly seventy years of writing, he published almost two dozen books. Among them were novels, essays, poetry, biographies, and histories. Sunstone Press has brought back into print some of these rare titles.

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Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=P6-uu6MfNBYC

Hardcover:
ISBN: 978-1-63293-420-8
96 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-91327-043-1
96 pp.,$12.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-987-5
96 pp.,$9.99


LA CONQUISTADORA / Chevalier
Unveiling the History of a Six Hundred Year Old Religious Icon
By Jaima Chevalier

Order from Sunstone: (800) 243-5644

Few religious icons dominate and inspire their subjects as powerfully as La Conquistadora, America’s Oldest Madonna, has over the centuries. Don Diego de Vargas carried her image as a message of peace and reconciliation when the Spanish returned to Santa Fe after the Pueblo Revolt. In frontier times, a well-known local madam was especially devoted to her. In modern times, her fame has reached throughout the world, while her local devotional society has provided a link between the very rich and the very poor in Santa Fe, even as it served as a power base for city and state politics. While maintaining her place in the hearts of Santa Feans, La Conquistadora has also taken the throne at the heart of the ancient city's history, and she has the scars to prove it.

With features sometimes called "Palestinian" and startling blue eyes, La Conquistadora’s origins are shrouded in mystery, but Jaima Chevalier unveils surprising new information about this icon's amazing provenance and past. A never-before-seen x-ray suggests the transformations La Conquistadora has undergone, while material from the journals of one of her most loyal devotees recalls the tense weeks of her 1973 kidnapping. Finally, Chevalier discovers the key to the long-standing mystery surrounding the wood used to craft the statue. This book fuses recent scientific discoveries with the stories and legends that comprise La Conquistadora's incredible mythology, creating a lyrical meditation that resonates with history throughout the centuries and across two continents and embracing Santa Fe, New Mexico as a crossroads of different cultures.

Jaima Chevalier is a native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, with deep ties to her home state. After the extraordinary circumstance of spending the first few years of her life in the basement of New Mexico's Laboratory of Anthropology, her family moved to the ranch outside of Santa Fe where she now raises her two children. Chevalier served as a researcher and associate producer for a 2009 history documentary made by Silver Horn Entertainment. She is the principal of Picture This, a local marketing and public relations firm.

Sample Chapter
Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=72QL93y9FsAC&dq=la+conquistadora+Chevalier&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Softcover:
7 x 10
ISBN: 978-0-86534-789-2
110 pp.,$18.95


LA CONQUISTADORA / Houser
The Story of the Oldest Statue of the Virgin Mary in the United States
By Sue Houser

Order from Sunstone: (800) 243-5644

The oldest image of the Virgin Mary in the United States, a petite wooden statue, accompanied Spanish Conquistadors and missionaries to the Kingdom of Nuevo Mexico in 1625. Her existence has been tumultuous. She was rescued from a burning church, kidnapped and held for ransom, and had her wooden form mutilated and remade. This book conveys the essence of devotion given to the statue who is yearly celebrated at La Fiesta de Santa Fe and yearly carried in procession based on a promise made over 300 years ago. She is the Queen of New Mexico, enthroned in her own chapel at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has the wardrobe of a Spanish Queen with over 200 exquisite gowns and priceless crowns and jewelry. Her name is La Conquistadora, "Our Lady of the Conquest." Was she a conqueror of territories or a conqueror of hearts and healer of human weaknesses? This is her story.

Sue Houser is a native of New Mexico and is interested in preserving the history and culture of the state. A retired social worker, she writes about the inspiration and passion behind the stories. This is her second historical, non-fiction book.

Sample Chapter
Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=xr3l9d3STegC&printsec=frontcover&dq=9780865348301&hl=en&ei=ryLQTtHC

Softcover:
7 x 10
ISBN: 978-0-86534-830-1
94 pp.,$30.00


THE LEGEND OF GALISTEO
La Leyenda de Galisteo, A Mystical Tale
By Marjorie Atwood

Bilingual English/Spanish translation, illustrated.

Order from Sunstone: (800) 243-5644

This Spanish/English, beautifully illustrated, book about a famous New Mexican legend, tells the story of a beating heart found in a rough-hewn box in the desert and is taken and kept on the altar of a local church, bringing the healing of love to all. The author says, “There are places and times that are chosen for us. For those who feel a heart beat, nothing is every the same.”

“This warm, almost poetic, tale of the beating heart will touch and melt even the most hard-hearted among us. The lesson? For you, the reader, to discern.” —Book Talk


Softcover:
5 1/2 x 8 1/2
ISBN: 978-0-86534-154-8
32 pp.,$12.95


LORETTO AND THE MIRACULOUS STAIRCASE
The History of the Staircase Built Without Hands
By Alice Bullock

Order from Sunstone: (505) 988-4418

Who built the mysterious spiral staircase in the little chapel at Loretto Inn in Santa Fe, New Mexico? Was it a master craftsman or the work of good St. Joseph? Archbishop John B. Lamy had the chapel, patterned after the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, built for the Sisters of Loretto and the young ladies of the academy. When the school closed after more than a century of outstanding service, the site was sold. Old and new owners agreed that the chapel, and the famous staircase, must be preserved for its beauty and peace—now and in the future.

Alice Bullock explored “the Land of Enchantment” in depth, ferreting out the legends and folklore of New Mexico. She spent almost three years collecting these stories, recording and thus saving many of them for posterity. An “almost-native” New Mexican (she arrived in the area at age eight) Alice grew up in Gardiner and graduated from Colfax County High School in Raton. She became a country school teacher and then a reporter and freelance writer. She is also the author of Living Legends of the Santa Fe Country, Mountain Villages of New Mexico, and Monumental Ghosts, all from Sunstone Press.

Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=lK1cAAAAMAAJ&q=0913270806&dq=0913270806&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Fe_PT5iIBISQ2

Softcover:
5 1/2 x 8 1/2
ISBN: 978-0-91327-080-6
18 pp.,$3.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-948-6
18 pp.,$2.99


LOS PENITENTES
A Brief History
By William Farrington

Order from Sunstone Press: (800) 243-5644

One of the most fascinating, written about, and misunderstood religious groups in the world is Los Hermanos Penitentes, a Catholic brotherhood found only in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. As with all cultures, societies and organizations lacking a written literary tradition, the recorded history of the Penitentes is full of compounded errors and misinterpretations, Legends and folklore, handed down orally over the years, are open to interpretations that are, perhaps, wide of the mark. But the facts, such as they are, have come from outside observers, scholarly researchers and obvious detractors with a religious bias. Somewhere among all that has been written lies the truth, but since no hermano has ever told or written the true story, much is still left to conjecture. From the recorded facts this booklet has been compiled with, it is hoped, some measure of objectivity.

William Farrington was a professional librarian for twenty-five years in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and California. His non-fiction articles have appear in national magazines and he has served as a book reviewer for various periodicals. He is also the author of Prehistoric and Historic Pottery of the Southwest, A Bibliography, also published by Sunstone Press.

On the cover: “Three Black Shawls,” William Shuster (1893–1969), c. 1930. Etching with watercolor 3 x 3 7/8”


Softcover:
5 1/1 x 8 1/2
ISBN: 978-0-913270-71-4
32 pp.,$12,95


THE MATACHINES DANCE
A Ritual Dance of the Indian Pueblos and Mexicano/Hispano Communities
By Sylvia Rodriguez

The Matachines dance is a ritual drama performed on certain saint’s days in Pueblo Indian and Mexicano/Hispano communities along the upper Río Grande valley in New Mexico and elsewhere in the American Southwest. It derives from a genre of medieval European folk dramas symbolizing conflict between Christians and Moors. Spaniards brought it to the Americas as a vehicle for Christianizing the Indians. In this book, Rodríguez explores the colorful, complex, and often enigmatic Matachines dance as it is performed today.

In the Upper Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, the Matachines is the only ritual dance performed in both Indian Pueblos and Hispano communities. There, the dance involves two lines of masked dancers, a young girl in white and her crowned, masked, male partner, a bull, and two clowns. Accompanied usually by violin and guitar, these characters enact a choreographic drama that symbolizes encounter, struggle, and transformation-resolution.

In this classic, prize-winning ethnographic study, anthropologist and native New Mexican Sylvia Rodríguez compares Indian Pueblo and Hispano Matachines dance performance traditions to discover what they share, how they differ, what they reveal about specific communities, and what they mean to those who continue to perform them with devotion and skill.

Sylvia Rodríguez, a professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico, studies interethnic relations in the US-Mexico Borderlands, with particular focus on Hispano/Mexicano-Pueblo-Anglo relations in the Upper Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. She holds degrees from Barnard College and Stanford University, and has taught at Carleton College and the University of California, Los Angeles. Her publications deal with the impact of tourism on ethnic relations; the politics of identity, place, and representation; identity and ritual; and conflict over land and water. She continues to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in and around her home town of Taos.

Sample Chapter
Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=XogChaZaM0IC&dq=9780865346345&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-283-9
256 pp.,$29.95

Softcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-634-5
256 pp.,$24.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-63293-233-3
256 pp.,$6.99


THE MISSIONS OF NEW MEXICO Since 1776
By John L. Kessell

Order from Sunstone: (800) 243-5644

The Bicentennial of the United States in 1976 gave rise to myriad projects. In New Mexico—still a borderlands possession of Spain in 1776—an unusually keen Franciscan observer, Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, painted an extraordinarily detailed and often unflattering word picture of the colony. The Missions of New Mexico, 1776, impeccably translated and edited by distinguished historians Eleanor B. Adams and Fray Angélico Chávez, is a single source like no other that reveals life in raw and remote, late-eighteenth-century New Mexico.

Dispatched from Mexico City as canonical inspector of the missions of New Mexico, the meticulous Father Domínguez stepped off the measurements of the churches, counted the number of ceiling beams, and described the physical layout and contents of the missions, all to the delight of subsequent architectural and art historians. Given such detailed descriptions of the missions’ fabric in 1776, a simple question arose. What has become of these mud-and-stone-built structures in the past two hundred years?

Historian John L. Kessell’s The Missions of New Mexico Since 1776 addresses that question. “Two hundred years after Domínguez,” Kessell concludes, “the survival count is nothing to brag about. Of the thirty-two churches or chapels he recorded in 1776, twelve persist on more or less the same foundations in more or less the same form–San Miguel in Santa Fe, Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Picurís, Las Trampas, Tomé, Cochití, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Zia, Laguna, Ácoma, and Isleta.” And none of these has fallen since 1980. Most, in fact, are being lovingly cared for.

Played out differently at each location, all of Domínguez’s churches underwent the same progression. First came neglect as Spain’s American empire crumbled and Mexico tried to rule. Next Anglos peddling modernization offered tin roofs for dirt or, better still, new structures for old. By then, however, nostalgic folks had begun experiencing the charm of the outdated, and the Pueblo-Mission style of architecture was born. Simultaneously, just in time toward the end of the nineteenth century, dawned the continuing era of historic preservation. New Mexico’s surviving missions had become monuments.

The new editions of Missions and Missions Since from Sunstone Press make readily available these two complementary fixtures of New Mexico cultural studies.

Born in New Jersey and raised in California, John L. Kessell did not set out to be a professional historian. His work in the 1960s, however, at Tumacacori National Monument, site of a Spanish colonial mission, alerted him to the possibility. Returning to graduate school with new purpose, he earned his doctorate at the University of New Mexico, survived a precarious decade as historian-for-hire, and joined the UNM Department of History. His major historical editing project with colleagues Rick Hendricks, Meredith D. Dodge, and Larry D. Miller resulted in the six-volume Journals of don Diego de Vargas, New Mexico, 1691–1704. Kessell is also author of Kiva, Cross and Crown: The Pecos Indians and New Mexico, 1540–1840, Pueblos, Spaniards, and the Kingdom of New Mexico, and East Orange by Christmas, the latter also from Sunstone Press.


Softcover:
8 1/4 x 11
ISBN: 978-0-86534-870-7
302 pp.,$30.00


THE MISSIONS OF NEW MEXICO, 1776
By Eleanor B. Adams and Fray Angélico Chávez, Translators and Annotators

Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, canonical inspector of the missions of New Mexico in 1776, compared most everything in New Mexico to Mexico City, “the delightful and alluring cradle of my birth, for which no praise is ever adequate.” And hardly anything measured up. He disparaged the people of New Mexico and the religious art of Spanish immigrant Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco. Then, by an ironic twist later in 1776, Domínguez found himself on a five-month vision quest with Miera and Fray Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. Domínguez likened New Mexican churches to hacienda granaries, wine cellars, or Mexican pulque parlors. He found fault with certain of his Franciscan brethren, calling them on their drunkenness, insubordination, or public scandal. Yet all the while, Father Domínguez maintained the keen eye and curiosity of a born observer.

From no other document do we learn so much about daily life in raw and remote late colonial New Mexico. How much a nanny goat cost (2 pesos), a fat pig (12 pesos), a trade knife (1 buffalo hide), a captive Indian girl from twelve to twenty years old (2 good horses and assorted dry goods), or the funeral of a Spanish child with tall cross and cope (8 pesos); how to prepare atole or chocolate (not coffee); the resentment of the colony’s merchants toward their Chihuahua creditors and the fatalism of New Mexican families living under constant threat of Comanche attack; or where to catch trout—such details abound.

Domínguez’s superiors, however, resentful of his unflattering wordiness and occasional wit, filed his commentary away unceremoniously and forgot it. Since its rediscovery in 1928 and now published in a new edition, the unparalleled Domínguez report has often been compared to the 1630 and 1634 memorials of Fray Alonso de Benavides. The contrast could scarcely be sharper. Benavides looked out hopefully upon a young colony bent upon the Christian conversion of the Pueblo Indians, and Domínguez saw realistically what an ever more secular world had wrought. Whereas Benavides condemned Pueblo Indian ceremonial kivas as dens of devil worship, Domínguez routinely inventoried them as men’s club houses. For their timely views, we are deeply indebted to both men.

The collaboration of Eleanor B. Adams—woman of letters, editor, and historian of colonial Latin America—and Fray Angélico Chávez—man of letters, priest, artist, and historian of Hispanic New Mexico—could not have been more fortuitous. Together, they polished for us this unique window on late-eighteenth-century New Mexico, providing a seamless translation as well as explanatory materials. It is more than fitting that by their art the words of the uncompromising Father Domínguez live on.


Hardcover:
8 1/2 x 11
ISBN: 978-1-63293-489-5
410 pp.,$48.95

Softcover:
8 1/2 x 11
ISBN: 978-0-86534-869-1
410 pp.,$45.00

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-517-4
410 pp.,$9.99


MY PENITENTE LAND
Reflections of Spanish New Mexico
By Fray Angélico Chávez

This unusual book, Fray Angélico Chávez’s personal meditation on his cultural heritage, is also a kind of spiritual autobiography of the Hispano people of New Mexico. The spirit of New Mexico, he feels, grows out of its dry mountain terrain whose hills and valleys resemble those of Spain and of ancient Palestine. Just as this kind of landscape helped the Hebrew shepherd Abraham to find his God, so in Fray Angélico’s view, have New Mexico’s mountains kept her people close to their God. In evoking this special closeness between the divine and the human, the author returns repeatedly to the Penitentes of New Mexico—the societies of men who scourge themselves and replay the Crucifixion each Holy Week to share the sufferings of their Savior.

Some of his ideas will spark controversy over the meaning of New Mexico’s past, but Fray Angélico Chávez’s viewpoint, representing that of many native Spanish Americans, deserves the attention of every reader with an interest in the state’s Hispanic heritage. No one can read this book without gaining a new understanding of the world of the New Mexican Hispano imbedded in the dry, hilly landscape of the majestic Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Fray Angélico Chávez has been called a renaissance man and New Mexico's foremost twentieth-century humanist by biographer Ellen McCracken. Any way you measure his career, Fray Angélico Chávez was an unexpected phenomenon in the wide and sunlit land of the American Southwest. In the decades following his ordination as a Franciscan priest in 1937, Chávez performed the difficult duties of an isolated backcountry pastor. His assignments included Hispanic villages and Indian pueblos. As an army chaplain in World War II, he accompanied troops in bloody landings on Pacific islands, claiming afterwards that because of his small stature, Japanese bullets always missed him.

In time, despite heavy clerical duties, Fray Angélico managed to become an author of note as well as something of an artist and muralist. Upon all of his endeavors one finds, understandably, the imprint of his religious perspective. During nearly seventy years of writing, he published almost two dozen books. Among them were novels, essays, poetry, biographies, and histories.

All true aficionados of the American Southwest's history and culture will profit by collecting and reading the significant body of work left to us by the remarkable Fray Angé1ico Chávez. Sunstone Press has now brought back into print some of these rare titles.

Sample Chapter

Hardcover:
7 x 10
ISBN: 978-1-63293-346-1
298 pp.,$37.95

Softcover:
7 x 10
ISBN: 978-0-86534-871-4
298 pp.,$29.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-475-7
298 pp.,$6.99


OUR LADY OF THE CONQUEST
The story of America's Oldest Devotion to the Virgin Mary
By Fray Angélico Chávez

The story of a statue called "La Conquistadora" used in Catholic religious celebrations in Santa Fe, New Mexico. New foreword by Marc Simmons.

As the Spaniards were preparing to reconquer Santa Fe from the Pueblo Indians in 1692, Captain-General Don Diego de Vargas solemnly vowed to build a special chapel for his own favorite statue of Our Lady of the Rosary should he gain a quick victory, and also to hold a yearly procession in her honor. The image was carried into battle and the Spaniards gained an effective conquista, and thereafter this particular image came to be known as "La Conquistadora." Other legends and practices grew around these bare essentials of the story. Many people have tried, in all sincerity, to evaluate the historic aspects of the tradition and to draw the best plausible conclusions therefrom, but Fray Angélico Chávez seemed best suited to detail the origins and development of America’s oldest devotion to the Virgin Mary in a scholarly yet devout manner.

Fray Angélico Chávez, in the decades following his ordination as a Franciscan priest in 1937, performed the difficult duties of an isolated backcountry pastor. His assignments included Hispanic villages and Indian pueblos. As an army chaplain in World War II, he accompanied troops in bloody landings on Pacific islands, claiming afterwards that because of his small stature, Japanese bullets always missed him. In time, despite heavy clerical duties, Fray Angélico managed to become an author of note, as well as something of an artist and muralist. Upon all of his endeavors, one finds, understandably, the imprint of his religious perspective. During nearly seventy years of writing, he published almost two dozen books. Among them were novels, essays, poetry, biographies, and histories, some of which are published by Sunstone Press.

Sample Chapter
Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=oMs0-gBAp0kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=9780865347472&cd=1#v=onepage&q&

Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-576-2
130 pp.,$32.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-747-2
130 pp.,$19.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-712-3
130 pp.,$5.99


PADRE MARTINEZ AND BISHOP LAMY
By Ray John de Aragón

See PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK below.

Willa Cather, in the historical novel Death Comes for the Archbishop, depicts Padre Antonio Jose Martinez as an unscrupulous backward rogue priest and Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy as a civilizing, heroic and monumental figure. Countering Cather’s assessment and portrayal of these two larger-than-life Southwestern folk heroes, Ray John de Aragon attempts to set the historical record straight.

Padre Martinez (1793-1867) is viewed as a genius who was ahead of his time. Recognized as a champion of the poor, defender of the Native Americans and proponent of human rights, it was inevitable that he would clash with Lamy. Bishop Lamy (1814-1888), who also had his followers, emerges as someone whose understanding of native New Mexican cultures was lacking, but one whose intentions were to do good as a missionary in a strange and foreign land.

Ray John de Aragón has written extensively on the history of New Mexico and the traditions and culture of northern New Mexico. He is recognized as a master santero with works in numerous private and public collections. His efforts at promoting and preserving the Spanish Colonial heritage of the American Southwest have gained regional and national attention. He has been featured in many publications and a PBS documentary. He holds a Masters in American Studies with emphasis on the Hispanic culture, heritage, history and traditions of New Mexico, and he has lectured and taught in this area at the university level.

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Softcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-506-5
141 pp.,$19.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-360-6
141 pp.,$3.99


THE PADRE OF ISLETA
The Story of Father Anton Docher
By Julia Keleher and Elsie Ruth Chant

The story of Father Anton Docher while a Catholic priest in Isleta Indian Pueblo in New Mexico from 1891 until his death in 1928.

Adolph F. Bandelier, Charles Fletcher Lummis, and Father Anton Docher are names closely associated with the early colonial days in New Mexico. All of these characters appear in this narrative of Isleta Pueblo which tells the story of Father Docher’s life in the Indian pueblo from the day when he first arrived along the road that was bad, but the sunset beautiful in 1891 until the time of the death of his two great friends, Bandelier and Lummis, and his own death several months later in 1928.

Father Docher’s job was not an easy one, but his great patience and understanding helped him through many difficulties. The story goes into many of these and into much of the legend and superstition of Isleta Pueblo which the Padre encountered during his long life there. He was particularly interested in the story of Father Padilla, the Franciscan friar who came with Coronado’s band, whose body was buried in the church at Isleta but which refused to stay underground.

Julia Keleher was a member and Professor in the English Department of the University of New Mexico from 1931 to her retirement in 1959. She was also a professional writer and edited each of her brother, William A. Keleher’s books, all of which have been published by Sunstone Press in its Southwest Heritage Series. Her collaboration with Elsie Ruth Chant resulted in this fascinating collection of incidents for all readers interested in the American Southwest. She was married to Lloyd Chant and raised two children, George Ashley Chant and Julia Jane Chant.

Sample Chapter
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Hardcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-623-3
136 pp.,$35.00

Softcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-714-4
136 pp.,$25.00

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-197-8
136 pp.,$19.99


THE PASTOR OF NEW MEXICO
Peter Küppers’s Memoirs
By Tomas Jaehn

SEE PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK BELOW.

There are few foreign original voices talking about early twentieth century Northern New Mexico. Father Peter Küppers who immigrated from Germany to New Mexico is one of those few voices.

Father Küppers was born in 1885, came to New Mexico in 1911 and aside from a few short trips to Colorado and the mid-West, remained in New Mexico all his life. Rather limited in his knowledge of American culture when he arrived on this continent—after all, he once got mad that folks in New York did not speak German—Küppers grew to love New Mexico. Always biased and fierce in his protection of Northern New Mexicans, particularly his often poor Catholic parishioners, he became a cultural agent for Hispanics and Anglos and a chronicler of rural small town life.

In his sometimes jolly account from the early 20th century, Küppers discusses growing up in Germany, describes personal experiences in the United States, and particularly in New Mexico, where he had to adapt to rural life, interact with town folks, parishioners, and Penitentes, and his adjustment to cultural surroundings so very different from his homeland in Germany.

Tomas Jaehn grew up in Germany and has lived in the United States since 1984. He attended universities in Germany and the United States and holds a PhD in history from the University of New Mexico. He has written about Germans in the Southwest and West and is the author of Germans in the Southwest, 1850–1920 (University of New Mexico Press, 2005). He has worked for over ten years at the New Mexico History Museum’s Fray Angélico Chávez History Library in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-014-9
190 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61130-303-3
190 pp.,$12.99


THE PENITENTES OF NEW MEXICO
Hermanos de la Luz/Brothers of the Light
By Ray John de Aragón

Cover illustrations by Rosa María Calles

Order from Sunstone: (505) 988-4418

This is the first major study by a Hispano from New Mexico with intergenerational ties to the Penitentes--the deeply religious group called Hermanos de la Luz, Brothers of the Light. It also ties the santero folk art of New Mexico, the Penitente Brotherhood, and the Penitente religious hymns, alabados, together. De Aragón asserts that one cannot truly function without all three and herein lies the devotional beauty that has been passed down for generations in Spanish folk tradition.

Ray John de Aragón is an internationally recognized santero and writer. He has received numerous awards and is credited with producing images meant primarily for religious veneration like the original New Mexico santeros of the nineteenth century. He has always strived for authentic detail in sculpting wooden figures that most closely resemble the spiritual and folk quality of the originals. His attention to true religious detail centered on the Passion sufferings of Christ is evident in this book. He is the is the author of Padre Martínez and Bishop Lamy, The Legend of La Llorona, and Recollections of the Life of the Priest Don Antonio Jose Martínez, all from Sunstone Press.

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Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=ntl88SLXXbwC

Hardcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-428-4
257 pp.,$36.95

Softcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-504-1
257 pp.,$24.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-181-7
257 pp.,$4.99


THE PENITENTES OF THE SANGRE DE CRISTOS
By Bill Tate

Order from Sunstone Press: (800) 243-5644

The Penitentes are a secret and sacred Spanish-American brotherhood who live in the mountains of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado who have pledged themselves to Christian devotions without completely withdrawing from the daily world. They have dedicated themselves in remembrance that Jesus Christ was condemned, crucified, and died on the cross for the salvation of mankind, and the expiation of his sins. Their devotions are observed usually in secret because the Penitentes believe that worship is a private matter and that one should not seek approbation for one’s sacred endeavors. They are the descendants of the vanguard of Spanish colonists who settled in the highlands of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado during the floodtide of Spanish colonization. The Penitente liturgy consists mainly of prayers called rosaries, rapturous songs called alabados, and processions. The author says, “I have no portfolio to be their apologist or oracle, but I have taken it upon myself to portray and to clarify in this book who the Penitentes are, what they do, and why, as lucidly and objectively as possible.”

Bill Tate was an artist and author who lived in the mountain village of Truchas, New Mexico where he owned and operated the Tate Gallery. His paintings hang in private collections in almost every state and many foreign countries. He served in the United States Navy and after World War II became a writer in Hollywood. After his move to New Mexico he served as a Justice of the Peace in Santa Fe and Rio Arribo counties. He has written several other books about New Mexico history and philosophy.


Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-156-6
68 pp.,$16.95


RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LIFE OF THE PRIEST DON ANTONIO JOSE MARTINEZ
By Pedro Sanchez

Original Spanish Text Translated by Ray John de Aragón. Cover illustration by Rosa Maria Calles.

Order from Sunstone: (800) 243-5644

In 1903 Pedro Sanchez published his Memorias, or Recollections of the Life of the Priest Don Antonio Jose Martinez. This rare book, written in Spanish, is hailed by historians and others as an important and unique contribution to the literary history of New Mexico and the American Southwest. Sanchez was a student of this famous folk hero priest and the book beautifully illustrates the respect and admiration the people held for Padre Martinez. The priest is shown as dedicated to the Church and the people who looked up to him as a champion of social justice, equal rights, the downtrodden and the oppressed. Pedro Sanchez himself, as a product of Padre Martinez’s coeducational school in Taos, New Mexico, credits his mentor for his success in his career and life as did many of his other students.

This Spanish and English edition features an introduction by Myra Ellen Jenkins, Ph.D., a former New Mexico state historian.

RAY JOHN de ARAGÓN, a leading scholar on Padre Martinez and the authority on his life and work, translated the original Spanish text of the Sanchez book into English. De Aragón has a Masters in American Studies and has been a keynote speaker at public and historical conferences on Padre Martinez whom he has research extensively. He is the recipient of numerous awards and is the author of Padre Martinez and Bishop Lamy, The Legend of La Llorona, and Brothers of the Light, The Penitentes of New Mexico, all from Sunstone Press.

Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=woVDwr8al3AC

Softcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-507-2
85 pp.,$14.95


THE SAINT MAKER’S DAUGHTER
A Christmas Dream Fulfilled
By Marie Romero Cash

Illustrated by the Author

The young daughter of a local saint maker, a Santero, takes it upon herself to finish the carvings which her father is unable to complete for the new church because of illness. She discovers the task is not as easy as she hoped. But a stranger knocks at the workshop door and kindly volunteers to help her. Later she is surprised to find out who the stranger was.

Marie Romero Cash’s story of love and determination along with her beautiful illustrations will delight readers of all ages. An award winning Santera herself, she has inside knowledge on the subject of saints which is dear to her heart.

Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Marie Romero Cash has been a Santera (saint maker) for over forty years. Her award-winning works are in major museums and private collections throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe and The Vatican. She has written several books and magazine articles on the culture and religion of Northern New Mexico and has lectured widely on the subject for the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. Her other books from Sunstone Press are The Word Thief; Santos, A Coloring Book of New Mexico Saints and Lowrider Blues, Cantando, Gritando y Llorando, a Collection of Short Stories and Observations from My Inner Barrio.


Hardcover:
8 1/2 x 8 1/2 Illustrated, Color
ISBN: 978-1-63294-284-6
40 pp.,$24.95

Softcover:
8 1/2 x 8 1/2 Illustrated, Color
ISBN: 978-1-63293-261-7
40 pp.,$16.95


SANTOS
Stories About the Saints of New Mexico with Pictures to Color
By Marie Romero Cash

Order from Sunstone: (800) 243-5644

This series of line drawings by legendary Santera (saint-maker) Marie Romero Cash, depict many of the popular saints painted by the santeros of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Northern New Mexico. “The saints have always been an integral part of the culture,” Marie says, “so much so that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in New Mexico the art of the religious folk art of the santero became a part of its history. In creating this coloring book, my goal was to not only impart knowledge about the santero culture, but to provide images that could be colored in by children or adults, and could also be used for many other purposes, including embroidery or various decorative arts.”

Each full-page image is suitable for coloring by children at playtime or in a classroom setting. Easy to read information on many popular patron saints is included, as is the feast day of each saint. Teachers will find this coloring book a valuable teaching tool.

There is also an author preface and an article about Marie Romero Cash by well-known journalist, Kay Lockridge.

Born in Santa Fe, Marie Romero Cash has been a Santera (saint-maker) for over thirty years. Her award-winning works are in major museums and private collections throughout the United States, Mexico, Africa and The Vatican. She has written several books and magazine articles on the culture and religion of Northern New Mexico and has lectured widely on the subject for the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities.

Sample Chapter
Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=QbnUmkKpU8AC

Softcover:
8 1/4 x 11
ISBN: 978-0-86534-701-4
80 pp.,$10.95


SANTOS OF SPANISH NEW MEXICO
A Coloring Book
By Al Chapman, Compiler and Illustrator

Illustrated, English/Spanish

The mystery. The rich heritage. The haunting sorrow and mesmerizing beauty captured in the solemn eyes of the saints. Explore the world of the Northern New Mexican Santo in this coloring book unlike any other. Santos of Spanish New Mexico is a perfect introduction for both young and old into the art of carving and painting images of saints that represent the care and love of the community that the Santero (maker of saint images) comes from. The Santero is a self-taught craftsman who utilizes handmade tools, pine, aspen, cedar or cottonwood root to fashion representations, figurines, and objects in honor of the patron deities brought to the New World by their ancestors during the late 16th century. Learn a little about the saints and the various depictions you can recognize anywhere throughout Northern New Mexico. A tradition handed down from generation to generation, the art of making Santos is still very much alive and thriving in this special region of the world. Care has been taken to be faithful to the artistic details of the original works. Like the folk art he has endeavored to reproduce, Al Chapman’s drawings in this book are simple and sincere.

This book is a good companion to What is a New Mexico Santo? by Eluid Levi Martinez and Santos, A Coloring Book of New Mexico Saints by Marie Romero Cash, both from Sunstone Press.

Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=9_FweoIvZMcC

Softcover:
8 1/2 x 11
ISBN: 978-0-86534-238-5
32 pp.,$14.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-911-0
32 pp.,$6.99


THE SCHOOL ON THE BLUFF
A History of the University of Albuquerque
By John Taylor

The University of Albuquerque began in 1921 as a small Catholic teachers’ college occupying part of an orphanage. It grew in both size and scope, first moving to a former Catholic boys’ school, and then to its final location on Albuquerque’s then-barren West Mesa. Over the years it rode an ideological and financial roller coaster until its demise in 1986. This book traces the history of the school, from its foundational background in territorial New Mexico, through its halcyon years in the 1950s and 1960s, to its struggles with finances and its change of direction from its original purpose as a teachers’ college for Franciscan nuns into an institution with a significant curriculum devoted to associate-degree occupational training. The school had twenty-one presidents—both religious and lay, with nine in its final nineteen years alone. The book examines each of these administrations, the challenges they faced, and the disparate solutions that were applied.

John Taylor earned a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering from Stanford University and served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). He joined Sandia National Laboratories in 1975, where he worked for thirty-five years, focusing on analysis of transportation of radioactive material, evaluation of nuclear weapon safety, nonproliferation and national security, and arms control and treaty analysis. While at Sandia, he authored or co-authored forty-seven technical reports and papers. John is also an historian with particular interests in the Civil War in New Mexico, the history of the Rio Abajo, the development of Catholicism in central New Mexico, railroading in New Mexico, and the “naval history” of New Mexico. He has authored or co-authored nineteen books on these and other subjects.


Hardcover:
6 x 9, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-63293-482-6
306 pp.,$38.95

Softcover:
6 x 9, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-63293-373-7
306 pp.,$28.95


SEVEN CAROLS, SEVEN GIFTS
Christmas Stories for All Ages
By Drew Bacigalupa

"It would be a mistake to assume that these stories should be read only in December, for their message transcends the seasons." They..."touch the human and divine in all of us." SOUTHWEST BOOKVIEWS

Order from Sunstone: (505) 988-4418

Collected for the first time, these prize-winning Christmas tales (carols) of Drew Bacigalupa range in time and place from mid-20th century to the new millennium, from remote mountain villages in New Mexico to the sophisticated neighborhoods of Rome, from children in country fields or on city streets to young soldiers at combat areas, to parents and grandparents at home or abroad. Whether in the United States, Mexico, England, France or Italy, the diverse peoples of these brief but luminous stories share the joy--and sometimes apprehension--we’ve all known as winter solstice heralds the approach of Christmas. Uniting all is the theme of renewal, the promise of longer days and return of the sun, and our uniquely individual gifts which brighten The Child in each of us.

The illustrations are from original works by Bacigalupa--his paintings, drawings, ceramics and sculptures, testament to the artist/writer’s work in many media, his conviction that all the arts are essentially communication. Heavily influenced by Renaissance Man following graduate studies at L’Accademia di Belli Arti in Florence, he frequently refers to the journals and poems of sculptor/painter Michelangelo and the notebooks and dissertations of painter/sculptor/inventor Leonardo as examples of men who employed whatever medium was best suited to communicate differing concepts demanding expression.

Though a resident of Santa Fe since 1954 and one who loves the American Southwest, Drew Bacigalupa is an inveterate traveler whose works have doggedly resisted regionalism. His published books include the World War II novel And Come to Dust, set in Belgium and Germany; Since My Last Confession, a spiritual journey and love story which follows the protagonist throughout the U.S. and across Europe; Journal of an Itinerant Artist, essays which roam the globe and embrace peoples of ethnic diversity. His stories, features and articles have appeared in numerous national newspapers and periodicals in this country and--in translation--in Italy. He first gained encouragement as a writer at the age of ten by winning a prize with an adventure story submitted to a writing contest in his hometown’s newspaper The Baltimore Sun.

Secure Movie & TV Rights
Website: http://books.google.com/books?id=BX6RHgevvegC

Softcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-0-86534-368-9
108 pp.,$16.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-134-2
108 pp.,$9.99


THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF A MISFIT
A Personal Pilgrimage
By Francis Dorff, P. Praem.

If being a ‘mystic’ means being
someone who is consciously living a Mystery,
then at least in my case,
‘misfit’ and ‘mystic’ certainly lead to
one another.

Order from Sunstone: (505) 988-4418

As someone who has been guiding people through the catacombs of their own lives for decades, Francis Dorff, O. Praem. is uniquely qualified to tell stories that evoke personal experiences of the treasures residing within each of us. Readers may recognize their own lives reflected in his description of: being “a stranger in a strange land,” wondering where to turn when a door to one’s “promised land” closes in one’s face, exploring intimations of a Loving Mystery beneath the surface of all of life, embracing parts of our life that we have been neglecting, and creatively getting to know our own deepest self.

This book will encourage those of us who are yearning to live more peacefully with others to see how we can “meditatively journey together to the underground place within us that is deeper than all our differences.” Those who are feeling stuck may find some help in Fr. Dorff’s insight into how “widening the scope of my attentiveness has a lot to do with my being able eventually to take a creative next step.” And everyone can be inspired by the author’s “experiment with loving” and how many different forms this loving can take over the course of a long, rich life.

Here is a personal invitation to learn how to live with the ongoing tensions between solitude and community, meditation and ministry, “getting it all together” and letting it all fall apart—as well as being a misfit and a mystic on a deeply personal pilgrimage.

Francis Dorff, O. Praem. is a priest of the Norbertine Community of Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a former professor of philosophy and theology living in retirement at the Abbey’s Hermitage Retreat. His ministry is currently focused on study, writing and meditatively practicing and sharing a life-integrating approach to personal and spiritual development. He is a specialist in the Holistic Depth Psychology of Ira Progoff, PhD, and the author of several books on living spiritually. Fr. Dorff received his licentiate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and his doctorate in philosophical theology from the Institut Catholique in Paris.


Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-092-7
226 pp.,$22.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978161139-432-0
226 pp.,$4.99


 
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