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Show THE INDIANS' FRIEND. ' Bv the death of Archbishop Bourgade of Santa Fe. the Indians lost a devoted friend. The life of the lamented prelate was full of sacrifice. Born and educated in France, he was one of a noble band of missionary priests who left their native land in 1869 and came with the late Archbishop Sal-pointe Sal-pointe to devote their lives to the glory of God and the salvation of pagan souls in the vast territory eovered by Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. Archbishop Bourgade reached Santa Fe. N. M., by traveling from Kansas City with a mule team freighted with necessary provisions for the long, hard trip,' and in 1870 he was ordained a priest by Bishop Lamy, first bishop of the diocese of Santa Fe. Within an hour after his vows were spoken, while the holy oil was still moist on his hands, he went out into the corral, hitched up a team of mules to a stout wagon and drove across mountain and plain to a distant Pueblo Indian village, where, the following morning, he offered his first mass. It was thus he began his career as a priest. Those were times that tested the metal of men's souls by fire and blood, for treacherous tribes of Indians were continually on the warpath, leaving a trail of murder and plunder wherever they went. There being no railroad facilities, traveling over the diocese was done with mule teams or on horseback, horse-back, with pack mules carrying provisions, eating at irregular hours such food as could be prepared at a campfire and sleeping on the ground with saddle sad-dle blankets for a bed, for houses and villages were few and very scattered. Such were the conditions .under which this noble priest labored for the salvation salva-tion of souls. ' Elevated to the episcopate, the young prelate, if 1 possible, increased his zeal, visiting the remote canyons can-yons and small, hamlets of the Pueblo or half-civilized Indians. These sons of the forest loved him as a father, welcomed him as a benefactor, and celebrated his stay among them as days of triumph. He assisted in founding schools, orphanages, hospitals hos-pitals in Arizona, southern New Mexico and El Paso. Tex. Under the exertion and extraordinary efforts of the zealous pastor his health became impaired, and. '.hough yet comparatively young, when requested by his priests to take a rest, he would say. with the enthusiasm of his heart: "My dear fathers, 1 can say. with the psalmist, 'Zeal for Thy glory. O Lord, hath eaten me up.' " A man physically weak is at a disadvantage when he ernes in contact with robust personalities. |