Painting done by Mr. Albert J. Fountain Sr., from the memory of St. Genevieve Church in Las Cruces, NM in 1859. Fr. Manuel Chavez was installed as the first pastor of this newly formed parish.

Las Cruces was a very small town when a chapel was built to take care of the spiritual wants of the Catholic population it may have been a tiny hut, perhaps even a jacal, used for the purpose of saying Masses on such days as the padre from Dona Ana could make it from his parish in the older and larger settlement six miles to the north.  In 1859 a separate parish was formed in Las Cruces and a church was built around and over the little adobe church.  On January 3, the feast day of the young woman who saved Paris from the Huns, the new little church named St. Genevieve's in her honor received a pastor of its own, Father Manuel Chavez.


St. Genevieve Church built under the leadership of Fr. Pierre Lassiagne and Mother Praxedes Carty, Sister Superio  of the Loretto Convent.  The church was built directly over and around the old church and not a service was omitted during the progress of the work.  The new church was solemnly dedicated on Oct. 15, 1887.

The original St. Genevieve's Church was on the corner of Main Street and Las Cruces Avenue.  According to Archbishop Salpointe neither Doña Ana nor Las Cruces were mentioned in the list of names included in the Vicariate Apostolic of New Mexico which was created after the Gadsden Purchase. According to the Archbishop, it was only in 1858, by a decree of March 21, that these two localities were annexed.  Until then the two places remained under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Durango, Mexico, as the whole territory of New Mexico was before.  This discrepancy (originally it may have been only a clerical error) would possibly explain why no regular parish was formed in Las Cruces until 1859, over ten years after the settlement was established.


St. Genevieve Church was the center of Las Cruces where the majority of activities took place, from religious, political, theatrical, social, etc.

Las Cruces remained in the Santa Fe Archdiocese until 1868, at which time it was taken under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona. It continued under Tucson until the Diocese of El Paso was created.  From 1916 everything in Southern New Mexico from Grant County on down through Dona Ana County was included in the new See of El Paso, Texas.


Interior of St. Genevieve church circa the 1930s or later. Damage can be seen on the walls. Many of the statues shown are still in use in the present-day church.  The two side altars which appear to have the niches and crocketts like the high altar, are actually painted on the wall above the altars.

From 1978 to 1880, Father Andres Echallier was assigned to the parish. Father Echaillier left some striking examples of wood carving in which he was a true artist. The lovely crucifix which hangs in the back of St. Genevieve's was made by him from a mesquite root. Father Andres seems to have stayed at St. Genevieve's until Father Pierre Lassaigne came in 1880. In 1922 there is a record of Father Echallier’s death and burial in the San Jose Cemetery. Somewhere along the way the lovely statue of St. Genevieve standing over the high altar was imported from France, shipped by railway to Kansas City, according to the records, and brought to Las Cruces by ox cart. The railroad came into Las Cruces in the year 1881, so the statue must have been acquired previous to that date.


St. Genevieve Church as it looked in 1967 prior to its demolition. The foundation could not support the tall french towers so they were shortened.

In 1927 ground was broken for a small school on the church grounds, to be named "Holy Cross School." There were three classrooms and the Sisters of Loretto were the first teachers. The school was dedicated on the feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross on September 14 by Father Henry D. Buchanan, Pastor.  In 1967 the church building had deteriorated and the building was condemned by County and State Building Inspectors.  Before the church was demolished the body of Fr. Pierre Lassaigne was exhumed from its grave at the foot of the Statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The last Mass at the old St. Genevieve's church was celebrated on September 24, 1967, and then the church was demolished.  In 1967, Fr. William Ryan  had purchased a small building on Las Cruces Avenue that served as a chapel in the interim and now serves as the parish hall.  The new church was built on the 100 block of South Espina.  The church was officially dedicated on February 22, 1979.

St. Genevieve remains an important part of Las Cruces history as its arching monument is a remembrance of all of its rich history. Fr. Theo Okafor is the Administrator of the parish and you can learn more about the parish at: https://bit.ly/3uNSMC1 

 
St. Genevieve as it stands today.