Jean-Baptiste Lamy (October 11, 1814 – February 13, 1888), was a French-American Roman Catholic prelate who served as the first Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Willa Cather's novel Death Comes for the Archbishop is based on his life and career. Early life Lamy was born in Lempdes, Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of France, 10 km east of the main regional city of Clermont-Ferrand. He completed his classical studies in the minor seminary at Clermont and theological coursework in the Major seminary at Montferrand, where he was trained by the Sulpician Fathers (Society of Saint-Sulpice). Career He was ordained a priest on December 22, 1838. After a few months as an assistant priest in his native diocese, in 1839 Lamy asked for and obtained permission to answer the call for missionaries of Bishop John Baptist Purcell, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Episcopacy As a missionary in North America, Lamy served at several missions in Ohio and Kentucky when, to his surprise, he was notified that Pope Pius IX was appointing him as bishop of the recently created Apostolic Vicariate of New Mexico on July 23, 1850. At the same time, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Agathonice. He was consecrated a bishop on November 24, 1850 by Archbishop Martin Spalding of Louisville; Bishops Jacques-Maurice De Saint Palais of Vincennes and Louis Amadeus Rappe of Cleveland served as co-consecrators. After an arduous journey on primitive transportation, Lamy reached Santa Fe in the summer of 1851. As such, Lamy was joining a long list of French people who explored, traded and settled in New Mexico since the 16th century; specifically, French priests dominated New Mexico’s Catholic Church from 1841 to 1914. Lamy entered Santa Fe on 9 August 1851, and was welcomed by the Governor of the territory, James S. Calhoun, and many other citizens. However, Juan Felipe Ortiz, a Spanish priest who was responsible for administration of the Catholic Church in New Mexico, told Lamy that he and the local clergy did not recognize his authority and would remain loyal to Bishop José Antonio Laureano de Zubiría of the Diocese of Durango, Mexico, who had visited Santa Fe just a few months before. Lamy wrote to Zubiría asking him to explain the change of responsibility to the New Mexico priests. When his request was unanswered, he went in person to Durango to meet with Zubiría, showing him the papal document that appointed