FRAY ANGELICO CHAVEZ PRESERVED THE HISPANO HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO; WAS ACCOMPLISHED WRITER, ARTIST AND PRIEST 

Few Hispanos in New Mexico’s modern era have done more to preserve the history of the Hispano people of New Mexico than Fray Angelico Chavez, the Franciscan priest, and accomplished writer and artist. Like many Hispanos of the time, Chavez came from humble beginnings. He was born on April 10, 1910 in Wagon Mound, a small community in northeast New Mexico between Las Vegas and Raton. He was the eldest of 10 children born to the home of Fabian Chavez and Maria Nicolasa Roybal de Chavez. His baptismal name was Manuel Ezequiel Chavez, which would later change to Fray Angelico when he was at the Franciscan seminary studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood.