HOUSE MEMORIAL 56

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Carl Trujillo

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO DESIGNATE HIGHWAY 76 BETWEEN ESPANOLA AND PENASCO AS THE CASIMIRO ROCA MEMORIAL HIGHWAY.

     WHEREAS, the Reverend Casimiro Roca, a northern New Mexican legend known for his great faith, his enduring age and his blessing of holy dirt, died last summer just after celebrating his ninety-seventh birthday; and

     WHEREAS, Father Roca was born in 1918 in a small town outside of Barcelona and came to the United States as a member of the Sons of the Holy Family to start a new life; and

     WHEREAS, the reverend had worked as a parish priest in Colorado before he was assigned in 1954 to northern New Mexico's Santa Cruz de la Canada parish, which includes the Santuario de Chimayo; and

     WHEREAS, Father Roca was known affectionately over the years as el curita loco de Chimayo ("the little crazy priest"); and

     WHEREAS, Father Roca performed many thousands of masses in the last five decades at the Santuario, which he saved from ruin by adding flagstone to the floor in the late 1970s to shore up the foundation; and

     WHEREAS, the flagstone was needed as a result of too many people scooping up holy dirt from the floor; and

     WHEREAS, for decades, the holy dirt, whose popularity has so grown that it is mailed out of the state and the country to the ailing, has lured thousands of people from around New Mexico to the Santuario during Easter; and

     WHEREAS, part of the holy dirt's lore started with Father Roca, who recognized the miraculous dirt's long reputation, then promoted it through the years by blessing it;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of transportation be requested to designate highway 76 between Espanola and Penasco as the Casimiro Roca memorial highway; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of transportation and the members of the state transportation commission.

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