Latest news with #MildredMartinez
New York Times
09-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Live Updates: Leo XIV Vows to Lift Up ‘Ordinary People' in 1st Mass as Pope
Image of a grave marker in Chicago for members of the Martinez family, including the new pope's grandparents. Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago-born cardinal selected on Thursday as the new pope, is descended from Creole people of color from New Orleans. The pope's maternal grandparents, both of whom are described as Black or mulatto in various historical records, lived in the city's Seventh Ward, an area that is traditionally Catholic and a melting pot of people with African, Caribbean and European roots. The grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, eventually moved to Chicago in the early 20th century and had a daughter: Mildred Martinez, the pope's mother. The discovery means that Leo XIV, as the pope will be known, is not only breaking ground as the first U.S.-born pontiff. He also comes from a family that reflects the many threads that make up the complicated and rich fabric of the American story. The pope's background was unearthed Thursday by a New Orleans genealogist, Jari C. Honora, and confirmed to The New York Times by the pope's older brother, John Prevost, 71, who lives in the Chicago suburbs. 'This discovery is just an additional reminder of how interwoven we are as Americans,' Mr. Honora said in a text message late Thursday. 'I hope that it will highlight the long history of Black Catholics, both free and enslaved, in this country, which includes the Holy Father's family.' It's unclear whether the new pope has ever addressed his Creole ancestry in public, and his brother said that the family did not identify as Black. The announcement of his election in Rome focused on his early life in Chicago and decades of service in Peru. Mr. Honora, who works at the Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the French Quarter, began investigating the pope's background because of his French-sounding name, Prevost, but quickly found connections to the South instead. His trail of evidence linking Leo to New Orleans includes the grandparents' marriage certificate from their Seventh Ward wedding in 1887, a photo of the Martinez family grave marker in Chicago, and an electronic birth record of Mildred Martinez that shows she was born in Chicago in 1912. The birth record lists Joseph Martinez and 'Louis Baquiex' as Mildred's parents. The father's birthplace is listed as the Dominican Republic; the mother's, New Orleans. Mr. Honora also found records from the 1900 Census that list Mr. Martinez as 'Black,' his place of birth as 'Hayti,' and his occupation as 'cigar maker.' Mr. Martinez's details appear on the sixth line of a page of the census that Mr. Honora shared with The Times. 'Both Joseph Norval Martinez and Louise Baquié were people of color, no doubt about it,' Mr. Honora said. Joseph Martinez's exact place of birth remains a bit of a mystery — Mr. Honora also found an 1870 Census record that says the pope's maternal grandfather was born in Louisiana. But he said it was not uncommon for people to change their responses on officials records. Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié married at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans. Until it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915, the church building was on Annette Street in the city's Seventh Ward, a historic center of Afro-Creole culture. Creoles, also known as 'Creole people of color,' have a history almost as old as Louisiana. While the word Creole can refer to people of European descent who were born in the Americas, it commonly describes mixed-race people of color. Many Louisiana Creoles were known in the 18th and 19th centuries as 'gens de couleur libres,' or free people of color. Many were well educated, French-speaking and Roman Catholic. Over the decades, they established a foothold in business, the building trades and the arts, particularly music, with significant contributions to the development of jazz. They continue to be an important strand in the city's famously heterogeneous culture. The revelation of the new pope's heritage is a tremendous moment for the history of Louisiana Creoles, said Lolita Villavasso Cherrie, a co-founder with Mr. Honora of The Creole Genealogical and Historical Association. 'I hate to say it, but we feel, many of us, that our history was hidden from us,' said Ms. Villavasso Cherrie, 79, a retired teacher. In part, she said, that's because many Creoles have been able to 'pass' as white over the years. It was only with the advent of the internet, she said, that many people began to research their family history and became aware of their Creole roots. She noted that a significant number of Louisiana Creoles migrated to the Chicago area in the 20th century. John Prevost, the pope's brother, said that their paternal grandparents were from France, and that his father had been born in the United States. He said he and his brothers didn't discuss their Creole roots. 'It was never an issue,' John Prevost said. What all of this means, when it comes to the pope's racial identity, touches on some of the thorniest questions in U.S. society, but also reflects the rich diversity of the American experience. 'We are all just a few degrees (or less than a few degrees) removed from each other,' said Mr. Honora, the genealogist. Julie Bosman contributed reporting from Chicago. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
New York Times
09-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Live Updates: Leo XIV Celebrates 1st Mass as Pope
Image of a grave marker in Chicago for members of the Martinez family, including the new pope's grandparents. Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago-born cardinal selected on Thursday as the new pope, is descended from Creole people of color from New Orleans. The pope's maternal grandparents, both of whom are described as Black or mulatto in various historical records, lived in the city's Seventh Ward, an area that is traditionally Catholic and a melting pot of people with African, Caribbean and European roots. The grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, eventually moved to Chicago in the early 20th century and had a daughter: Mildred Martinez, the pope's mother. The discovery means that Leo XIV, as the pope will be known, is not only breaking ground as the first U.S.-born pontiff. He also comes from a family that reflects the many threads that make up the complicated and rich fabric of the American story. The pope's background was unearthed Thursday by a New Orleans genealogist, Jari C. Honora, and confirmed to The New York Times by the pope's older brother, John Prevost, 71, who lives in the Chicago suburbs. 'This discovery is just an additional reminder of how interwoven we are as Americans,' Mr. Honora said in a text message late Thursday. 'I hope that it will highlight the long history of Black Catholics, both free and enslaved, in this country, which includes the Holy Father's family.' It's unclear whether the new pope has ever addressed his Creole ancestry in public, and his brother said that the family did not identify as Black. The announcement of his election in Rome focused on his early life in Chicago and decades of service in Peru. Mr. Honora, who works at the Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the French Quarter, began investigating the pope's background because of his French-sounding name, Prevost, but quickly found connections to the South instead. His trail of evidence linking Leo to New Orleans includes the grandparents' marriage certificate from their Seventh Ward wedding in 1887, a photo of the Martinez family grave marker in Chicago, and an electronic birth record of Mildred Martinez that shows she was born in Chicago in 1912. The birth record lists Joseph Martinez and 'Louis Baquiex' as Mildred's parents. The father's birthplace is listed as the Dominican Republic; the mother's, New Orleans. Mr. Honora also found records from the 1900 Census that list Mr. Martinez as 'Black,' his place of birth as 'Hayti,' and his occupation as 'cigar maker.' Mr. Martinez's details appear on the sixth line of a page of the census that Mr. Honora shared with The Times. 'Both Joseph Norval Martinez and Louise Baquié were people of color, no doubt about it,' Mr. Honora said. Joseph Martinez's exact place of birth remains a bit of a mystery — Mr. Honora also found an 1870 Census record that says the pope's maternal grandfather was born in Louisiana. But he said it was not uncommon for people to change their responses on officials records. Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié married at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans. Until it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915, the church building was on Annette Street in the city's Seventh Ward, a historic center of Afro-Creole culture. Creoles, also known as 'Creole people of color,' have a history almost as old as Louisiana. While the word Creole can refer to people of European descent who were born in the Americas, it commonly describes mixed-race people of color. Many Louisiana Creoles were known in the 18th and 19th centuries as 'gens de couleur libres,' or free people of color. Many were well educated, French-speaking and Roman Catholic. Over the decades, they established a foothold in business, the building trades and the arts, particularly music, with significant contributions to the development of jazz. They continue to be an important strand in the city's famously heterogeneous culture. The revelation of the new pope's heritage is a tremendous moment for the history of Louisiana Creoles, said Lolita Villavasso Cherrie, a co-founder with Mr. Honora of The Creole Genealogical and Historical Association. 'I hate to say it, but we feel, many of us, that our history was hidden from us,' said Ms. Villavasso Cherrie, 79, a retired teacher. In part, she said, that's because many Creoles have been able to 'pass' as white over the years. It was only with the advent of the internet, she said, that many people began to research their family history and became aware of their Creole roots. She noted that a significant number of Louisiana Creoles migrated to the Chicago area in the 20th century. John Prevost, the pope's brother, said that their paternal grandparents were from France, and that his father had been born in the United States. He said he and his brothers didn't discuss their Creole roots. 'It was never an issue,' John Prevost said. What all of this means, when it comes to the pope's racial identity, touches on some of the thorniest questions in U.S. society, but also reflects the rich diversity of the American experience. 'We are all just a few degrees (or less than a few degrees) removed from each other,' said Mr. Honora, the genealogist. Julie Bosman contributed reporting from Chicago. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
How a humble Chicago schoolboy Robert Prevost with a veteran father rose to become America's first Pope
He is the leader of the Catholic church and 'father' to more than a billion people. But Pope Leo XIV came from much more humble beginnings in a Catholic community of a Chicago suburb Born in September 1965 at Chicago's Mercy Hospital, Robert Prevost, was brought home to a quaint 1,200-square-foot brick home in Dolton, Illinois. His parents, Mildred Martinez and Louis Prevost, purchased the property in 1949 with a $42-a-month mortgage. Louis was a WWII Navy hero, while his mother, Mildred, worked as a librarian. After the war, he became a school district superintendent. 'She was one of the ladies that we called church ladies,' Marianne Angarola, 69, who graduated with the Pope, told the Chicago Sun-Times of Mildred. Angarola said the family went to religious services every single day, and Mildred organized church fundraisers. Prevost was known to those who grew up with him as a kind-hearted and devout child, with a fresh sense of humor. Her served as an altar boy in his youth. When Prevost entered the St. Mary's school - which had recently moved to a modernized location to accommodate a growing Catholic population - his peers quickly realized he stood out among the rest. 'We used to pray with our hands, you know, our fingers pointing to heaven, and, after a while, you get tired of doing that, and you just want to fold them over,' Angarola recalled. 'Robert Prevost never folded his hands over. He was just godly. Not in an in-your-face way. 'It was part of his aura, like he was hand-selected, and he embraced it. And he wasn't weird. He was nice.' The rigorous Catholic curriculum involved daily masses that were only performed in Latin. When second grade rolled around, the students had to meticulously study prayers and sacred texts to prepare for communion, with most of the young children dreading it. But Prevost never made a fuss about learning, Angarola asserted. Another childhood friend and neighbor of Prevost's, Noelle Neis, 69, noted that he was the smartest boy in her class. 'Back in the day, they used to seat us by our classroom performance, so he always sat in the number one seat, which was in the first row in the back,' Neis told the outlet. But his academic rigor did not take away from his friendly and playful nature. 'He was kind of a little trickster, too. Used to poke me in the back of the head with a pencil all the time because I was a kidder,' Neis fondly reflected. 'So he definitely had a sense of humor that a lot of people wouldn't know because he wasn't really that outgoing.' reached out Old St. Mary's Catholic Church, which was formerly St. Mary of the Assumption. A spokesperson explained that after several mergers, there are no direct ties to the Pope at the religious institution that could comment on his papacy. After eighth grade, Prevost left home to study at St. Augustine Seminary High School, a seminary school run by Order of St. Augustine priests. For college he attended Villanova University in Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor's degree in math in 1977. has reached out to Villanova for comment. Prevost was ordained five years later and earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, The Washington Post reported. While furthering his religious education, he taught high school math in schools near where he grew up. Most of his holy career was sent overseas, notably in Peru, where he was sent as a missionary and a professor in 1985. His travels mean he is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French as well as English. In 1999, he returned to Chicago as the Order of St. Augustine's Midwest leader, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. During his tenure, Prevost faced criticism for allowing a priest accused of child sexual abuse to live at an Augustinian monastery near a Catholic school in Providence, Rhode Island. He was also called out for his relationships with Peruvian priests who had similar accusations made against them, as per the outlet. Prevost went on to become the Order's international leader from 2001 to 2013, when he relocated to Rome to assume the role. He returned to Peru in 2014 to lead the Diocese of Chiclayo for seven years. In 2015, he became a bishop. In 2023, Pope Francis named him the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and leader of the Dicastery for Bishops. The following year, he made his way up the ranks once again and became Cardinal. As his first words as Pope from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, he offered a message of peace and dialogue 'without fear.' The pontiff recalled he was an Augustinian priest, but that he was above all a Christian and a Bishop as he urged the crowd to 'walk together.'
New York Times
08-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
New Pope Has Creole Roots in New Orleans, Genealogist Says
Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago-born cardinal selected on Thursday as the next pope, is partially descended from Creole people of color, according to Jari C. Honora, a noted genealogist and historian. Mr. Honora works at the Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the French Quarter, and was a researcher on the TV show 'Finding Your Roots' with the historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. Mr. Honora said in an interview that he found evidence that the new pope's maternal grandparents were Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, of New Orleans. In a Facebook post, he displayed records of a marriage certificate with those two names. He said he had also reviewed a photo of Martinez's grave marker in Chicago, where their daughter — Mildred Martinez, the pope's mother — was born. The records show that couple married at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans. Until it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915, the church's building was on Annette Street in the city's Seventh Ward, a historic center of Louisiana's Afro-Creole culture. The word 'Creole' has multiple meanings in a Louisiana context. It can refer to people of European descent who were born in the Americas. But it also commonly refers to mixed-race people of color. Many of these Louisianians were known in the 18th and 19th centuries as 'gens de couleur libres,' or free people of color. Many were well educated, French-speaking and Roman Catholic. Over the decades, they established a foothold in business, the building trades and the arts, particularly music, with significant contributions to the development of jazz. They continue to be an important strand in the city's famously heterogeneous culture. Lolita Villavasso Cherrie, a co-founder with Mr. Honora of The Creole Genealogical and Historical Association, said that the research appeared to signal a tremendous moment for the history of Louisiana Creoles, if a branch of the pope's family tree indeed stretched back to New Orleans. 'It would be so fabulous to have someone who has some connection to our people, who give us the recognition we deserve,' said Ms. Villavasso Cherrie, 79, a retired teacher. 'I hate to say it, but we feel, many of us, that our history was hidden from us.' That is in part, she said, because many Creoles have been able to 'pass' as white over the years. It was only with the advent of the internet, she said, that many people began to research their family history and became aware of their Creole roots. Ms. Villavasso Cherrie noted that in the 20th century, a significant number of Louisiana Creoles migrated to the Chicago area and California.
