Father Crispin Butz celebrated his 59th anniversary Monday as a Catholic priest by doing what he does best: celebrating Mass at 7 a.m. with the nuns of the Carmelite Monastery.

For the past 55 years, Butz has ministered to the people of New Mexico, continuing a religious tradition that began more than 400 years ago. It was in 1539 that Fray Marcos de Niza was sent to this region by the Spanish viceroy to follow up on Cabeza de Vaca's 1536 expedition. Since then, Franciscan priests have played an integral role in shaping New Mexico's culture. It's a tradition that Butz is very proud of. As he says, "The Franciscan order is so much a part of Santa Fe's history."

Today, Butz, along with The Revs. Bob Cook and Pio O'Connor, are the only Franciscan priests left in Santa Fe. In 2000, after 80 years heading the administration of St. Francis Basilica Cathedral, the Franciscan provincial council of Our Lady of Guadalupe decided to return the administration of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to secular priests. But Butz, Cook and O'Connor, like their Franciscan predecessors, continue to live and serve in the religious tradition of their vows.

Each day, Butz rises at 5 a.m. and prepares for his early morning Mass. Four days a week, he celebrates Mass for the Christian Brothers community at St. Michael's High School, and the other three days at the Carmelite Monastery. Although the 86-year-old priest has been "retired" since 1997, he celebrates Mass seven days a week. "There just aren't enough priests, so we all need to pitch in," he says.

On June 8, 1959, Butz took his vows as a priest in the Franciscan order, saying his first Mass three days later in Lafayette, Ind.

As he remembers, "It was pretty nerve-wracking with my parents and other family members there." Flash-forward to Thursday, and Butz will certainly be more at ease when he celebrates Mass at 6:30 a.m. for the Christian Brothers.

In addition to daily Mass, Butz continues to provide many of the major sacraments of the Catholic Church — funerals, weddings and baptisms — when he is needed. "I still get calls to do the funeral Masses for some of the old-timers from the cathedral," he says.

In 1984, retired Archbishop Robert Sanchez recruited Butz to head up the archdiocese of St. Francis Cathedral. Having served in various parishes and mission churches in New Mexico since 1954, Butz was well-suited for the job. During his 10 years of service at the cathedral's rectory, he oversaw major renovations that included the remodeling of Blessed Sacrament Chapel and the construction of the archives building for the safekeeping of historical church documents. In 1988, in recognition for his work and leadership, the parish named their main meeting place Father Crispin Hall.

Crispin Butz was born in 1923 in Lafayette, Ind., one of seven children born to John and Mary Butz. His brother, Berno, who died in 1978, was also a Franciscan priest. As a child, Butz attended St. Boniface Catholic Elementary School and graduated in 1941 from St. Francis Seminary in Mount Healthy, Ohio. He completed his novitiate year with the Franciscan order in 1942. Butz received his college degree in 1946 from Duns Scotus College in Detroit. After celebrating his first Mass at St. Boniface Church in Indiana, he was assigned to churches there and in Kentucky before heading to New Mexico in 1954, where his first job was as assistant pastor of St. Francis Parish in Gallup.

"Back in those days, you went where you were told. I had no idea what New Mexico would be like. When I arrived here it was a new world, very different from the east," he remembers. He was with St. Francis Parish for nine years, then in 1963 headed to Immaculate Conception Church in Cuba, N.M., for three years. In 1966, he oversaw Holy Family Parish in Albuquerque until 1972. For the next eight years, he was stationed at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Grants, followed by four years at St. Mary's Parish in Bloomfield.

Butz came to Santa Fe in 1984 and completed the much-needed renovations to the cathedral. But Butz considers his last 5 1/2 decades in the different New Mexico parishes as being equally important. "I must have performed over 30,000 Masses in New Mexico, and I never tire of my religious duties," he says.

Ana Pacheco is the founder and publisher of La Herencia, a culture and history magazine, www.herencia.com, 505-474-2800. Her weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Tuesday.