I am rebelling and posting something about Colorado. Manitou Springs, Colorado, to be exact. (That is pronounced Man-i-too, if you are reading out loud and annoying your co-workers.)
Feast your eyes on Miramont Castle, built by a French priest. Yep, one of those Catholic guys who took a vow of poverty. He was born in to perverse levels of wealth and didn’t exactly adhere to those pesky poverty rules when he used his mom’s money to build this 14,000 square foot, 40 room mansion. I assume she was happy to pay for it as she, her priest son and her four French-speaking maids were the occupants.
Some more fun facts: Father Jean Baptiste Francolon was sent as a missionary to convert the native population in New Mexico. The native population was mostly fed up with the Spanish missionaries who were already there and they had little patience for the new fancy French guy. To the point that they tried to poison him via the chalice!
Only semi-poisoned, he was sent to Manitou Springs, Colorado where he set to work building this ‘house’ for him and his mother. He surrounded himself with nuns from the Sisters of Mercy institute. He helped support their care of tuberculosis patients.
He and his mother only lived in this house for about 5 years before they headed back to France – the house was then used as a hospital by the nuns. Decades later, it was chopped up in to 10 apartments, but it has been mostly restored and is available for tours.
I will continue to rebel in my next post with another off-topic bit of wonder – priest holes. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Much better pictures of Miramont Castle can be found here.
