Learn more about the man who inspired the name Hermit's Peak

Editor’s note: The Journal continues “What’s in a Name?,” a once a month column in which Elaine D. Briseño will give a short history of how places in New Mexico got their names.

Religious devotees have long shown their dedication with extreme lifestyles, depriving themselves of wealth, spirited beverages, human affection and sometimes the company of others.

The commitment of one such man in New Mexico, Italian-born monk Giovanni Maria de Agostini, inspired others to name an entire mountain after him. That mountain is, of course, Hermit’s Peak, which is 50 miles north of Santa Fe in the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

In the 1860s, Agostini lived high up the mountain in a cave, which by all accounts isn’t much of a cave these days. However, he was able to find shelter there, building a stone wall on the ledge to protect him from the elements and prevent an accidental fall. He erected three wooden crosses on the eastern summit, representing the crucifixion of Jesus.

A Nov. 22, 1879, Weekly New Mexican article describes the first sighting of the monk in the nearby town of Las Vegas, New Mexico.

“In 1866, there appeared in town an old, gray-headed man who seemed to have been the victim of some great ill fortune,” the article said. “... He was a man of much learning and extensive reading, but did not hold much communication with his fellows.”

The man gave his name as Juan Augustine and was fluent in both French and Spanish and knew some English. The article notes his “religious zeal” and speculates that he was doing penance for an early life of sin or maybe even a crime. He only occasionally came to town but refused to enter any home. Locals looked at him with superstition but also reverence.

“They thought it their duty to aid him and during the whole time of his abode in the mountains, they carried him food and provisions,” the story recalled.

The story describes the peak as difficult to ascend with a “cold and inhospitable” look about it, but it is where he made his home for three years, near the eastern summit of the 10,200-foot peak. The 1879 story goes on to say that his history and real name were never discovered but time revealed his true identity.

Historian David G. Thomas wrote a book about Agostini’s life “Giovanni Maria de Agostini, Wonder of the Century: The Astonishing World Traveler Who Was a Hermit,” that details his travels around the world, including New Mexico.

The Santa Fe New Mexican printed a page from Agostini’s diary on May 22, 1933. It revealed his birth year as 1801 and his inclination toward a solitary life began when he was just 5 years old. Some say he was born to Italian nobles, but that is sometimes debated and the exact day of his birth is unknown. He felt a divine calling at the age of 17 after receiving a vision of the Virgin Mary, although he never officially belonged to an established parish or monastery.

He left Italy and traveled across Europe and South America by foot, where he often dwelled in caves. He visited Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and other countries before heading to Mexico in 1861, where he attracted a large following. Agostini made his way to America and spent five years in a cave in Indiana and five months living in a hollow tree near Westport, Missouri, before deciding to explore more of the American West. He joined a wagon train in Council Grove, Kansas, to make the long trek west to New Mexico along the Santa Fe Trail, and eventually his way to Las Vegas. After leaving northern New Mexico, he made his home near Las Cruces, where he made a home in a cave at the crest of the Organ Mountains.

His caves protected him from the elements but they could not protect him from violence. He was murdered in April 1869, although there is some dispute about the actual date, according to Thomas.

Agostini would light a fire every night so people nearby would know he was safe. Thomas recalls in his book that the monk’s good friend Antonio García went searching for him after he failed to light his weekly Friday fire. When he could not find him in his cave, he paid two sheep herders to search for him. They located his body a few days later and believed he was taken while in bed because he was wearing only his underclothes, according to Thomas’ research.

He had a crucifix in both hands and both of his lungs had been pierced by a sword or lance.

The local newspapers at the time blamed the Apaches for his death but it was based on pure speculation by those who found his body. The saga then took a turn nobody could have predicted. Father Manuel Felipe de Jesús Chávez, the parish priest of Las Cruces, was indicted for his murder. His motive, some said, was jealousy. His arrest predictably infuriated local parishioners. Charges were dropped two days later and other theories were floated but nobody else was ever arrested for the crime.

A devastating fire swept through Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon in 2022, burning 341,500 acres and destroying hundreds of homes. The Hermits Peak Fire, which later merged with the Calf Canyon blaze, began on April 6 after the U.S. Forest Service lost control of a prescribed burn.

Despite the devastating fire and the hermit’s tragic end, his legacy and the mountain endure.

He inspired the creation of a local organization called Society of the Hermit at the end of the 19th century. The main practice of its 62 members was to make a long trek to the peak. Once there, they would pray and erect crosses. A handful of members still exist and at least some trek up the mountain to erect crosses and pay homage to a man revered for his devotion to a solitary life.

Learn more about the man who inspired the name Hermit's Peak