Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain is recovering well after a lower back surgery he underwent the morning of June 30.

The archbishop was expected to be released from the hospital the same day.

On Jan. 6, the archbishop had neck surgery to remove two cervical discs, replace them with bone grafts and secure three cervical vertebrae with a titanium plate.

In a June 15 letter sent to priests, deacons and pastoral coordinators, the archbishop wrote, “The surgeon is pleased with my progress after the January neck surgery and gave me the go-ahead to begin physical therapy, which I did about a month ago.”

But, he added, “I learned a few weeks ago that another surgery is necessary, this time on the lower back. I was aware even before the neck surgery that a second surgery might be necessary at some point, but it has become very clear over the past 7-8 months that it is necessary.

The archbishop added that his surgeon thought recuperation from the lower-back procedure would be considerably quicker than for his previous surgery.