The Sanctuary of Guadalupe de Santa Fe
The end of the Royal Road · Santa Fe, New Mexico · 1776-1796
The term of the Royal Way of Earth Inside
The Royal Road of Tierra Inentro was the longest route of the Spanish Empire in North America: 2,560 kilometres that linked Mexico City with Santa Fe of New Mexico through the Chihuahua Desert. The Franciscans who evangelized the South American built an adobe church between 1776 and 1796 at the point where the pilgrims and merchants arrived exhausted at the end of that road. They dedicated it to Our Lady of Guadalupe. With its adobe walls of almost one metre thick, it is today the oldest church in the United States dedicated to the Guadalupana, and one of the best preserved colonial religious monuments in the country.
La painting de José de Alcibar (1783)
One of the jewels that cherishes the sanctuary is a monumental painting by Our Lady of Guadalupe made in 1783 by the prestigious Novospian painter José de Alcíbar. It is the largest work dedicated to Guadalupana in the United States. The image, of high technical quality, represents the Virgin with the mantle crashed on the middle moon, surrounded by the angel and the rays of the sun, faithfully following the model of the Ayate of Juan Diego preserved in Mexico City. The presence of this painting highlights the spiritual and cultural link between the missions of the south-west and the Guadalupan tradition of colonial Mexico.
Four centuries of uninterrupted devotion
El Pueblo Revolt de 1680 expulsó temporalmente a los españoles y destruyó muchas misiones de Nuevo México, pero la devoción a Guadalupe sobrevivió entre los colonos que regresaron a partir de 1692. El santuario de Santa Fe ha pasado por varias restauraciones y cambios de uso a lo largo de los siglos, pero sigue siendo un lugar activo de oración y peregrinación, especialmente durante la festividad del 12 de diciembre, cuando las comunidades hispanas del suroeste celebran a la Virgen del Tepeyac con procesiones, danzas y noches de velación.
tú que apareciste al humilde Juan Diego
y cuya imagen guio a los misioneros al norte del continente,
protege a todos los pueblos de América bajo tu manto. Amén.