Santa Fe, the historic capital, is the oldest in the United States. It was established by Don Juan de Oñate at San Gabriel in 1598, just outside of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and then moved over 30 miles south to the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains where Santa Fe was founded in 1610.
In 1680 the Indians revolted, burned the city, mainly the churches and drove out the Spanish colonists, who fled to Guadalupe del Paso, now Juarez, Mexico.
Josefina Sanchez a brave young woman ran into the burning adobe church known at the time as La Parroquia (currently Basilica Cathedral of St. Francis, of the historic Santa Fe Plaza and rescued La Conquestadora from the fire and fled down to Juarez, Mexico, it is her return to Santa Fe that is the center of this Fiesta celebration.
The 29-inch wood carved Marian statue, La Conquistadora, is hand carved out of Spanish olive wood in 1550 and then sent to Mexico City and was originally brought to Santa Fe in 1625 by the missionary, Fray Alonso de Benavides.
Don Diego De Vargas
Twelve years later, the King of Spain appointed Don Diego De Vargas to join the exiles in Guadalupe del Paso and organize a campaign for the resettlement of Santa Fe. He accomplished this difficult and remarkable mission on September 4, 1692. In December of the next year, the Indians resisted when De Vargas returned from a trip to recruit more colonists, so he set up an encampment outside the city near the present site of the Rosario Chapel.
The anxious colonist placed La Conquistadora on a makeshift altar and implored her to intercede for the successful re-entry into the town. Before the end of December 1693, De Vargas led his triumphant forces back into the City of the Holy Faith where La Conquistadora was likely enshrined temporarily in the Palace chapel. Crediting the Madonna’s intercession with his victory, De Vargas is said to have vowed restoration of her throne in the parish church built by Fray Benavides in 1692 and destroyed by the Indians in 1680. The General De Vargas died on April 4, 1704 without achieving this goal.
Eight years after the death of De Vargas, Lt. Governor Paez Hurtado who had been one of this Captains and a close friend, influenced city officials to draft a proclamation for an annual celebration commemorating the 1692 resettlement. The 1712 proclamation establishing the first Fiesta de Santa Fe, was signed by Governor Marquez de La Peñuela. The document specified a mass, vespers, and a sermon, thus setting the religious tone still characterizing modern fiestas.
La Conquistadora
La Conquistadora is among the most venerated Marian figures in the world. She was crowned in 1954 by Cardinal Francis Spellman and again in 1960 by an apostolic representative of Pope John XXIII. Her golden crown is studded with precious stones, including a three-carat diamond. Her extensive wardrobe includes an exquisite lace mantilla from Sevilla Spain and an elaborate costume fashioned from ancient French vestments found in the old Cathedral museum. They appear to be of the secular and American periods of Bishop Lamy’s clergy. And so it is that La Conquistadora, a conqueror of hearts, and De Vargas, a conquistador of the new world, join forces to inspire our unique and enduring celebration, la Fiesta de Santa Fe, a time of prayer, rejoicing and hospitality for all.