Front:
SAN MIGUEL CHURCH, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
118211
Back:
TM
HERMITAGE
(ART COMPANY
CHICAGO
SAN MIGUEL CHURCH, Santa Fe, N. M.
The Cradle of Christianity in America
SAN MIGUEL, the oldest church in the
United States, is still used daily for religious
exercises. This picture represents the church
as it appears today. Some place its building
as early as 1541 and some in 1607; it ante-
dates the Governor's Palace. According to
records recently discovered it was already
used as a parish church in 1629. During the
general uprising of the Pueblos in 1680, the
roof with the early records of the church were
burned. The walls were left intact and only
slight repairs were necessary when Diego de
Vargas, Governor and Captain-General, re-
turned with the Spaniards in 1692.
Many notable persons of the Spanish era of
the New Mexican history are buried in the
church, among others Father Juan de Jesus,
who was killed by the Indians in 1680, Diego
de Vargas Zapatas and Lujan Ponce de Leon,
Spanish Governor and reconqueror of New
Mexico who died in 1704.
ART CHROM
