New Mexico has a certain mystique. It is at once part of a larger southwestern landscape, but with a character and charm that sets it apart from the other border states. It seamlessly blends its rich Mexican and Native American heritage, with many of the attributes of modern America. Ringed by mountains, desert stretches and towns pulled straight out of old western movies, it is destination not to be missed.
It is one of the most unique places in the U.S. for a family vacation, one in which the three cultures – Spanish, Indian, and American – blend and come alive. It is where you can explore the high desert, pointed canyons, and Indian cave dwellings. Where you can re-live the Wild West and experience cutting edge science in the same day. And of course, it offers some of the country’s most memorable outdoor adventures.
Albuquerque
The base of operations for a New Mexico family vacation should be the state’s largest city, Albuquerque. Set on the banks of the Rio Grande, it is a fun city to explore, complete with the International Hot Air Balloon Museum, the one of a kind International Rattlesnake Museum, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, the New Mexico Museum of Natural Science and History, the Biopark which is home to a zoo, aquarium, and botanical garden; one of the best preserved strips of Route 66 (complete with 1950s era neon signage) and the beautiful adobe Old Town where the architecture stretches back to the early eighteenth century.
From Albuquerque, it is a short one hour day trip to the state capital, Santa Fe, with its collection of Catholic treasures, as well as to some of the state’s most famous parks and outdoor attractions.
Old Town Albuquerque
The adobe buildings that comprise Old Town run about 10 blocks and consist of a number of art galleries, shops and restaurants. It has been the center of city life since Albuquerque was founded in 1706. At its epicenter is the Church of St. Philip Neri. A church has stood on this spot since the city’s founding. There are beautiful grounds in the parish, as well as a museum and gift shop in the Sister Blandina convent.
Servant of God Sister Blandina Segale helped build the convent and opened a number of schools in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque. She was a member of the Sisters of Charity Order (founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton), who worked as a missionary across New Mexico and Colorado in the late nineteenth century. She was renowned in New Mexico for calming mobs and trying to get criminals to seek forgiveness of their victims, and is even said to have put the legendary outlaw Bille the Kid in his place.
Also in Albuquerque is the Shrine of St. Bernadette, dedicated to the visionary of Lourdes. The Shrine contains a life size image of St. Bernadette including some of her relics on display, including her hair and a slipper sock that belonged to her. There is also a small fountain pool of Lourdes water that pilgrims are able to access.
The Blue Nun
About 15 miles south of Albuquerque is the San Agustin Mission in Isleta Pueblo. This was ground zero for one of the most miraculous events on New Mexican soil, the apparition of the “Blue Nun” to the Jumano Indians of New Mexico.
In brief, the story of the Blue Nun involves the Spanish mystic, the Venerable Sister Maria Jesus de Agreda. Although she never left her sixteenth century convent in Spain, she recorded episodes of bilocating to minister to the natives of New Spain. She reported over 500 spiritual visits to the natives to teach them their catechism. At the time, it was not known precisely who she was ministering to. However, Jumano Indians started to arrive at the gates of the St. Augustine Mission in Isleta, asking the friars to send missionaries to their people. The friars were stunned at the stories they heard from these Indians of a blue nun teaching them in the wilderness about the Catholic faith. Eventually, the archbishop in Mexico put the pieces together connecting the accounts of the friars in New Mexico with the reports he was receiving from Spain of the visions of Sister Maria. Further confirmation was later received when the first missionary of New Mexico, Fray Benevides, traveled to Spain to meet face to face with Sister Maria and confirmed many of the details of her account.
Visitors can still stop at the Mission Church of St. Augustine, the same church where the Indians first came seeking out the Franciscans. There is also a shrine of St. Kateri Tekakwitha on site.
Natural Attractions
On the outskirts of Albuquerque is the Sandia Peak Tramway, which affords spectacular views of the peaks of the mountains surrounding the city. It is the longest aerial tramway in the Americas.
Also nearby is the Tent Rocks national monument, narrow canyons with unique pointed rock formations that look like tents rising from the floor.
Santa Fe
At the heart of New Mexico is Santa Fe, the town named after the “holy faith.” From the earliest days of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, missionaries would travel north from Mexico City to this northern outpost of the vast Spanish empire, encountering along the way many of the Native tribes that still inhabit this land. It is a lovely city to explore, full of Native American and Spanish cultural heritage, ringed by the softly rising Sangre de Cristo mountains (Blood of Christ mountains) and full of traditional adobe buildings. It also happens to be the oldest state capital in the U.S. (and the only circular state capital building!).
Spread across Santa Fe are a number of intriguing art galleries and museums (especially the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture), though most are not particularly kid-friendly.
With young families in tow, the objective of a day trip to Santa Fe should be to take in its remarkable collection of Catholic treasures: the oldest Catholic Church in the U.S., the oldest Marian statue in the U.S., the first shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the U.S., holy stairs that were quite possibly built by St. Joseph, and a shrine on the outskirts of town that attracts thousands of pilgrims annually for its holy dirt.
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
At the center of the historic Santa Fe Plaza is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The Cathedral that visitors encounter today was built in the 1860s over the remains of the original parish that once stood on this site. The highlight of the vast cathedral’s sanctuary is the reredos, or altar screen, that depicts beautiful images of the saints of North and South America. The Cathedral’s greatest treasure is found in the Chapel of Our Lady of la Conquistadora. It houses the oldest continuously venerated image of Mary in the U.S. The statue was carved in Spain and brought by the Franciscans to Santa Fe in 1625 and named Our Lady of Conquering Love.
The holy stairs of St. Joseph
Located a few short blocks from the Cathedral Basilica along the Old Santa Fe trail is the Loretto Chapel. This former convent chapel, now a museum, contains one of the most intriguing artifacts in U.S. Catholic history: an ornate winding staircase connecting the nave to the choir loft, whose origin remains unverified to this day.
In the 1870s, as the Sisters of Loretto finished construction of their chapel, their architect died before he was able to finish designing the staircase that would connect the nave to the loft. The Sisters prayed a novena to St. Joseph seeking help to finish the project. On the last day of the novena, a mysterious carpenter appeared and built the winding staircase with a simple set of tools; it has two 360 degree turns and no nails. The carpenter refused payment and disappeared without a trace and the Sisters were never able to determine who he was or where he came from (to boot, the lumber used was not native to the southwest). To this day, many believe that it was St. Joseph himself who appeared to build the stairs.
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Shrine is the oldest church dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the United States, established sometime in the late eighteenth century. The interior sanctuary of the original shrine boasts a beautiful oil painted altar screen depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe, the largest such painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the U.S. The screen was painted by an artist in Mexico City and brought to Santa Fe in pieces by ox train, and then stitched back together in Santa Fe. The original shrine has been turned into an art museum for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, displaying religious art acquired by the Archdiocese. There is an active parish on the shrine grounds, where daily mass is offered.
The grounds of the complex are interesting to explore, including the El Cerro de Tepayac, a path with tile mosaics depicting the various apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a rose garden filled with flowers from the Holy Land. The most eye-catching draw is the giant 12 foot, four thousand pound, statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe outside of the church, which was brought by New Mexican pilgrims from Mexico City along the ancient camino real (royal highway) to Santa Fe in 2008.
Cross of the Martyrs
On a hill in Fort Marcy Park overlooking downtown Santa Fe and the surrounding mountains is the Martyr’s Cross. It is one of the most popular attractions in the city, given its stunning vistas of the surrounding landscape. The cross commemorates the 1680 uprising of the Pueblo Indians against the Spanish in Santa Fe, which resulted in the murder of 21 Franciscan friars.
San Miguel Chapel
This is centuries-old adobe church is the oldest standing Catholic Church in the United States, dating back to 1610. The Mission San Miguel Chapel is located next door to the oldest standing house in the continental U.S. It was built by the Tlaxcalan Indians of Mexico under the direction of the Franciscan friars.
It is believed that the Pueblo revolt in 1680 began with the burning of this mission church and that over 80 Tlaxcalan Indians, Spanish settlers, and missionaries died when the church building collapsed. The church was eventually restored and is accessible to visitors today. Its ancient church bell, which was actually cast in Spain in 1350, can now be found in the vestibule. Interestingly, one of the paintings facing the altar – of Christ on the Cross- was painted on buffalo skin and the nearby painting of St. John the Baptist was painted on deer skin.
El Sanctuario de Chimayo
Located in the village of Chimayo, just outside of Santa Fe, this shrine has been a destination for thousands of pilgrims annually who come for the curative powers of the shrine’s holy dirt. The story of the shrine started in the early nineteenth century, when a friar saw a light bursting from the hillside and uncovered a crucifix buried there (the crucifix is still on display in the church). The dirt from the hillside is believed to have curative powers and is kept in the El Posito, for pilgrims to access. The many miracles attributed to it are attested to by the votive offerings in the adjoining prayer room.
Los Alamos
A visit to northern New Mexico would not be complete without a stop in Los Alamos, the city made famous by the Manhattan Project and which continues to host one of the most advanced scientific research labs in the U.S. today. Visitors to the city can explore the new Manhattan Project National Historic Park and the Bradbury Science Museum.
Los Alamos is also a gateway to Bandolier National Park, which gives visitors a glimpse into ancient Indian dwellings, cave dwellings, and petroglyphs, and the Valles Caldera National Preserve, a 13 mile wide circular depression created by a volcanic eruption.
CATHOLIC CONCIERGE 
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