SANTA FÉ, ARCIDIOCESI of. — Archdiocese and city in the State of New Mexico (U.S.A.). In 1598, Juan de Onate took possession of New Mexico in the name of the King of Spain. The Franciscans worked at S. Gabriel, but the center of religious activities was transferred shortly afterward to S. F.
Today the ecclesiastical province is composed of the dioceses of S. F., El Paso, and Gallup. The diocese, which covers a territory of 74,860 square miles, has 470,000 inhabitants and 240,000 Catholics; 207 priests (85 religious from 9 different congregations) exercise the sacred ministry in 72 parishes, 40 chapels, 374 missions, and stations. There are also 19 women’s congregations (580 sisters), 1 diocesan seminary, 1 scholasticate, 2 colleges, 2 orphanages, and 9 hospitals.
Success was slight at the beginning because the military governors demanded that the religious work among the soldiers and the whites rather than among the indigenous peoples. The Franciscans nevertheless insisted on obtaining permission to devote themselves to the conversion of the indigenous peoples. Conversions were numerous after 1620, and after about twenty years all the Pueblo indigenous peoples (Tigueux and Quirix) were converted (about 40,000). The religious then numbered 50, in 30 residences. The Spanish government asked Rome for the foundation of a diocese, but the religious thought that the population was not yet mature. Difficulties arose a few years later; on 10 August 1680, 21 Franciscans were killed and many missions destroyed. At the beginning of the 19th century there were 34 Franciscans, working especially among the white population. Shortly afterward Mexico expelled all the Spaniards. By the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded New Mexico to the United States and, at the request of the American bishops, the Holy See erected the Apostolic Vicariate of New Mexico in 1850, and Mgr. Giovanni Lamy (originally from France) was appointed bishop. The detachment from Durango (Mexico) had not been canonically effected, which caused many difficulties for the new incumbent; therefore, in 1853, the Diocese of S. F. was canonically erected.
The diocese then comprised the following States: New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. In 1875, four new ecclesiastical provinces were erected in the United States: Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and S. F. The latter had the Apostolic Vicariate of Utah-Colorado and Arizona as suffragans.
SANTA FÉ, ARCIDIOCESI of. — City and archdiocese of the province of the same name in the Argentine Republic.
It has an area of 104,665 sq. km. and a population of 786,000 inhabitants, of whom 730,000 are Catholics; it has 107 parishes served by 137 diocesan priests and 83 regular priests; it has one seminary, 20 male religious communities, and 55 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 361). It was elevated to a diocese on 15 February 1897 through division from the Diocese of Paraná. Its first bishop was Mgr. Juan Augustin Boneo. Pope Pius XI, by the apostolic constitution Nobilis Argentinae Nationis of 20 April 1934, elevated it to a metropolitan see. The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Joseph. Its suffragans are the dioceses of Resistencia, Rosario, and Tucuman.