SANTA FÉ, ARCHDIOCESE OF
### (United States)
Archdiocese and city in the State of New Mexico (U.S.A.). In 1598, Juan de Oñate took possession of New Mexico in the name of the King of Spain. The Franciscans worked at Gabriele, but the center of religious activity was soon transferred to Santa Fe.
Today the ecclesiastical province comprises the dioceses of Santa Fe, El Paso, and Gallup. There are 470,000 inhabitants and 240,000 Catholics in the diocese, which covers a territory of 74,860 square miles. Two hundred and seven priests (85 religious from 9 different congregations) exercise the sacred ministry in 72 parishes, 40 chapels, 374 missions, and stations. There are also 19 female congregations (580 sisters), 1 diocesan seminary, 1 minor seminary, 2 colleges, 2 orphanages, and 9 hospitals.
Success was initially limited because military governors demanded that the religious work among soldiers and whites rather than among the indigenous population. The Franciscans nonetheless insisted on obtaining permission to convert the indigenous people. Conversions became numerous after 1620, and within about twenty years all the Pueblo indigenous people (Tiguex and Quirix) had converted (ca. 40,000). There were then 50 religious in 30 residences. The Spanish government requested Rome to establish a diocese, but the religious believed the population was not yet ready. Difficulties arose a few years later; on August 10, 1680, 21 Franciscans were killed and many missions destroyed. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were 34 Franciscans, mainly occupied among the white population. Soon after, Mexico expelled all Spaniards. With 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 Msgr. Jean-Baptiste Lamy (a native of France) was appointed bishop. The separation from Durango (Mexico) was not canonically effected, which caused many difficulties for the new incumbent; therefore, in 1853 the diocese of Santa Fe was canonically erected.
The diocese then included the following states: New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. In 1875, four new ecclesiastical provinces were erected in the United States: Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Santa Fe. The latter had the Apostolic Vicariate of Utah-Colorado and Arizona as its suffragans.
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SANTA FÉ, ARCHDIOCESE OF
### (Argentina)
City and archdiocese of the homonymous province in the Argentine Republic.
It has an area of 104,665 sq. km. with a population of 786,000 inhabitants, of whom 730,000 are Catholic; it comprises 107 parishes served by 137 diocesan priests and 83 religious; it has a seminary, 20 male and 55 female religious communities (*Ann. Pont.* 1952, p. 361). It was elevated to a diocese on February 15, 1897, by separation from the diocese of Paraná. Its first bishop was Msgr. Juan Agustín Boneo. Pope Pius XI, with the apostolic constitution *Nobilis Argentinae Nationis* of April 20, 1934, elevated it to a metropolitan see. The cathedral is dedicated to St. Joseph. Its suffragans are the dioceses of Resistencia, Rosario, and Tucumán.