About Our Lady of Sorrows Mission · Rio En Medio, New Mexico
Our Lady of Sorrows is a small Catholic mission church in the rural village of Rio en Medio, in the Sangre de Cristo foothills north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is administered as a mission of the historic Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Santuario de Guadalupe) in Santa Fe, sharing its clergy and offices with that parish and with the neighboring San Ysidro Mission in Tesuque. The two small mountain mission churches alternate Sunday Masses between them, keeping a centuries-old Hispano Catholic tradition alive in the upper Rio en Medio valley.
- Established
- 1891
- Patron
- Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores)
- Diocese
- Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Why belong here
Our Lady of Sorrows is one of the most intimate mission chapels in northern New Mexico, nestled in the quiet Sangre de Cristo foothills village of Rio en Medio. Visitors join a multi-generational Hispano Catholic community in a setting where Mass is still celebrated in the village's historic chapel every other Sunday at noon. As part of the Santuario de Guadalupe parish family — which includes the oldest shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the United States — the mission offers a chance to worship in a living piece of New Mexico's Catholic heritage while enjoying the rhythm of small-village community life.
Mass times at Our Lady of Sorrows Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
About Our Lady of Sorrows Mission
Our Lady of Sorrows is a Catholic mission chapel serving the tiny rural village of Rio en Medio, a Hispano settlement in the Sangre de Cristo foothills north of Santa Fe. The mission is one of three linked worship sites under the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Santa Fe, alongside San Ysidro Mission in Tesuque. Mass is offered every other Sunday, with the two mountain chapels taking turns. The mission shares the parish phone line and website with the Santuario de Guadalupe office in Santa Fe.
History of the Chapel and Village
Hispanic families began settling along the Rio en Medio creek in the 1870s, raising livestock and farming the narrow valley. Their Catholic chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, became the heart of community life — the only gathering place in the village, where baptisms, marriages, funerals, and feast-day Masses were celebrated. In 1891 the community's sixteen vecinos deeded the chapel parcel to Archbishop Jean B. Salpointe of Santa Fe and his successors, placing it firmly within the (now Arch)diocese of Santa Fe. The chapel and mission continue that tradition today, administered together with the Santuario de Guadalupe.
- Settled by Hispanic farmers in the 1870s
- Chapel parcel formally deeded to Archbishop Salpointe in 1891
- Long administered alongside the Santuario de Guadalupe and San Ysidro Mission (Tesuque)
Parish Family: Santuario de Guadalupe
Our Lady of Sorrows is administered as a mission of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Santuario de Guadalupe) in Santa Fe — a cruciform adobe church built between 1776 and 1796, the oldest surviving shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the United States. The Santuario is on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the National Historic Trail El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Its parish oversees three worship sites: the Santuario itself in Santa Fe, San Ysidro Mission in Tesuque, and Our Lady of Sorrows in Rio en Medio.
- Santuario de Guadalupe, 100 S Guadalupe St (also 417 Agua Fria St), Santa Fe, NM 87501
- San Ysidro Mission, Tesuque, NM
- Our Lady of Sorrows, Rio en Medio, NM
Patron and Feast Day
The chapel's patron is the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores), recalling her sorrows at the Passion of Christ. The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated in the Roman Catholic calendar on September 15, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
- Patron: Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores)
- Feast Day: September 15