About Our Lady of the Assumption Mission · Zia Pueblo, New Mexico
Our Lady of the Assumption Mission (in Spanish, Nuestra Señora de la Asunción) is a small Catholic mission church serving the Pueblo of Zia, a Keresan-speaking community in north-central New Mexico that has been continuously inhabited since the 13th century. It is one of five mission churches administered from the San Diego Mission in nearby Jemez Pueblo, within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The historic adobe church that stands on the mesa is one of New Mexico's surviving Spanish colonial mission churches, with roots going back to the 1610s and a rebuilt structure dating to around 1694–1706. The Zia community gathers around this church for its most important annual celebration, the Corn Dance on the feast of Our Lady of the Assumption on August 15.
- Established
- circa 1610 (original mission of San Pedro y San Pablo); current church under construction from c. 1694–1706
- Patron
- Our Lady of the Assumption (Nuestra Señora de la Asunción)
- Rector
- Rev. June Ramos (pastor of San Diego Mission, Jemez Pueblo, which administers this church, effective July 1, 2025)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Why belong here
Our Lady of the Assumption Mission is the Catholic mission church of the Pueblo of Zia, one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. It serves a small, close-knit Native American Catholic community in which the historic adobe church and its cemetery are central to village life, and the August 15 feast of Our Lady of the Assumption coincides with the Zia Corn Dance. As one of five mission churches pastored from San Diego Mission in Jemez Pueblo, it offers the faithful a chance to worship in a living Spanish colonial-era mission and to take part in a centuries-old Keresan Catholic tradition.
Mass times at Our Lady of the Assumption Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
History of Our Lady of the Assumption Mission
The mission at Zia dates back to the early 1600s. Following Juan de Oñate's 1598 entrada, Franciscan Fray Alonso de Lugo founded the original mission of San Pedro y San Pablo at Zia; a church and convento were reported by 1613. After the 1680 Pueblo Revolt the Franciscans were driven out, and Governor Domingo de Cruzate's 1689 attempt to retake the pueblo failed with great loss of life. With Diego de Vargas's reconquest in 1692 the people of Zia returned to their lands, and a new priest, Fray Juan Alpuente, was assigned in 1694. The Zia community rebuilt the church — renamed Nuestra Señora de la Asunción — under Custos Juan Álvarez from about 1704 onward, hauling pine vigas from the mountains and forming adobe bricks themselves. Sacramental records for the parish have been kept under this name from 1905 to the present.
Preservation of the Historic Church
In 1923 the Committee for the Preservation and Restoration of the New Mexican Mission Churches made Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Zia a priority project. Zia workers replaced the rotting original vigas, and roofing paper and copper-lined canales were installed to direct water away from the ceiling and walls — work that helped the building survive the modernization that destroyed many colonial-era adobe churches. Further stuccoing took place in 1972 and 1998. The result is a living mission church that has remained in continuous community use for more than three centuries, recognized today as part of the National Register of Historic Places and featured in the National Park Service's Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary.
- Listed in the National Park Service Historic American Buildings Survey
- Included in the NPS 'Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest' travel itinerary
- Retablo painted by the anonymous 'Laguna Santero'
The August 15 Fiesta and Corn Dance
The principal festival of the year at Zia Pueblo is the Corn Dance on the feast day of Our Lady of the Assumption, August 15. The Mass and traditional dances together make this one of the most important events in the life of the Pueblo and a striking cross-cultural celebration of Catholic and Keresan traditions. The pueblo can be visited daily from dawn to dusk but is closed during some religious ceremonies; no cameras, recordings, or sketching are permitted.
- Feast day: August 15 — Our Lady of the Assumption
- Annual Corn Dance held in conjunction with Mass
- Call the Zia Pueblo Office of the Governor (505-867-3304) for current access
Part of the San Diego Mission Family
Our Lady of the Assumption Mission is administered from San Diego Mission in Jemez Pueblo as one of five Native American mission churches serving the surrounding villages. The parish contact is the San Diego Mission parish office at (575) 834-7300, on 475 Mission Road, Jemez Pueblo, NM 87024. The five mission communities share clergy and pastoral care across the Jemez and Zia areas.
- San Diego Mission, Jemez Pueblo (parent parish)
- Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cañon / Jemez Pueblo
- Santo Toribio, Ponderosa
- San Ysidro, San Ysidro
- Santa Ana, Santa Ana Pueblo
Worship and Sacraments
Sunday Mass at the Zia mission is celebrated at 8:00 AM, on Sundays alternating with Santa Ana Mission. As is common across the Archdiocese of Santa Fe's Pueblo missions, liturgical life blends English, Spanish, and the Keresan language of the community. Sacramental records for the parish stretch back to 1905 and cover baptisms, first communions, confirmations, marriages, and burials. Because the mission's calendar follows the liturgical and ceremonial rhythm of the Pueblo, schedules can change around feast days such as August 15; parishioners are encouraged to confirm times through the San Diego Mission parish office at (575) 834-7300.
- Sunday Mass at 8:00 AM (alternating with Santa Ana Mission)
- Liturgy may include English, Spanish, and Keresan (Zia)
- Sacramental records from 1905 to the present
- Contact San Diego Mission office at (575) 834-7300 for current schedule
Visiting Zia Pueblo
Zia Pueblo sits atop a basalt mesa in north-central New Mexico, with two plazas, each with a kiva, surrounded by traditional one- and two-story dwellings of native rock surfaced with mud. It is the home of the famous Zia sun symbol that appears on the New Mexico state flag and the source of distinctive redware pottery with white slip. From Albuquerque and Bernalillo, take NM-44 northwest about 16 miles to reach the pueblo.
- On NM-44, 16 miles northwest of Bernalillo, NM
- Open daily dawn to dusk (closed during some religious ceremonies)
- Office of the Governor: 505-867-3304