About Sacred Heart of Jesus · Mesita, New Mexico
Sacred Heart of Jesus is a small mission Catholic church in the Village of Mesita, on the eastern edge of the Pueblo of Laguna in west-central New Mexico. It is one of eight mission chapels served by the parish of St. Joseph in Laguna, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup. The present church was built in 1936 by Franciscan Fathers Agnellus Lammert, OFM, and Kenneth Robertson, OFM, with plans by the celebrated Southwestern architect John Gaw Meem, and dedicated on September 14, 1936, by Archbishop Rudolph Gerkin of Santa Fe. Mass is offered on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month at 5:00 pm, and the village of Mesita joyfully keeps its joint patron feast on August 15 — the Feast of the Sacred Heart, St. Anthony, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- Established
- 1936
- Patron
- Sacred Heart of Jesus (jointly with St. Anthony and the Blessed Virgin Mary's Assumption)
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup
Why belong here
Sacred Heart of Jesus offers a small, close-knit Catholic community within the Pueblo of Laguna, where the faith of the Kawaik people has been quietly kept for generations. As one of eight mission chapels served from St. Joseph Parish in Laguna, it welcomes worshippers to the Saturday Vigil Mass on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, and to the great joint village feast on August 15 celebrating the Sacred Heart, St. Anthony, and the Assumption. Visitors are received into a place where the people themselves helped raise the church walls in 1936, where a treasured painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe looks down from the back wall, and where the rhythm of the Laguna villages — fiestas, harvest dances, and the Lord's Day — still set the pace of Catholic life.
Mass times at Sacred Heart of Jesus
Weekly Mass schedule
Sacred Heart of Jesus — Mission in the Village of Mesita
Sacred Heart of Jesus is a small mission chapel in the Village of Mesita, on the eastern edge of the Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico. It is one of eight mission churches served by the parish of St. Joseph in Laguna, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup. Mass is celebrated on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month at 5:00 pm, and the village keeps a great joint patron feast on August 15.
History of the Church
An older chapel in Mesita had been built in 1915 and was dedicated to St. Anthony. The present Sacred Heart of Jesus Church was begun in March 1936 and was dedicated by Archbishop Rudolph Gerkin of Santa Fe on September 14, 1936. Its design came from architect John Gaw Meem and its construction was directed by the Franciscan Fathers Agnellus Lammert, OFM, and Kenneth Robertson, OFM, with the people of Mesita themselves supplying the labor. The Meem–Lammert team would go on to shape three more Pueblo churches before 1940.
- 1915 — Earlier St. Anthony chapel built in Mesita.
- March 1936 — Construction of Sacred Heart of Jesus begins.
- September 14, 1936 — Church dedicated by Most Rev. Rudolph Gerkin, Archbishop of Santa Fe.
- 1940s — Jose 'Earl' Shiosee trains altar servers and teaches children Latin music and prayers.
- Architect: John Gaw Meem (Spanish-Pueblo Revival).
- Builders: Fr. Agnellus Lammert, OFM, and Fr. Kenneth Robertson, OFM.
Patron Feast and Village Saints
The village of Mesita celebrates three patron saints together on August 15: the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Anthony, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's Assumption into Heaven. The combined feast day brings the community together with traditional dances and the wider Laguna Pueblo harvest.
- Sacred Heart of Jesus
- St. Anthony
- Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Joint feast day: August 15
Architecture and Interior
The Sacred Heart church is one of four Pueblo churches of the 1930s designed by John Gaw Meem in collaboration with Fr. Agnellus Lammert, OFM. Hanging at the back of the church is a life-size painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe, brought from Mexico by an unknown priest and given in memory of Jose Jerome Shiosee.
- Architect: John Gaw Meem
- Construction: 1936, Franciscan supervision
- Interior treasure: life-size painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe
- Donor memorial: Jose Jerome Shiosee
Mass and Sacraments
Because Sacred Heart of Jesus is a mission of the parish of St. Joseph in Laguna, its regular liturgical life is centered on a Saturday Vigil Mass. Sacraments such as baptisms, marriages, and confirmations are typically coordinated through the supervising parish at 1 Friar Rd., Laguna.
- Saturday Vigil Mass: 5:00 pm, 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month
- Rite: Roman-Latin
- Supervising parish: St. Joseph, Laguna (1 Friar Rd., Laguna NM 87026)
- Summer schedule changes are noted in the Sunday bulletin.
The Laguna Pueblo Connection
Mesita is one of six villages of the Pueblo of Laguna — the largest of the Keresan pueblos, founded after the Pueblo Revolt of 1699. The village itself was established in the 1870s by a faction that split from Laguna in part because of the spread of Protestant Christianity. Today Sacred Heart of Jesus remains one of eight mission chapels served from the mother parish of St. Joseph in Laguna.
- Pueblo of Laguna — six villages: Laguna, Encinal, Mesita, Paguate, Paraje, Seama
- Mesita founded: 1870s
- Pueblo name: Tsé Ch'ééhii ("Red Rocks Pointing out horizontally")
- Diocese: Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup
- Diocesan bishop: Bishop James Sean Wall (since 2009)
Notable People of the Parish
Sacred Heart of Jesus has been shaped by the devotion of ordinary families whose names are remembered in the church's art and music. The Shiosee family in particular is honored for generations of service — first as altar servers and Latin-music teachers in the 1940s, then in religious life.
- Jose 'Earl' Shiosee — trained Mesita's altar boys and taught children Latin hymns and prayers (1940s).
- Jose Jerome Shiosee — in whose memory the Our Lady of Guadalupe painting was given.
- Pearl Shiosee, SBS — Sister Mary Rosita Shiosee, Sister of the Blessed Sacrament.
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Fr. Agnellus Lammert, OFM1936 (construction)
Franciscan pastor at Laguna/Acoma who, with John Gaw Meem, designed and built the present Sacred Heart church.
- Fr. Kenneth Robertson, OFM1936 (construction)
Co-directed the building of Sacred Heart of Jesus alongside Fr. Lammert.
- Fr. Wayne Gibbeaut, OFM
Franciscan pastor of the supervising parish (St. Joseph, Laguna) responsible for the Laguna missions, including Mesita.
- Fr. Sean Murnan, OFM
Franciscan who filled in at St. Joseph, Laguna while Fr. Gibbeaut was on sabbatical.
- Fr. Joseph Xavier Kanna
Listed as Parochial Vicar of the supervising parish, St. Joseph, Laguna.