About San Jose Mission · San Jose, New Mexico
San Jose Mission is a small historic Catholic mission chapel in the village of San Jose (San José del Vado) along the Pecos River in San Miguel County, New Mexico. It is one of seven mission churches served by the Parish of San Miguel del Vado in nearby Ribera, within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The mission sits in a centuries-old Spanish colonial settlement on the old Santa Fe Trail and gathers its scattered rural community for Mass on a rotating Saturday vigil schedule shared with the other mission chapels of the parish.
- Established
- 1826
- Patron
- Saint Joseph (San José)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Why belong here
San Jose Mission offers Catholics in the upper Pecos River valley a familiar, intimate place to worship rooted in nearly two centuries of village tradition. As one of seven small missions rotating Saturday vigil Masses under San Miguel del Vado parish, it brings the Eucharist to a sparse ranching and farming community that would otherwise have no nearby Catholic church. Visiting or joining means participating in a living Spanish colonial mission heritage on the old Santa Fe Trail, while being part of a wider parish family that shares ministry across seven historic villages.
Mass times at San Jose Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
San Jose Mission — A Pecos River Village Chapel
San Jose Mission is the Catholic mission chapel serving the tiny village of San José del Vado on the Pecos River in San Miguel County, New Mexico. Founded in the 1790s as a Spanish colonial settlement and granted its own church by the Bishop of Durango in 1826, it remains an active mission under the Parish of San Miguel del Vado in Ribera. The mission belongs to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and shares its pastoral life with six other historic village chapels.
History
San José del Vado — 'St. Joseph of the Ford' — was established in 1794 as part of the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant, a Spanish colonial buffer settlement on the west bank of the Pecos River about 28 miles southwest of Las Vegas. After the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 it became a way station in the Pecos Valley. In May 1826 the Bishop of Durango authorized the erection of a church at San Jose, and from then on the village was served from the newly established parish of San Miguel del Vado. Today the original mission chapel remains one of seven mission churches sharing a single pastorate.
- 1794 — Settlement founded as part of the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant.
- 1821 — Becomes a stop on the newly opened Santa Fe Trail.
- May 1826 — Bishop of Durango grants permission to erect the church at San Jose.
- Later 1820s — San Miguel del Vado is established as its own parish; San Jose becomes a mission chapel.
- Present — One of seven mission churches of San Miguel del Vado parish, Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
The San Miguel del Vado Mission Cluster
San Jose Mission belongs to a pastoral cluster of seven mission chapels served together by the Parish of San Miguel del Vado, which is centered at the historic San Miguel church on NM-3 in Ribera. This arrangement preserves regular Catholic worship and sacramental life in small Pecos Valley villages that could not sustain a parish of their own.
- Santa Rita Mission — Bernal
- San Antonio Mission — El Pueblo
- Our Lady of the Rosary Mission — Lagunita
- Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Mission — San Isidro del Sur
- San Isidro Labrador Mission — San Isidro Norte
- San Jose Mission — San Jose
- San Juan Nepomuceno Mission — San Juan