About San Pedro · Lopeno, Texas
San Pedro Mission is a small Catholic mission church serving the rural community of Lopeno in southeastern Zapata County, Texas, in the Diocese of Laredo. It is one of several missions (alongside Santa Ana Mission in Falcon, Our Lady of Refuge Mission in San Ygnacio, and others) entrusted to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Zapata, which serves as its mother parish. Sunday Mass is celebrated in both English and Spanish, reflecting the bilingual character of this borderlands community whose roots stretch back to the colonial settlements of 1749.
- Patron
- Saint Peter (San Pedro)
- Rector
- Fr. Daniel Ramirez Portugal
- Diocese
- Diocese of Laredo
Why belong here
San Pedro Mission offers a small, bilingual Catholic community in the rural ranchlands of southeastern Zapata County, where Sunday Mass is celebrated in both English and Spanish. Because it is served by the priests of nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Zapata — including a parochial vicar known for visiting the sick, the elderly, and families in need — the mission gives worshippers a deeply personal, close-knit parish home rooted in a community that has worshipped together on the Rio Grande since the 1700s.
Mass times at San Pedro
Weekly Mass schedule
About San Pedro Mission
San Pedro Mission is a small Catholic mission church in the unincorporated community of Lopeno, Zapata County, Texas, listed by the Diocese of Laredo as a mission of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Zapata. The mission is staffed by a pastor and parochial vicar based at the mother parish and serves a rural, bilingual community on the South Texas–Mexico borderlands. Its official listing on the Diocese of Laredo website shows a single Sunday Mass at 10:00 a.m. celebrated in both English and Spanish.
History of the Lopeno Community and Mission
The mission serves a community whose origins reach back to 1749, when Colonel José de Escandón led colonists from the lower Rio Grande into what is now southeastern Zapata County. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, San Pedro was one of several small ranching and farming hamlets clustered around old Lopeño on the Rio Grande, alongside San José, Santa Fe, and El Tigre. In 1953, completion of Falcon Dam inundated the original Lopeño valley. After days of rain beginning August 23, 1953, the 450 families of Lopeño and Falcon were evacuated on August 28, and the rising reservoir soon covered the old town — leaving only the church steeple, a few windmills, and the tops of some houses visible above the water. The displaced communities refused the government's offer to consolidate them in Zapata, and instead resettled seven miles west along the new U.S. Highway 83, on a 6,525-acre tract originally granted in 1767 to María Josepha Guerra. There the new town of Lopeno was built, absorbing San Pedro, San José, Santa Fe, and El Tigre into a single community — and the San Pedro mission has continued to serve that community under its historic name.
- Original San Pedro was one of five small communities (Lopeño, San Pedro, San José, Santa Fe, El Tigre) settled by Escandón's 1749 colonists.
- Flooded in August 1953 by the filling of Falcon Reservoir.
- Residents resettled on U.S. Highway 83 in present-day Lopeno.
Diocese and Mother Parish
San Pedro Mission belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Laredo, which was erected July 3, 2000, and is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. The mission is not an independent parish; it is a dependent mission of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Zapata, which provides pastoral leadership and sacramental ministry. Other missions of Our Lady of Lourdes include Our Lady of Refuge Mission in San Ygnacio and Santa Ana Mission in Falcon.
- Diocese of Laredo (erected 2000, suffragan of San Antonio).
- Mother parish: Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Zapata, TX.
- Companion missions: Our Lady of Refuge Mission (San Ygnacio), Santa Ana Mission (Falcon).
Clergy and Staff
The mission is currently served by two priests based at the mother parish in Zapata. The pastor is Fr. Daniel Ramirez Portugal, and the parochial vicar is Fr. Noel Davis. The same priest team also serves the other missions of Our Lady of Lourdes, including Our Lady of Refuge Mission in San Ygnacio. Parishioners have publicly described Fr. Noel Davis as a beloved presence known for visiting the sick, the elderly, and families in need across the Zapata County missions.
- Fr. Daniel Ramirez Portugal — Pastor
- Fr. Noel Davis — Parochial Vicar
Mass and Worship Schedule
The Diocese of Laredo website lists a single weekly public Mass for San Pedro Mission, celebrated bilingually in English and Spanish. As a small mission chapel, it does not list its own separate schedule for weekday Mass, confession, or adoration on the diocesan site; parishioners typically receive these sacraments at the mother parish, Our Lady of Lourdes in Zapata.
- Sunday — 10:00 a.m. (English/Spanish bilingual)
Contact and Location
San Pedro Mission is located on Avenue D in Lopeno, Texas 78564, in southeastern Zapata County along U.S. Highway 83. Because the mission is staffed from the mother parish, all phone, fax, and email contacts are routed through Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Zapata. GCatholic records the precise location with the Plus Code 76R2PV6R+4C.
- Address: Ave. D, Lopeno, TX 78564
- Phone: 956-765-4216
- Fax: 956-765-6188
- Email: [email protected]
- Plus Code: 76R2PV6R+4C