About Santa Rita Mission Chapel (Historic Church) · Bernal, New Mexico
Santa Rita Mission Chapel — formally the Capilla de Santa Rita de Cascia — is a small historic stone mission church in the tiny village of Bernal, New Mexico, at the foot of Starvation Peak along old U.S. Route 66 (1926–1937 alignment). Built of locally quarried stone in 1916, it remains an active Catholic mission chapel under the Parish of San Miguel del Vado in Ribera, one of seven rural mission chapels the parish shepherds across the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant. The chapel continues to host Mass roughly once a month on a rotating Saturday schedule with the other six missions of the cluster, and serves descendants of the 1794 Spanish-colonial families who first settled the Pecos River valley.
- Established
- 1916
- Patron
- Saint Rita of Cascia
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Why belong here
Santa Rita offers regular Catholic worship in one of the oldest continuously active mission settings on the old San Miguel del Vado Land Grant, on the historic Santa Fe Trail and 1926–1937 Route 66 corridor, with Mass celebrated in the stone chapel the founding villagers built in 1916. Visitors and parishioners are welcomed into a small but living community that maintains its historic family cemetery and shares worship and sacramental life with the seven-mission cluster of San Miguel del Vado Parish. For anyone tracing ancestral lines through the Bernal, Ribera, and Pecos Valley settlements, Santa Rita remains the spiritual center of a multi-generational Hispanic Catholic community.
Mass times at Santa Rita Mission Chapel (Historic Church)
Weekly Mass schedule
Capilla de Santa Rita de Cascia — History
The chapel is the spiritual heir of a long-running mission community in Bernal, on the western edge of the 1794 San Miguel del Vado Land Grant. The present stone building was constructed in 1916 to take the place of an earlier chapel serving the same congregation; parish records on microfilm show baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials under the name 'Santa Rita' from the 1860s through the mid-20th century, making it one of the older Catholic mission sites in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The chapel sits at the foot of Starvation Peak (Bernal Hill), which served as a landmark for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail and, briefly, on Route 66 between 1926 and 1937.
- Stone chapel built in 1916
- On the 1794 San Miguel del Vado Land Grant
- Parish records on FHL films 16754–16756 and 16892 (1860s–1965)
- At the foot of Starvation Peak / Bernal Hill
- Borders the 1926–1937 Route 66 alignment
Architecture & Setting
Santa Rita is a small single-story stone chapel in vernacular New Mexico mission style, with a gabled roof topped by three belfries — only one of which holds a bell. The chapel faces the historic Bernal plaza beside the old Bernal Store, and the village's family cemetery lies to the south of the building, continuing the traditional New Mexican pattern of church, plaza, store, and camposanto gathered as a single community nucleus.
- Native-stone construction
- Gabled roof with three belfries
- One bell
- Family cemetery on south side
- Sited on the village plaza next to the Bernal Store
Patron Saint
The chapel is named for Saint Rita of Cascia (1381–1457), an Italian Augustinian nun known as the patron saint of impossible causes and a helper of those in need. Her feast day is May 22, and her intercession is particularly invoked by families in the Pecos Valley and throughout northern New Mexico.
- Saint Rita of Cascia (1381–1457)
- Italian Augustinian nun
- Patron of impossible causes
- Feast day: May 22
Parish of San Miguel del Vado — Mission Cluster
Santa Rita is a mission chapel of the Parish of San Miguel del Vado, whose mother church sits on Sagebrush Way in Ribera, New Mexico. The parish shepherds seven rural mission chapels spread across the old land grant; Mass is celebrated at one of the missions each Saturday afternoon on a rotating basis, in addition to the Sunday schedule at the Ribera mother church. The parish office phone line (Tue.–Thu., 10 AM to 2 PM) provides the current mission Mass schedule.
- Mother church: San Miguel del Vado, Ribera, NM
- Seven missions: Santa Rita (Bernal), San Antonio (El Pueblo), Our Lady of the Rosary (Lagunita), Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (San Isidro Sur), San Isidro Labrador (San Isidro Norte), San Jose, San Juan Nepomuceno (San Juan)
- Saturday 4 PM Mass rotates among the seven missions
- Parish office: Tue.–Thu., 10 AM to 2 PM, (575) 421-2780
Mass & Sacraments at the Parish
At the San Miguel del Vado parish level, Sunday Masses are offered at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM in Ribera, and the rotating 4:00 PM Saturday vigil Mass takes place at one of the seven mission chapels (including Santa Rita in Bernal) on a rotating schedule. Confessions at the mother church are heard Sundays 8:30–8:45 AM, Saturdays 3:30–3:50 PM, and Saturdays 5:30–5:50 PM; Eucharistic Adoration is held Sundays 8:00–9:00 AM.
- Sunday Mass: 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM (Ribera)
- Saturday vigil: 4:00 PM at rotating mission chapel
- Confessions: Sun 8:30–8:45 AM; Sat 3:30–3:50 PM and 5:30–5:50 PM (at mother church)
- Adoration: Sun 8:00–9:00 AM (at mother church)
Languages & Liturgy
The parish cluster celebrates Mass in English and Spanish, reflecting the bilingual heritage of the San Miguel del Vado and Bernal communities. The San Miguel del Vado parish — which administers Santa Rita — reports that both English and Spanish are spoken in its sacramental and pastoral ministry.
- English
- Spanish
Contact & Records
Parish inquiries and the current mission Mass schedule go through the San Miguel del Vado Parish Office on Sagebrush Way in Ribera (mailing P.O. Box 507, Ribera, NM 87560). Genealogists researching Catholic sacramental records for Santa Rita and the broader Bernal area should consult the LDS Family History Library microfilms 16754–16756 and 16892 for baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials from the 1860s through 1965.
- Parish phone: (575) 421-2780
- Parish fax: (575) 421-2781
- Parish email: [email protected]
- Mailing: P.O. Box 507, Ribera, NM 87560
- Historical records on FHL films 16754–16756 and 16892