About St. Anthony of Padua · Dixon, New Mexico
St. Anthony of Padua is a small Roman Catholic parish in the village of Dixon, New Mexico, in the Embudo Valley of Rio Arriba County. It belongs to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santa Fe and shares its clergy and website with the neighboring parish of San Antonio de Padua in Peñasco, jointly serving roughly a dozen churches and mission chapels across the upper Río Grande region. The parish is the spiritual heir to a centuries-old Catholic presence in what was originally the Spanish land-grant village of San Antonio del Embudo (founded 1725), and its current church building in Dixon was established in 1929.
- Established
- 1929
- Patron
- St. Anthony of Padua
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Santa Fe (Metropolitan)
Why belong here
St. Anthony of Padua is a small, mission-style Hispanic Catholic community in the heart of the Embudo Valley, where the faithful still gather in a parish founded in 1929 just across from the original plaza. Members can attend weekly Sunday Mass in Dixon at 10:30 AM with confession immediately after, send children to First Communion and Confirmation preparation each fall, and stay connected to the wider region through the cluster of mission chapels — Velarde, Pilar and Lyden — that the parish keeps alive. It is a place where the traditions of the old San Antonio del Embudo community are still celebrated, Spanish and English are spoken, and the parish website is shared with sister parish San Antonio de Padua in Peñasco so the whole upper Río Grande valley stays pastorally connected.
Mass times at St. Anthony of Padua
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Fridays 4:30–5:30 PM (Peñasco)
- Saturdays 2:30–3:30 PM or 3:30–4:30 PM during daylight savings time (Velarde)
- Sundays after 10:30 AM Mass (Dixon)
- Or by appointment
Parish History & the Embudo Valley
The Catholic presence in Dixon is older than the town itself. The village was laid out as San Antonio del Embudo under the 1725 Embudo Land Grant, and Hispano Catholic devotion survived the Comanche and Ute raids that depopulated the northern frontier in the 1740s. Around 1900 the village was renamed Dixon when a non-Catholic, Collins Dixon, was associated with the Presbyterian mission there, and in 1929 the Catholic community formally established St. Anthony de Padua as a parish church on the historic plaza.
- 1725: Embudo Land Grant issued to Francisco Martín, Lázaro Córdova and Juan Márquez; settlement named El Puerto del Embudo de Nuestro Señor San Antonio.
- 1744: Bishop fray Miguel de Menchero describes Rancho del Embudo; village temporarily abandoned in 1748 due to Comanche/Ute attacks.
- c. 1900: village renamed 'Dixon' after Presbyterian missionary Collins Dixon; post office established under that name in 1902.
- 1929: St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Church founded on the plaza, just across the road from the Embudo Presbyterian Mission.
Mission Chapels of the Parish
St. Anthony of Padua, Dixon, is the hub parish for a small cluster of mission chapels listed by GCatholic. Mass is celebrated most frequently at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Velarde (every Saturday evening), and on or around feast days at Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Pilar) and San Jose (Lyden). On months with a 5th Sunday, Mass moves to the Pilar mission.
- Chapel of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe — Velarde (Saturday Vigil)
- Chapel of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores — Pilar (5th-Sunday Mass and feast days)
- Church of San Jose — Lyden (feast-day Mass)
- Mass circulated among mission chapels (Rodarte, Chamisal, Picuris, Vadito, Rio Lucio) for the 1:00 PM Sunday in the joint schedule
Sacraments & Faith Formation
The parish website directs families to the Parish Office for sacramental preparation. Registration for both First Holy Communion and Youth Confirmation is held each year, typically in August, with the specific dates posted to the website when confirmed. Confession is offered weekly in three locations across the joint Peñasco–Dixon parish family.
- First Holy Communion — registration usually in August
- Youth Confirmation — registration usually in August
- Confession — weekly in Peñasco, Velarde and Dixon plus by appointment
Parish Life, Prayer & Fundraising
Beyond the Mass schedule, the parish website carries prayers commonly prayed together at Mass and in homes: the Angelus, the Prayer of St. Joseph for the Consecration of Homes and Community, and the Act of Spiritual Communion by St. Alphonsus de Liguori (recommended after the COVID-19 closures). It also publicizes an annual parish raffle as a key fundraiser, with prizes and tickets typically released each year.
- Angelus prayer
- Prayer of St. Joseph for Consecration of Homes and Community
- Act of Spiritual Communion (St. Alphonsus de Liguori)
- Annual Parish Raffle
Joint Parish Family: Dixon & Peñasco
Discover Mass and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe confirm that St. Anthony of Padua in Dixon and San Antonio de Padua in Peñasco operate as a single pastoral family, sharing clergy and one parish website (dixonpenascocc.org) while keeping two separate parish offices. Together they serve roughly ten churches and mission chapels, with the Dixon office publicly listed at (505) 579-4389 in GCatholic and (575) 587-0399 in some directories.
- Single shared website: dixonpenascocc.org
- Shared clergy between Dixon (St. Anthony of Padua) and Peñasco (San Antonio de Padua)
- Each parish retains its own parish office
Archdiocese, Deanery & Feast Day
The parish belongs to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santa Fe and is listed in the Archdiocese's Northwest Deanery alongside Peñasco (San Antonio de Padua), Questa (St. Anthony), Ranchos de Taos, Taos, Chimayo and other northern New Mexico parishes. The Archdiocese's official Parish Feast Days directory lists St. Anthony de Padua, Dixon, under June 13, the universal feast of St. Anthony of Padua.
- Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santa Fe
- Northwest Deanery
- Parish feast day: June 13