La Conquistadora, the oldest Madonna in the U.S

History in Santa Fe

La Conquistadora, the oldest Madonna in the U.S., arrived in Santa Fe in 1625. She was carried in the arms of Fray Alonzo de Benavides, a Franciscan priest who came across the 28-inch-tall statue depicting a Marian figure carved in willow wood with the liturgical title “One Assumption of Mary into Heaven.” Padre Benavides, who was preparing to become the new superior for the Franciscan missionaries, believed that Mary Immaculate would provide the inspiration to the settlers of the barren northern frontier in the high desert. When he arrived with eleven Franciscans in his caravan, they received a warm welcome, and the legacy of this revered icon took root. The statue resided in the Santa Fe parroquia (parish), where it became the most important religious symbol for the Spanish pioneers. Sometime between 1625 and 1655, a rosary confraternity was founded around the statue’s presence, and she was given the name La Conquistadora. For the next 75 years she remained a symbol of religious devotion. During the Pueblo Revolt that drove the Spaniards from Santa Fe to El Paso del Norte (present-day El Paso, Texas), La Conquistadora was rescued from the burning chapel and carried by Josefa López Sambrano de Grijalva, wife of Francisco Lucero de Godoy, to safety. Lucero de Godoy was the eldest grandson of Francisco Gómez and Ana Robledo, who were two of Santa Fe’s founding families.

La Conquistadora returned 13 years later when she accompanied Diego de Vargas in the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico. The religious devotion of De Vargas was displayed by the banners representing the Marian figure in his entrada (parade entrance) to the capital city. De Vargas had petitioned La Conquistadora to assist him in his efforts, and he had vowed to establish a throne in her honor. She was enshrined at a chapel in the Casas Reales until 1714, ten years after the death of De Vargas, when the new chapel was completed.

The two central figures listed in the 1712 proclamation of the reconquest are Don Diego de Vargas and La Conquistadora. The proclamation is read each year at the Fiesta de Santa Fe, the oldest continuous community celebration in the U.S. In 1956, writer and historian Pedro Ribera Ortega and a group of devout men began La Cofradía de La Conquistadora. Today, this group continues as the caretakers of New Mexico’s most historical icon. Throughout Santa Fe’s history she has also been known as Our Lady of the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of the Rosary, the Queen of New Mexico, and, more recently, Our Lady of Peace. In the 1970s she was given that name by the late Archbishop Robert F. Sánchez, who rightly sensed a need to modify the name to better promote a deeper unity among the different cultural groups, especially within the Native American community. La Conquistadora has been in Santa Fe for 390 years, and currently resides in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

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