Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1910-06-03
WILL FULFILL
VARGAS VOW
Unique Celebration Will be
Held Here Sunday
Afternoon
WILL CARRY STATUE or VIRGIN
From Cathedral to Rosario Cha
pei Where 9 Day Novena
Begins.

Faithful to the promise made by
Diego de Vargas on September y,
1892, according to the legend, that
if he should reconquer Santa Fe and
overcome the hostile Indians intrench-
ed on what is now the beautiful plaza
of Santa Fe, that the statue of the
Virgin Mary would be carried each
year from the Cathedral to the spot
which is now Rosario chapel, a s0journ
procession will be held Sunday after
noon. Hundreds and thousands of peo-
pie will turn out to see this unique
celebration which will begin at p. m.
The statue of the Blessed Virgin
now stands on an~altar in a chapel in
the Cathedral. 1t is an ancient statue
and is said to be the identical one
possessed by De Vargas who was re-
nowned for his devotion TO the Virgin.
The statue will be carried by a num-
Der of girls clad in white. The Very
Rev. Father Fourchegu, vicar general,
and other priests of the Cathedral
will take part in the procession and
open the novena which will begin
Sunday in honor of the Blessed Vir-
gin.
The story of this interesting cere-
mony and how it originated is told by
the Very Rev. James H. Defouri al
one time pastor of the church of Our
Lady of Guadalupe in his book en-
titled The Catholic Church in New
Mexico" After telling of Don Diego
De Vargas starting in 1892 from El
Paso to reconquer Santa Fe which
had fallen into the hands of the In
dians, the writer says:
Carried Statue.
DE Vargas carried everywhere
with him a statue of the Blessed Vir-
gin Mary, and wherever he stopped,
! a little sanctuary was built and devo-
tions were offered by the army. We
may meet yet several of those places
called by the people los palacios'
among others one near Aqua Fria,
five miles west of Santa Fe.
DE Vargas entered the city by the
road called Ell Canine de Vargas and
stood with his troops near the church
Of Our Lady of Guadalupe The rea-
son De Vargas crossed the river was
the greater facility he had of attack
ing the Indians from the northwest,
the ground being higher and the plaza
being more open on that side. Be
,;I 40 hot t.
cisco street, was a grove of trees in
low, swampy ground the bed of the
river not being as deep as it is now.
Thence crossing the Rio Santa Fe
at a place called yet, Puente de Var
gas, he went to the very spot where
now stands the Chapel of Our Lady of
the Rosary, and there he erected a
'palacio' On the next day September
13, Vargas with his small troop, at
tackled the Indians who We're centered
on a waste, which is now the beauti-
full PLACE of Santa Fe; they had forti-
fled themselves, and were reinforced
by the neighboring pueblos, to the
number Of ten thousand. The battle
ragged with great ardor on both sides
from four in the morning until night
fall, without apparent result. Then
Vargas, in the name of his troops on
bended knees, before the statue of
Mary, made the solemn VOW that
should he take the city, every year
that same statue should be brought
in solemn procession from the princi-
pal church in the city to the spot on
which they were camping, where he
: should build a sanctuary, and there be
left for nine days, the people flocking
to the chapel to thank Mary for this
! victory, attributed to her.
He Attacks Indians.
''On the dawn of the next day, De
Vargas attacked with impetuosity the
fortified Indians, and drove them from
the plaza. At eight o'clock they re-
tired upon the Iona, north of the city,
where he attacked them, and by noon
not an Indian was seen in the neigh
borhood
Faithful to Promise.
Faithful to his promise, Vargas
: built the sanctuary of Our Lady of the
Rosary, and the fulfilment of the vow
commencing then, still continues
every year on the Sunday after the
: Octave of Corpus Christi, by carrying
what is most probably the identical
, statue possessed by De Vargas, and
called by the people 'Nuesta Sonora
de la Victoria, (Our Lady of the Vic
tory in great pomp, with music and
pious chanting, from the Cathedral of
st. Francis to the Chapel of the Ros-
ary. For nine days mass is celebrated
there, the people making daily pill
grimages in thanksgiving for the favor
received.
THE church built in haste by Var