A History of Spirituality in Santa Fe: The City of Holy Faith

Shaped by early volcanic activity, the Sangre De Cristo and Jemez Mountain ranges surrounding Santa Fe create a uniquely spiritual landscape. Centuries ago, the Anasazi and their Pueblo Indian descendants believed the land was sacred and established communities in the area. In the early seventeenth century, the Spanish brought Catholicism to Santa Fe and christened it the City of Holy Faith. Other European faiths arrived in the mid-nineteenth century. By the twentieth century, religions from the East, along with New Thought and New Age practitioners, had established a foothold in the capital city. Sikhism, the fifth-largest religion in the world, was introduced to the western hemisphere from Santa Fe. The nature-based UDV religion of Brazil founded its first center in the United States in Santa Fe, which also includes the four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. Santa Fe city historian Ana Pacheco documents the rich religious and spiritual history of this high-mountain metaphysical community.