Some 400 celebrate dedication of the statue of Don Diego de Vargas in Cathedral Park

A promise made more than 300 years ago is the reason for the life-sized statue of Don Diego de Vargas that now stands in Cathedral Park.

The statue was dedicated Sunday, with some 400 people filling the park next to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

“When we first got outside, I looked around, and the bottom area near the statue was completely filled with people,” said Gilbert Romero, president of Caballeros DeVargas, the religious and civic organization that led the drive for the statue.

De Vargas, a conquistador who was hired by the crown of Spain in 1692 to reconquer Santa Fe after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, is considered a hero by the caballeros. 

Romero retold the history of Don Diego de Vargas: “He made a promise to Our Lady, La Conquistadora, that if he could reconquer (New) Spain from the Native Americans peacefully without bloodshed, that they would celebrate the fiestas, vespers, Masses and processions every year.” 

That promise has been kept for 295 years by the original settlers’ descendants through the celebration of Fiesta de Santa Fe. It is dedicated to La Conquistadora, also known as Our Lady of Peace, the statue of the Virgin Mary that was pulled from a burning church during the revolt.

After the celebration of Mass, about 400 observers anxiously waited outside the cathedral for the statue’s unveiling. Among the crowd: former Mayor Larry Delgado, Mayor David Coss, former Ambassador to Spain Edward Romero and the consulate general from Spain, Julio Montiesino Ramos, who traveled from Spain to attend the event.

Gov. Bill Richardson — in New Hampshire campaigning for the presidency — was unable to attend, but presented the ambassador with a certificate of recognition.

A reception followed after the statue’s unveiling, with performances by Mariachis Aztecas and local flamenco legend María Benítez, who recently returned from being honored by the king and queen of Spain for her dedication to the art of flamenco.

The caballeros had much reason to put on a grand celebration — the process of funding the statue has been in the works for almost two years.

“Last year, we celebrated our 50th anniversary as the caballeros, and we had wanted to make the statue in commemoration of our anniversary, but it didn’t happen for various reasons,” Romero said. “It turned out to be a beautiful ceremony on Sunday.”

 State Rep. Jim Trujillo, a Democrat from Santa Fe who provided the caballeros with $50,000 from the capital-outlay-projects fund, aided the production. In addition, caballeros members had to raise $8,000 on their own to pay the sculptor.

Sculptor Donna Quastoff, no stranger to having her art downtown, created the statue. Quastoff also sculpted the santuario buttress located in the center of the cathedral, the cathedral’s front doors and the statue dedicated to Spanish settlers currently in Cathedral Park.

 “The No. 1 objective of the caballeros is to perpetuate the memory of Don Diego de Vargas,” Romero said. “And what better way to do that than with a statue.”

Contact Santana López at 995-3837 or slopez@sfnewmexican.com.