San Felipe Neri Church, originally named San Francisco Xavier, was started in 1706 under the direction of Fray Manuel Moreno, a Franciscan priest, and was completed by 1718-19. The building callapsed due to several attacks from the Comanches and heavy rains and floods in the mid-1770s. But the new church, built on the Old Town Plaza, was constructed the following year.
The 1793 church echoes the tastes of the various pastors from Spain, Mexico, France and Italy and no longer reflects the traditional New Mexican architectural style it once had.
Except for its tin ceiling, brick floor, and south entrance, added in 1916, today's church is the same structure as in 1793. In 1965 the San Felipe de Neri Parish was returned to the clergy of the archdiocese of Sante Fe and the Jesuits, who had been in service for 97 years, left Albuquerque.
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San Felipe Neri Church, Albuquerque, NM
© 2016 Sanctuary for Sacred Arts