Off U.S. Highway 84-85, three miles south of Pecos, is this State
Monument. It became a National Monument during late 1966.
This mission, the Church of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Porciuncula
at Pecos, dates from the year 1617. It is fitting that this mission,
which was one of the first two, with Jemez, established by the
Franciscans in New Mexico, should bear the name “Our Lady of the Angels
of Porciuncula,” for with his own hands, St. Francis, founder of the
Order, rebuilt the decaying chapel of Our Lady of Angels at Assisi,
which he called his Porciuncula or “Little Inheritance,” and there
established the headquarters of the Franciscan Order.
Pecos was well fortified because of its location on the eastern edge of
the pueblo area and its contact with the Plains Indians. It resisted the
raids for many years, but when a smallpox epidemic in 1838 reduced the
population to seventeen survivors, they moved to Jemez Pueblo,
abandoning Pecos.
A part of the massive adobe walls of the ruined mission has been
excavated and repaired, as have some of the rubble masonry walls.