Misión San Gregorio de Abó

The San Gregorio de Abó Mission once operated as a site of Spain’s evangelization efforts in the Americas. As the Spanish crown expanded its empire throughout North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, it encountered a major obstacle: a shortage of bureaucrats to run all of the governments it was establishing. One of the solutions to this problem was allowing missionaries to supervise settlements in areas that were located far away from secular authorities. The Franciscan friars that created the San Gregorio de Abó mission in the mid-seventeenth century were therefore accomplishing dual objectives: convert the native peoples (the Tompiros) and stake out Spain’s claim over the territory. Located in New Mexico, only ruins remain of the church complex.