Marc Simmons: Legend of Catholic priest saved by grateful tribe

The incident began in early June 1696. Four years earlier, Gov. Diego de Vargas had seized and refounded Santa Fe, lost to the Spaniards in the great Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

Now all seemed peaceful and quiet, with the Indians apparently reconciled to the return of Spanish rule. But looks proved deceiving. Here and there in the scattered Pueblo towns, religious leaders plotted a new rebellion.

One hotbed of unrest was Cochiti Pueblo on the Rio Grande between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. In secret council, the village elders met and laid plans to rebel. The local padre headed the list of those to be killed, followed by local Spanish farmers.

The priest’s name was Father Alonso Ximénez. On the night of June 3, 1696, his sacristan, a loyal Indian assistant, warned him of the plot and urged him to flee at once. He even volunteered to show the padre a safe way out.

So the two men slipped away from Cochiti in the darkness. After a mile, they reached the banks of the Rio Grande, and the sacristan carried the padre to the far bank on his back. Then both hurried down the Camino Real, carefully skirting the pueblos of Santo Domingo and San Felipe.