Socorro Mission, Spanish colonial church in Socorro, Texas.

Socorro Mission is a church built around 1839 of adobe surfaced with stucco, replacing an earlier mission destroyed by the 1829 Rio Grande flood. Its interior holds finely painted and decorated wooden beams, or vigas, made in 1691 by Piro artisans and reused in the present structure. The massing, details and decorative elements relate closely to seventeenth-century Spanish New Mexico building traditions.

The Franciscan mission Nuestra Señora de la Concepción del Socorro was founded in 1682 near Fabens and moved to present-day Socorro that same year, serving Piro, Tano and Jemez families displaced by the Pueblo Revolt. In 1691 Governor Diego de Vargas, for King Carlos II, gave it the name Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de los Piros de Socorro del Sur. Rio Grande flooding in 1829 destroyed the church; the present adobe building went up around 1839.

The church contains carved and painted wooden beams rescued from its earlier structure, showing traditional Spanish colonial craftsmanship. These details remain visible today and give visitors a sense of the skilled work from that period.

The mission stands at 328 S. Nevarez Road in Socorro, reached from El Paso via I-10 at Moon Road and FM 258. The adobe and stucco walls face open sun, so bring protection and come early or late in the day. The interior vigas and the replica of Michelangelo's Pietà are the details to look for inside.

The mission holds one of only 112 authorized copies of Michelangelo's Pietà, the 1499 marble in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The copy is kept inside the church, where visitors can see it alongside the reused 1691 Piro vigas.