Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/605

 TEXAS

547

TEXAS

Leon as Governor of the Provinre of Coahuila, with the intent of occupying and settling Texas, set out from Monelova with "officers, civil and military", bringing with them soldiers, labourers, and artisans, together with domestic animals and seeds for farming. With this expedition went nine Franciscan fathers, Francisco Hidalgo, Nicolas Recio, Miguel Estelles, Pedro Fortuny, Pedro Garcia, Ildefonso Monge, Jose Saldona, Antonio Miranda, and Juan de Ciarayuschea. These priests attended the settlements founded during the exijedition on the Red liiver, the Xeches, and the Guadalupe, establishing there missions for the Indians and baptizing many thousands of them.

Although, in consecjuence of the rebeUion of the Indians against the military and rehgious discipline of the presidios and missions (1693), King Philip II of Spain authorized the abandonment of these posts, "until such time as circumstances should offer more hope of success", it is certain that the devoted missionaries did all that was pos- sible to attend to the rehgious needs of such of their converts as remained faithful. In- deed we know that during t he period from 1(393 to 1714 the Span- ish missionaries, when forced to withdraw, took with them to San Antonio their faithf Indians and w^ brought back to tin - missions by Don Dn- mingoRamonin 1714. In 1703 the Mission San Francisco de Solano was foundcil

on the Rio Grande ,,,,,„^,,

by Franciscans from

Queretaro; afterwards this mission was moved in 1708 or 1709 to the interior of Texas and called San Ildefonso; again in 1710 or later (1713) it was moved back to the Rio Grande and called San Jos^. This mission was moved by Father Antonio M argil de Jesus to San Antonio de Bexar and located at San Pedro Springs under the name of San Antonio de Valero about 1718; in 1732 it was moved to the military plaza in San Antonio, and in 1744 to the site it now occupies, where it was named the "Alamo". About 1783 the mis- sion became a parish church, and on 2 January, 1793, the Bishop of Monterey directed the records to be handed over to the curate of San Antonio de Bexar. The expedition of St. Denis in 1714 led the Duke of Linares, Viceroy of Mexico, to favour a widespread mission movement in Texas, and so from that date the founding of these rehgious institutions went on with great spirit. Father jtlargil, referred to above, whose virtues were declared heroic by Pope Gregory XVI, founded the mi.ssions of Guadalupe among the Nacog- doches, Dolores among the Aes,andSan Miguel among the .Vdaes Indians, also the mission of .\uestra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes. The founding of other mis- sions in the northern part of the territory is also ascribed to this holy priest. In June, 1719, during the war between Spain and France, the missionaries and their faithful flocks were again forced to retire to .San Antonio, but after the cessation of hostilities these missions were re-established and the French set- tlers in Louisiana, as well as the Indians, profited by them, that of N'ue.stra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes being only about twenty miles from Natchitoches.

Father Margil was also the founder of other mis- sions; among them one of the mo.st beautiful in the

neighbourhood of the city of San Antonio, the Mission San Jos^>, founded 1720. Even in decay this mission arouses the most intense interest, its artistic carvings and sculpture exciting wonder. In the same neigh- bourhood is the mission of La Purissima Concepcion, dating back to 5 March, 1731, when the cornerstone of its church was laid by Father Bargarro and Captain Perez of the San Antonio garrison. At the same time and near the same site were built the missions San Juan Capistrano and San Francisco de la Espada, but the original missions of all these titles were founded in 1716 on the San Marcos River. Other missions were founded in various parts of the territory of Texas up to 1791. Among these may be mentioned Espiritu Santo, founded first in 1722 near Fort St. Louis; La Bahia, also founded in 1722 at Fort St. Louis, and with its neighbour transferred later to Goliad; Rosario (1754), near San Juan, and Refugio, on Mission River, the last foundation of the kind, in 1791. San Saba Mission, on the San Saba River, in what is now Men- ard County, was founded in 1734 by a company of priests from Santa Fe, among the Indios Bratms (Wild Indians) — the Apaches and Comanches, for the humane reason of the priests that it was better to civihze than to kill them. This mission gave great encouragement to the zealous workers until the reopening of the San Saba silver mines. Las Almagras, '" '" '"" ^^'■■■■'■'- '■'•■' ■•■■ jj project which re- sulted in the demoralization of the Indians. Dur- ing a war between the Comanches and Apaches in 1758, the former, seizing the opportunity when the small Spanish garrison was absent, fell upon the mission and destroyed all, both pastors and flock. Even the small guard of soldiers did not escape. Tradition informs us that no one was left to tell the news of the massacre. The remains of the missions still to be seen, in a greater or less degree of preserva- tion or ruin, give ample testimony to the labours of the Franciscans among the Indians, and demonstrate what could have been achieved if the work of God had not been interfered with. Sufficient has been said under California Mission.s to indicate the method of the missionaries with the Indians, the nature of their buildings and enclosures, and the routine of their work for the spiritual betterment and civilization of the Indians.

When the movement before referred to, of coloniz- ing the Province of Texixs with settlers from Canary Islands and other Spanish dependencies, was put into effect (1728), the first colony was founded in San Antonio and the colonists were fairly well estab- lished in 1731. They had built their dwellings around the "Plaza of the Constitution", or present Main Plaza (called by these colonists, however, in memory of the sea-girt home they had left, "Plaza des his Islas"), and given their city the name San Fernando. Content for a short time with a small chapel of their own, which, together with the mission church of San Antonio de Valero in the adjoining and pre-existing settlement, temporarily satisfied their religious needs, they founded in 1744 and dedicated in 1749 the church of San Fernando, part of which is still used as the sanctuary of the cathedral of San Fernando, the cathe-