Ottr Catholic Heritage in Texas
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during Lent, they had called upon Father Recio de Leon, to inquire if he was sick or unable to perform his duties, and if so, to suggest that he get a substitute or assistant. They particularly desired that he would say l\'Iass the next Sunday. To their astonishment he replied that he was well and sound in body and mind but that he did not wish to say Mass, nor to get anyone to do so until the governor, (Franquis) now in Mexico, returned; that the Cabi/do could do whatever they pleased to get some one else; that he gave them his permission and hoped that they could find some one; that he resigned all claim to his royal allowance and all fees, which could be collected by the priest who took his place. The Council, who had called on him in a body, knowing his character, did not wish to act without some assurance that the Padre would not retract his words. They asked him, therefore, to give them his permission in writing to secure one of the missionaries to minister to them. Father Recio de Leon flew into an uncontrollable rage, drove the Council out of his house, locked the door, and refused to see or talk to anyone. When they again knocked on the door, the Padre called out loudly to his negro servant: "Bring me my guns! Bring me my guns!" The Cabildo left. They requested a Padre from Father Benito Fer- nandez de Santa Ana, who gladly acceded to their request. The missionary took up his duties at once, and the settlers and soldiers were able to hear Mass with more regularity during the rest of the Lenten season and to fulfill their Easter duties. 34 Efforts to increase tl,e garrison. The continued attacks of the Apaches had created a sense of insecurity not only among the civil settlers, but among the neophytes in the various missions and the soldiers themselves, who, it will be remembered, were induced on several occasions to solicit permission to remove their families to a place of safety. As early as 1737, Governor Franquis pointed out that the Presidio of San Antonio de Bejar was in fact the advanced outpost and bulwark of all northern New Spain. In the midst of the Apache country, the post had to keep this fierce and barbarous enemy constantly at bay. But in doing so it protected Coahuila. Its garrison should be increased before it was too late. One hundred men would be required to make its real significance effective. The Indians had already made the old road from the Rio Grande to San Antonio unsafe and had begun to attack the lower route. The same was true about the roads from San Antonio to Los Adaes, which had been abandoned for
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'4Auto de Cabildo, March 12, 1743. Nacogdoches Arc/1ives, vol. I, pp. 95-96.
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