The Beginnings of Civilized Life in Texas, 1731-1745
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had its own registered branding iron and its stock was seared once a year. 66 When it is considered that the mission was established on the San Antonio River in 1718, that practically no Indians and only the bare necessities of life were brought from San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande, and that from this humble beginning the mission had reached the state of prosperity and progress just described in twenty-seven years, it cannot be said that the work of the Franciscan missionaries in Texas was a failure. San Juan Capistrano in 1745. But the flourishing condition of San Antonio de Valero was equaled by that of the other missions. After finishing his inspection of the present Alamo, Father Ortiz went on to San Juan Capistrano where he found that five hundred and fifteen persons had been baptized since the time of its establishment in San Antonio in 1731, after its removal from East Texas. During this time also two hundred and forty-one had died and received the last sacraments. Forty- one families with one hundred and sixty-three persons of both sexes and all ages were living at the mission. Of these one hundred and thirteen were baptized Christians and fifty were being instructed in the doctri11a. The church was still a temporary jacal, that is, a large hall made of brush plastered with mud and roofed with straw. The rude structure was very clean, however, and well kept. There was a single altar over which was an image of Our Lady of Sorrows, carved in three-quarter size. On either side there were statues of the Infant Jesus and of Saint Joseph, both carved and about half a vara in height. Above the altar there was a large oil painting of San Juan Capistrano with a gold-filled frame, about one vara square. In the tower there were two bells. In the church there were two benches, one confessional, a missal, a ritual, a manual for the administration of the sacraments, a crucifix, and other ornaments. There were also one chalice with its paten of silver, cruets for wine and water and a tray of silver, a baptismal font of copper, a censer of the same metal, various adornments and linen for the altar, and four sets of vestments of different colors for divine services. The Indian pueblo at this time consisted of a group of jacales (straw huts), a modest friary consisting of two cells and a few rooms for offices, built of stone and mortar, and a granary to store the farm products. The land under cultivation was sufficient to feed the neophytes gathered 66 Visita de las Missiones hecha, de orden de N. M. R. P. Commo. Gral. Fr. Juan Foguera, por el P. Fr. Franco. Xavier [Ortiz], en el ano de 1745. Arcliivo del Colegio de la Santa Cruz, 1729-17 58.
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