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Our Catl1olic Heritage in Texas
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scared the malefactors away, who would probably have destroyed all the missions had he not promptly come to the rescue. In a tone of seemingly righteous indignation he begged the viceroy to allow him to wage a formal campaign of extermination against this vile and worthless nation. On June 3, he wrote a polite and friendly letter to Father Fray Juan Her- nandez, Guardian of the College of Queretaro, with whom he appears to have been on good terms, deploring the misunderstandings that had arisen between him and the missionaries. Curiously enough, he de- clared that a certain Fray Arricivita (the distinguished historian of the missions) who was in San Antonio, was largely responsible for most of the trouble, having prejudiced Fray Mariano against him. He says that only recently he learned that Fray Joseph Lopez should have been ap- pointed chaplain of the presidial troops instead of Fray Miguel Pinilla, and he deftly implies that the trouble could hm·e then been avoided if this provision had been carried out. 59 It is evident that in this case, Rabago was referring to the instructions given to Fray Alonso Giraldo de Terreros on February 21, 1752, which were never put in effect, the incident of the excommunication having taken place two days before. 60 After these preliminary statements he goes on to say that by now the Guardian must have heard how Fray Ganzabal and Juan Jose Ceballos were killed by Coco Indians on the night of May 11. An Indian named Andres, from San Antonio, had subsequently made a confession implicat- ing several soldiers from the presidio as the perpetrators of the crime. Rabago hastened to assure his Reverence that the confession was false. He concludes by stating that there were now only two missionaries left in San Xavier, Fathers Fray Francisco Mariano de Anda and Fray Jose L6pez. 61 About the same time that he notified Urrutia he also sent word to the governor, who appears to have instituted an investigation first in San Antonio under Urrutia, and later in San Xavier by Antonio Soto Bermu- dez, lieutenant governor, for the ostensive purpose of determining who committed the sacrilegious murders, but in reality to clear Rabago of all responsibility. The result of this investigation, in which Rabago took a decided though indirect part, was to cause the Indian Andres to retract S9Captain Felipe Rabago to the Viceroy, May 1 5, I 7 52; same to Fray Juan Her- nandez de Ia Roma, June 3, 1 7 52. In Testimonio de los Autos fhos. pp. x 6 7- 1 69, 206-209. 60See pages 322-323. 61/bid., 206-209.
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