Our Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
for it was founded for Texas Apaches by the man who well deserves to be called their apostle and martyr, and there is a strong probability that this mission was largely responsible for the deep interest which this saintly martyr later took in the San Saba project. The fotmding of .Mission San Lorenzo in Coalmila, 1754-1755. During his residence at San Juan Bautista, Fray Alonso had come into contact with the Natages, a branch of the eastern Apaches of Texas, who fre- quently visited the presidio on the Rio Grande and as frequently com- mitted depredations in its vicinity. The good friars had been trying to induce them to accept Christianity and to live in a mission for two or three years. Perhaps the failure to secure a mission from the padres in San Antonio drove them to seek one at last in San Juan Bautista. Shortly before his departure for San Xavier, Governor Pedro Rabago y Teran, of Coahuila, appointed to succeed Captian Miguel de la Garza Falcon in the Texas outpost of San Xavier, wrote to the viceroy on June 3, 1754, concerning the Indians that would likely join the mission planned by Fray Alonso. He declared that treaties of peace had recently been negotiated and that as a consequence there were at that time more than nine hundred Indians encamped on both sides of the Rio Grande, near the new town of San Fernando de Austria. This town, founded the year before, was some twenty leagues south of the Rio Gra.nde from San Juan Bautista. The Indains were chiefly Natages, Cibolos, and Tucu- bantes and were commanded by three chiefs. They appeared to be "inclined" to be congregated in missions, but Rabago was not entirely convinced of their sincerity. Until the viceroy's pleasure was learned, he had chosen to treat them as "guests." In view of the circumstances he asked that the captain of San Juan Bautista be instructed to make an investigation with the cooperation of the missionaries. Rabago's request went through the usual round of officials for approval. But it was Andreu, the Fiscal, who raised the questions. Petitions allegedly made by natives for new missions in that region were common but nothing ever came of them. Nevertheless it would be well to grant Rabago's request and instruct him and the missionaries to make a com- plete and detailed report concerning the number of Indians, their inten- tions, the sites available, their respective advantages, and all other pertinent information. 29 The new Auditor Valcarcel, concurred in this
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29The account given thus far and the remainder of the history of San Lorenzo is drawn from that of Dunn in the paper already cited. See The Quarterly, XV, 196- 200_
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