011r C at/10/ic H ~ri.tage i11 Texas
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in his mother college making arrangements for the formal establishment of the new college. He selected a number of the missionaries of Queretaro to accompany him and help him found the proposed seminary. Finally, in January, Ii07, he arrived in Zacatecas where he was gladly welcomed by his brethren, the officials of the city, and the people. Amidst general rejoicing the new college of Propaganda Fide of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas was officially inaugurated and the founders took possession of the quarters that had been prepared by the tireless Fray Joseph Guerra. As in the case of La Santa Cruz de Queretaro, the fervent missionaries were impatient to begin their labors among the unconverted natives. To Father Margi! and a companion fell the honor of having established the first mission of this college among wild Indians. While engaged in the propagation of the faith in the cities of Saltillo and Monterrey, this saintly missionary succeeded in getting permission to found a mission for his college of Zacatecas. This first establishment was located on the Sabinas River, Coahuila, near San Miguel, a mission under the care of the mother college of Queretaro. Founded with many hardships, the new mission, which Father Margil called Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, lasted but a few months. Soon after its establishment the Toboso Indians re\'olted and destroyed the Mission of San Miguel. The proximity of this to the new one of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe caused its abandon- ment. Undismayed, a year later, in 1715, he attempted to found another mission for his college on the Salado, in Coahuila, but without success. At last, the following year, with the organization of the Ramon Expedi- tion, Father Margi! and his companions from the College of N uestra Senora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas had their opportunity to enter Texas and labor among the unconverted Indians of our vast State. Four years later, in 1720, Father Margi! was destined to found San Jose Mission on the San Antonio River, which in time was to become the most beautiful and the most successful establishment of its kind in Texas. 0 College of San Femando de Mexico. The apostolic missionaries of the Colleges of Queretaro and Zacatecas had been eminently successful in the conducting of missions among the faithful, as well as among the wild Indians beyond the confines of New Spain. While some of them 4'As previously stated the summary given here is taken from Espinosa Cl,ronica, 499-508. There is a brief summary of the founding of this college and an excellent description of its physical plant as it was in the middle of the nineteenth century in Dit:cwnario universal de Msloria :Y de geografia, II, 360-362.
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