Our Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
Bautista, Monclova, Santa Rosa, and Nuevo Leon. He declared to the different commanders that if reenforcements and aid were not sent, the entire Province of Texas might be lost to the natives. Tlze viceroy learns. of tlze disaster. On April 7, the viceroy learned of the disastrous attack of the Comanches and the destruction of the mission. He immediately issued orders to the Governors of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Texas to render whatever aid they could to the endan- gered Presidio of San Luis de las Amarillas. The orders were repeated on the 13th. But panic had seized every presidio in Texas and the neigh- boring provinces and each one felt the danger of an unexpected attack from the bold and daring enemy. The treacherous and bloody outrage of the fierce northern tribes had struck terror throughout the entire frontier. As late as August 23, the viceroy urged the border captains for the third time to render aid to San Saba. New missionaries appointed. While frantic efforts were being made to give military aid to the stricken outpost, steps were being taken to replace the martyred missionaries. The viceroy formally told Don Pedro Romero de Terreros of the misfortune that had befallen the Mission of San Saba. The old miner promptly replied that, although he regretted the occur- rence, he was ready to defray the expense of the new religious that might be sent to replace those murdered by the Indians. He was also ready to pay for such equipment and supplies as had been destroyed or stolen. On August 4, 1758, the viceroy requested the Commissary General of the Franciscans to appoint four new missionaries as soon as possible to be sent to San Saba. The Commissary General replied on the 29th that the College of Queretaro had appointed Fathers Fray Francisco Aparicio and Fray Pedro de Parras and that the College of San Fernando had appointed Fray Junipero Serra and Fray Juan Palou. Of the first two, Fray Aparicio was already in San Saba, having been sent there by Fray Mariano im- mediately upon receipt of news of the disaster, and Fray Parras was now at Mission Concepcion from where he would soon depart for his new post. It is of interest to note that had not unforeseen circumstances changed the course of events in San Saba, the two missionaries of the College of San Fernando de Mexico who were to attain such well-merited distinction and honor, one as the founder and the other as the historian of the missions of California, would have come to labor in the land where the saintly Fray Juan de Padilla, the first martyr of the Southwest, so gener-
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