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Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
Recio de Leon took care to see that he signed in the end. 55 The value of such testimony may be judged by the reader. But the most eloquent denial of such a condition of affairs as Franquis tried to show was given in _1745, when the Indians of Mission San Antonio de Valero saved the presidio and civil settlement from total destruction as already related. 56 Even after his removal from office, when the governor was ordered to retire to San Juan Bautista, while the ]11ez de Residencia carried on the investigation of his actions, he could not refrain from showing his childish spite and the disdain in which he held all missionaries in general and Father Sevillano in particular. His hatred of Father Sevillano may be explained in part by the fact that the governor considered this old and experienced worker in the mission field the cause of his reprimand and ultimate removal from office. Be that as it may. While on the way to his exile from Texas, after his short and stormy rule, the governor amused himself by making fun of the venerable old missionary. He frequently referred to him as the man with a face like a death mask and told the soldiers and members of his party that Father Sevillano had jaws like a rabbit. One evening, while sitting by the camp fire, he encouraged a soldier named Pedro Salinas, from the Presidio of San Juan Bautista, known for his ability as a mimic, to preach a sermon imitating the old missionary for the amusement of the party. The efforts of the impersonator were greeted with genuine laughter, according to the witnesses. During the trip, Franquis frequently abused the missionaries in his conversation, always declaring that they were all alike, intriguing and overbearing, that they were missionaries of Satan. 57 These incidents plainly reveal the true character of the man. After his arrival in San Juan Bautista, instead of remaining there as ordered by the viceroy, he left secretly and without permission to defend his case before the viceroy before it had been presented. After a long trial that lasted several years, he managed to secure an appointment as an officer of the garrison of Veracruz, where "Declarazon de Mattheo ·Perez, Thente. de capn de este Presidio de Sn Antonio; Declarazon de Dn Juan Leal Albarez Alcalde ordino en la Villa de Sn. Fernando, in Testimo de las diligencias executadas, A. G. /., Audimcia de Guadalajara, 67-2-27, pp. 38-45, 67-74. S6See pages 48-49, su,Pra. 5 7 Fray Sevillano to Jauregui, requesting an investigation; Proceedings of investi- gation held at San Juan Bautista, October s, 1737, in Testimo de las diligencias executadas ... A.G. I., Audiencia de Guadalajara, 67-2-27, pp. 177-188.
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