Our Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
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with scant success. Everything seemed to conspire against them. A flood destroyed one of the newly founded missions ; 2 sickness decimated the little troop of Spaniards left to guard the priests and gave an oppor- tunity to the designing medicine men to lay the blame for the numerous deaths on the waters of baptism; one of the faithful missionaries died; and lastly, the crops planted with untold hardships and under the most trying circumstances by the dauntless sons of Saint Francis proved a complete failure. 3 Disheartening as all these material misfortunes were, what in reality hurt the missionaries most was the intractable nature of the Indians, their indifference, their obstinate refusal to attend services. Father Massanet, who may rightly be called the father of Texas missions, reluctantly had to come to the conclusion that the natives had deceived him. "More than a year of misery and disappointment had sufficed to break even his iron resolution."' The discouraging report written by this enthusiastic and holy man towards the close of 1693, after his sad experiences, effectively put an end to further endeavors for the time being, coming as it did, at a time when interest in Texas had begun to wane considerably among the officials of the viceregal gov~rnment. Texas was to be relegated to oblivion and the natives were to be left without the paternal care of the missionaries for twenty years after this attempt to bring them into the fold of the Church. It is significant, however, that the order for the abandonment was couched in terms which clearly indicated that the measure was temporary. The missionaries were instructed to return to their respective colleges of Queretaro and Zacatecas "until a more fitting occasion arose for the con- tinuance of the work." 5 If Father Massanet's faith in the ultimate success of the enterprise had been shaken, that of others, like Father Hidalgo, was to remain undimmed 2 The second mission, Santisimo Nombre de Maria was founded by the mission- aries who accompanied De Leon, after his departure, in 1689. It was situated on the bank of the Neches River and was in charge of Fr. Jesus Maria Casanas. This. was the mission that was destroyed by a flood shortly after the departure of Teran in 1692. W. E. Dunn, Spanish and, French RivalrJ in the Gulf Coast Region of the United, States, 134-141. 3 Massanet to the Viceroy, June 14, t 693, in Testimonio sobre las Providencias- Dadas, 61-68 (Dunn Transcripts). 'Dunn, o,P. cit., 140-141. 'Respuesta del Fiscal, March 11, 1694, in Prosiguen los Autos de la Retirada de- los Religiosos Misioneros y So/dados .. ., 13-1 5. (Dunn Transcripts).
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