Our Catliolic Heritage in T e:xas
Indians of Texas left without the comforts of religion. In their appeal to the king, they confidently declare that if His Majesty will but restore the mission guards, order that proper escorts be furnished them to protect the trains of provisions and supplies, and command that soldiers be per- mitted to accompany them when obliged to go to the woods to bring back the neophytes who ran away, the missions would grow and develop until, in a future not too far removed, the Indians would become civilized and be able to govern themselves and look after their own interests, saving all further expense to the king. 50 Request for new missionaries. In May, 1729, Father Fray Matias Saenz de San Antonio, son and ex-Guardian of the College of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe of Zacatecas, appeared before the Council of the Indies in the name of the College of the Holy Cross of Queretaro to petition the king to grant permission for twelve new missionaries to be sent to Mexico to help maintain the missions established in Texas. Father Saenz de San Antonio had waited almost six years in Spain for the hearing, where he had been since 1724, having been sent originally to make a private report on the conditions of the missions in the province. Prior to his going to Spain, he had been in Texas for four years, in charge of Mission Guadalupe. In the petition he asked that twelve mis- sionaries be sent at the expense of the king to replace many of those who had died, offering to conduct them to the College of Queretaro. In support of his petition he presented statements made with regard to the need for new missionaries by the Right Reverend Bishop of Puebla de los Angeles, Viceroy Casafuerte, the Bishop of Guadalajara, the Cabildo of Mexico, and the Guardian of the College of Queretaro. 51 The Council of the Indies referred the petition to the Fiscal of His Majesty on May 28, 1729. Two weeks later, on June 1, he made his report. He stated that he had previously been given the various recommendations from the officials of New Spain, both civil and ecclesiastical, all of whom agreed on the urgent need of missionaries which was being experienced by the College of the Holy Cross of Queretaro as a result of the death of so many of those who had gone to America in 1715. In that year the king had authorized a group of seventeen to proceed to the College for the purpose of founding new missions among the unsubdued tribes of the ,SOMemorial of Father Miguel Sevillano de Paredes to the King, November 12, 1729. Arckivo de la Sa11ta Cruz, 1716-1749. SlPetition of Father Fray Mathias Saenz de San Antonio, (May) 1729. Audiem:ia de Me:r:ico, 62-2-29 (Dunn Transcripts, 1723-29).
-·
11
Powered by FlippingBook