FOREWORD
Few epochs in the history of the United States are more worthy of attention, consideration and appreciation than the eras of Catholic mis- sionary activity in the Southwest. Into this region, so vast and mysterious, came the sons of St. Francis and the Spanish explorers to spread culture, religion, and law and thus they sowed the first seeds of civilization. The records of their achievements are the most interesting, the most fasci- nating and the most romantic to be found anywhere in America. These pioneers named almost every place and settlement of the territories through which they traveled. From the time of Coronado and Padilla, the protomartyr of the United States and of Texas throughout the event- ful centuries to the present day the Catholic Church has continued the work of evangelization which has yielded abundant fruits. That religion has bequeathed to posterity a sacred tradition that bears testimony in the course of events to the singleness of heart and the constancy of pur- pose, which from the age of discovery have directed and shaped the spiritual destiny of those who have been fortunate to come under its influence. The State of Texas, now throbbing with activity, was once a lonely wilderness. This modern life and its civilization in America had their beginnings in the rosy-fingered dawn of time, the age of discovery and exploration when the padres and conquistadores plodded their weary way thousands of miles northward into what was then called tierra incognita, the unknown land. They journeyed through burning hot and dusty deserts, barren rocky wastes, great areas, whose rough open surface impeded these travelers at every step. They zigzagged through long stretches of thorny mesquite and prickly cactus. They climbed up rugged mountains and descended dangerous and precipitous slopes that lacerated and bruised their bodies. They endured famine and thirst. They dragged themselves along by sheer power of will and the grace of God, suffering agonies of the flesh and of the spirit. They finally arrived at their dest ination, placing the Cross of Christ and the royal standard of Spain on the soil of Texas. Oh, what a Calvary of sacrifice and pain in this primeval wilderness, cruel and lonely in its surroundings, niggardly in provisions of fruits for the sustenance of human life, hazardous and perilous by reason of the savagery and cannibalism that prevailed in many sections of the
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