Our Catltolic Heritage in Texas
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In the days that followed, many more Indians came to hear the Padres preach the Gospel. Greatly encouraged by the evident desire of this people to be instructed, and finding them in many instances familiar with the teachings of Christianity, Father Salas asked one day how many still wished to be baptized after having heard the doctrina. As if moved by a single will, all those before the Padres rose to their feet of one accord and raised their hands to signify their desire. With much feeling the enthusiastic Father Benavides records that the mothers, who had babies in their arms, joyously raised the little hands of their children who were too young to do it themselves. While among the J umanos, messengers from other neighboring nations were sent to solicit the Padres to visit them, claiming that they, too, had seen the Woman in Blue and had been taught by her to venerate the cross. "While the two religious," says Benavides, "were performing these marvels in the Xumana [Jumano] nation ... and others which were neighbors thereon . . . word [of their presence] also reached the king- dom of Quivira and that of the Aixaos [Aijados], which were thirty or forty leagues hence, in the same general eastern direction. They sent representatives to the Padres, for them to come to teach and baptize them, declaring that the. same holy woman [santa] had been preaching among them that they should send summons to them [ the Padres]." But the missionaries realized that the task of conversion was far greater than they had anticipated. They explained to the messengers from Quivira and the kingdom of the Aijados that they could not go to their lands now; that they would return shortly and bring more Padres to instruct them.is Anxious to return to New Mexico to report the great need of mis- sionaries for the Jumanos and the neighboring nations, Father Salas gathered all the Indians to bid them farewell. As a parting injunction, the good Padre told them to say their prayers daily before the cross he was leaving them upon a pedestal, until he returned. He assured them that they would find a remedy for all their ills in this holy practice. The great chief of the Jumanos, however, asked the holy men to pray for their sick before they left, declaring that since his people were not baptized, that their prayers would avail them nothing. About two hundred persons afflicted with various maladies were assembled and the Padres repeated fervently the Gospel of St. Luke and said a prayer to Our Lady, the Mother of God made Man, and to Saint Francis. Their faith and
ISBenavides, Memorial of 1630, 161-162; Vetancourt, Cllronica, 960.
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