Fouuding of Et Paso a11d Establishment of ,II issions
249
and dedicated this holy church and conversion," he says, "to the most holy Virgin of Guadalupe with the above name of El Paso." Thus came into being this mission on December 8, 1659, which was established on the present site of Ciudad Juarez. 9 The temporary structures were soon replaced by more permanent build- ings. On April 2, 1662, Father Garcia recorded that he had blessed the cornerstone of the foundations of a new church on that day. Six years later, on January 15, 1668, the church was completed and at its dedication one hundred neophytes were baptized and married. According to the description of the ceremonies, the men were baptized at one door and the women at another. After receiving this sacrament they were married in the middle of the church. By 1691, as a result of the large number of refugees who were then living in its vicinity, the one thousand parishioners of the church of Guadalupe had been increased to more than two thousand. 10 Progress of missions at Et Paso. In the detailed report of Father Posadas, made on October 8, 1685, concerning the development of the Mission of Guadalupe at El Paso and the evils that would befall this flourishing settlement if the presidio was moved, he gave an excellent summary of the progress made in the early years of the mission. Shortly after its foundation Father Posadas declares that he gave material help to the struggling establishment. The Indians at that time, he said, neither sowed nor knew anything of civilization. They had neither houses nor huts. It was at this time that he furnished the mission, providing ploughs, laborers, carpenters, and implements of various kinds. He claimed that on various occasions he had given the mission as many as three thousand beeves, four thousand head of sheep and goats, two thousand bullocks, and two hundred mares and horses. "In a few years," he declares, "there were as many as nine thousand head of cattle and from thirteen to fourteen thousand sheep and goats, all of which stood in good stead to those who took refuge there during the general revolt [of the pueblos]." 11 9 Autos sobre Socorros, A.G. tY., Provincias lnterntu, Vol. 37, 296 (St . Edward's University Library); Auto de Fu11dacion de la Afision de Nuestra Se,iora de Guada- lupe ... Cited in Hughes, Begi1111i11gs of Spa11is/1 Settlemu1t, 306. tovetancourt, Ckro11ica (Mexico, 1607), 98. Miss Hughes in her translation of this passage has misread the number of parishioners, declaring there were more than three thousand. 11 Report of Fray Alonso de Posadas, Mexico, October 8, 1685, in Autos sobr,: los Socorros, A. G. l,,f., Provincias /11ternas, Vol. 37, pp. 359-360.
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