01'r Catliolic Heritage in Texas
From the church records it appears that Father Garcia de San Francisco de Zuniga continued to labor in this mission from its establishment in 1659 until 1671, after which time he went back to the monastery at Senecu, where he died and was buried on January 22, 1673. "His life work received high commendation from the chroniclers of his times, by whom he was regarded as a mirror of virtue." 11 During these same years two other missions appear to have been estab- lished in the vicinity of El Paso. Although their existence is proved by numerous references, there is very little concrete information concerning the date of their founding and the progress made prior to the Indians' revolt of New Mexico in 1680. These were Mission San Francisco de los Zumas and Mission La Soledad de los Janos. Both were on the right or west side of the river and consequently not within the jurisdiction of present Texas. In describing the Mission of San Francisco, Vetancourt says: "Before arriving in this place [Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe], twelve leagues hence, there is a chapel with one missionary, dedicated to our Father Saint Francis, where there are a few Christians of the nation called Zuma and Zumana [who] live on the banks of the river at the place where it flows towards the east. This is the first place reached by the wagons on the way out. A league and a half from here the Real de San Lorenzo has been placed." 13 The other mission was in reality nearer to Casas Grandes than to El Paso, being seventy leagues from the latter and only fourteen from the former. 14 First Spanislz settlers. It is of interest to note that the refugees from New Mexico in 1680 claimed that Spaniards had settled at El Paso, in the vicinity of the Mission of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe almost from the very beginning of its establishment. In their petition to the viceroy alleging that this area was under the jurisdiction of New Mexico ever since the time of Onate and that Nueva Vizcaya had no claim what- soever, they declared : "The first Alcalde 11'/ ayor and Capitan a Guerra that was appointed for this Pueblo of El Paso was Captain Andres Lopez de Garcia and he was named by General Don Bernardo Lopez de Mendizabal [Governor of New Mexico] in whose time this mission was founded. It was settled [at that time] and the evangelical mis- sionaries came from New Mexico, being the Reverend Fathers Fray
"Hughes, Beginnings of Spanisli Settlement, 309. 13Vetancourt, op. cit., 98. l4Hughes, o,;. cit., 310-3 I I.
Powered by FlippingBook