CHAPTER II
THE SECULARIZATION OF THE MISSIONS
Spanish officials ever since 1778 had been contemplating drastic changes in the mission system of New Spain. The missions in the northern Interior Provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo Santander, and Texas had been a constant drain on the royal treasury. Contrary to the general provisions of the Laws of the Indies, and to the practice observed in the more populated regions of Mexico, the ten-year period had been prolonged in Texas to more than half a century. The usual practice was to distribute equitably among the neophytes the wealth (surplus products) accumulated during the ten years. The church and the priests' quarters were turned over to the ordinary with all their ornaments, vestments, sacred vessels, and other property. The bishop appointed a parish priest, the mission as such disappeared, and a new self-supporting community came into being. But many new factors, unknown to the missionaries who worked in the thickly populated valley of Mexico, and incomprehensible to author- ities in Mexico and Spain, conspired to delay indefinitely, so it seemed, the attainment of the desired goal in Texas. These factors slowed down the process of secularization by constantly maintaining the mission in a primitive stage through the continual renewal of the membership of the neophytes or mission Indians. The nomadic character of the natives, their cruder civilization, their more barbarous nature, and the presence of European rivals of Spain amongst them, such as the French and English traders, seriously complicated the task and in a large measure defeated the purpose of the missionaries, whose influence was restricted to those who came under their direct care. While it was true .that local officers realized these facts, impatience with a situation that seemed to prolong itself indefinitely at a time when every effort was being directed towards the increase of royal revenues changed into open disgust. By an incongruous twist of fate the actual secularization of the missions in Texas was accelerated and brought about by the efforts of a zealous son of the old College of Zacatecas, founded by the saintly Margi! de Jesus. In his zeal to spread the faith and reach new tribes, this follower of Margil advocated the secularization of Valero and the reduction of the other four missions in San Antonio to two. He was thus inadvertently [ 35]
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