PREFACE
A series of untoward circumstances delayed the completion of the pres- ent volume. The untimely death of the editor, the Rev. Dr. Paul J. Foik, C.S.C., after a prolonged illness from which he had begun to recover, was a stunning blow to his many friends, and constituted an irreparable loss to the author. His kindly and intelligent criticism, his gentle guidance, and his contagious enthusiasm for a work into which he had placed his whole heart and soul have been sorely missed in the continuation of this volume, half finished at the time of his lamented death. The author wishes to pay the highest tribute to the memory of his friend and fellow-worker, Father Foik, for the invaluable assistance in the production of the first four volumes of Our Catholic Heritage in Texas, the pride and constant goal of all his endeavors during the last fifteen years of his life. The present volume continues the complete narrative of the history of Texas. The panorama of the closing years of the Eighteenth Century, full of momentous events in the history of the world, as well as in that of Texas, is unfolded largely from the sources gathered for the purpose by the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Commission. The cession of Louisiana to Spain in 1763 brought about a complete reorganization of the northern frontier of New Spain and converted Texas into an in- terior province. This change affected the work of the missionaries and resulted in the ultimate abandonment of the mission as.a frontier institu- tion. In the present volume, the full story of the secularization of the missions, which marks the official end of the mission era, is told for the first time. But the missionary zeal was not spent. In spite of the new policy tc abandon the mission as an agency for the control of the Indians in Texas. the enthusiastic Father Silva succeeded in founding a new mission Nuestra Senora del Refugio, the last bloom of missionary endeavor or. the northern frontier of New Spain. The details of its establishment anc its development are presented in connection with the last efforts at mis• sionary control, upon which discredit was brought by the fantastic plam of the illiterate Brother Alberola, an incident of the greatest significanc< heretofore unknown by historians. The need for the effective defence of Texas made it imperative to es· tablish connections between the outlying provinces of northern New Spain Here we see the details of the steps taken to blast trails between Texa:
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