Ottr Cat/1olic Heritage in Texas
Fatl,er Silvas proposal for 11ew missions. It is m view of these antecedents that the proposal of Father Fray Manuel de Silva, commis- sary general and prefect of the College of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe of Zacatecas, which resulted eventually in the founding of Mission Nuestra Senora del Refugio, should be considered. Truthfully has Bolton said: "The founding of the mission of Nuestra Senora del Refugio was closely connected with plans for Texas of great breadth and impor- tance; or, it might be said, its founding was the slender outcome of these larger plans, which had to be set aside by force of untoward circumstances. 7 Missionary rivalry. Throughout the colonial period there existed a healthful rivalry between the members of different religious orders as well as among those of the same order. Political considerations had focused the attention of Spanish officials on Texas, and this new interest had aroused likewise the ambitions of the Franciscans who saw in the situation an opportunity to attempt the realization of Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus' dream, the conversion of the fierce tribes of the north. Hoping to steal a march on their brethren, the friars of the College of Pachuca presented a petition to the viceroy for permission to undertake missionary work among the natives of north Texas. The news of this plan to enter Texas reached the College of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe of Zacatecas early in 1790. Immediately, the strongest sense of emulation was aroused, not untinged with a feeling of just resentment. Zacatecan missionaries had gone to Texas with the first entradas and they had labored incessantly from that time on for the conversion of the natives. The sons of the College of Zacatecas had not abandoned the field. They had, in fact, taken over the missions administered by the College of La Santa Cruz de Queretaro, which the latter house had given up for those in California. The College of Pachuca would be an interloper if it came into a field won by the labors of Zacatecan friars.• The Discretorio of the College of Zacatecas had several meetings to discuss the policy to be adopted. It was finally decided that Fray Manuel de Silva 9 should undertake a survey of the missions in 7Bolton, H. E., "The Beginnings of Mission Nuestra Senora del Refugio," Tl,e Quarterly, Texas Historical Association, XIX, 401. 1 /bid., XIX, 401. 'The documents used by the writer give his name as Manuel de Silva, but Bolton, op. cit., gives it as it as Manuel Julio de Silva. Cf. Dunn, W. E., "The Founding of Nuestra Seiiora del Refugio," The Quarterly, XXV, 176.
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