Journey Through Spanish Missions Country
From San Antonio, Texas, to San Juan Capistrano, California
By: Johnny D. Boggs 03/01/2009
Tourists—tons of them—walk inside these walls with a quiet reverence.
It’s not because the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) remind them of nuns at their Catholic high schools, ready to slap their knuckles with rulers if they get out of line. It’s because this place deserves respectful silence.
I’m at Mission San Antonio de Valero, but nobody calls it that anymore. You know it better as the Alamo, where the walls went up on this present site—now surrounded by skyscrapers and less reverent attractions such as the Tomb Rider 3D Adventure Ride and Arcade— in 1724. It’s known across the world for the events of 1836 when Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna turned William Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett and the other 180-plus defenders into martyrs and the Alamo into hallowed ground and a symbol of the fight for liberty.
The original mission was founded in 1718 near the San Pedro Creek headquarters, then moved the following year only to be destroyed by a storm in 1724. The third time proved a charm. The construction of the church began in 1744, but it had a tough go of things too. By 1836, the church was mostly ruins; it didn’t even have a completed roof until the Army began repairs in 1850. The DRT has run the Alamo since 1905 (the state had acquired it in 1883).
Holy San Antone
The Alamo is probably the most recognized Spanish mission in the West— perhaps the world—but it’s certainly not the only one. Dominicans, Jesuits and Franciscans came to New Spain to spread Christianity and build up Spanish citizenship. After all, only Catholics could become Spanish citizens.
The best starting point for learning about the role of the missions is Mission City itself, San Antonio. In 1720, Fray Antonio Margil de Jesús established Mission San José on the San Antonio River. By 1731, the East Texas missions of Concepción, San Juan and Espada were relocated to present-day San Antonio. While the DRT runs the Alamo, San Antonio’s four other missions fall within the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. A good first stop is the visitor center at Mission San José, which houses a museum, bookstore and theater where the film Gente de Razón reveals the role of the missions and their effect on the native populations.
Remember Goliad
Another mission closely associated with Texas Independence is about 90 miles south of San Antonio. Presidio Nuestra Señora De Loreto de la Bahia is linked forever to the Palm Sunday slaughter on March 27, 1836, when Col. James Fannin and his men, who had surrendered as prisoners of war, were executed in what became known as the Goliad Massacre.
The presidio was established in 1749 to protect Mission Espíritu Santo, which was originally built of wood and caliche before the Franciscans had it rebuilt of stone and mortar by 1758. Many historians credit Espíritu Santo as Texas’s first cattle-ranching empire, with an estimated 40,000 horses and cattle owned by the mission and settlers in the late 1770s. Both mission and presidio remain mighty impressive.
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