The Old Franciscan Missions Of California

nia Missions are the only Missions (except one or two in Arizona and a few in Texas) and that they are the oldest

e with gold-lust. Narvaez, in great pomp and ceremony, with six hundred soldiers of fortune, many of them of good families and high social

his treasurer, and a few others, there would have been nothing left to suggest that the history of the start of the expedition was any other than a myth. But De Vaca and his companions were saved, only to f

er they were held as slaves by the Indians, or worshiped as demigods,--makers of great medicine,--either keeping them from their hearts' desire, they never once ceased in their efforts to cross the country and reach the Spanish settlements on the other side. For eight long years the weary march westward continued, until, at length, the Spanish soldiers of the Viceroy of New Spain were startled at seeing men who were a

there any cities, any peoples worth conquering; especially did any of them have wealth

gination of the Viceroy and his soldiers of fortune. To be sure, though, they sent out a party of reconnaissance, under the control of a good father of the Church, Fray Mar

what he saw. His story was not untruthful, but there are those who think it was misleading in its pauses and in what he did not tell. Those pauses and eloquent silences were construed by the vivid imaginations of his listeners to indicate what the Conquistadores desired, so a grand and glorious

of what was before them. Alarcon was sent to sail up the Sea of Cortés (now the Gulf of California) to keep in touch with the land expedition, and Melchior Diaz, of th

bar, and not Coronado, discovered the pueblos of the Hopi Indians. He also sent his sergeant, Cardenas, to report on the stories told him of a mighty river also to the north, and this explains why Cardenas was the first white man to behold that eloquent abyss since known as the Grand Canyon. And because Cardenas was Tobar's subordinate officer, the high authorit

valuable than great herds of buffalo and many people, and returned crestfallen, broken-hearted and almost disgraced by his own sense of failure, to Mexico. And there he

were active beyond the conception of our modern

ns vied with each other in the fervor of their efforts, and Mexico was soon dotted over with magnificent structures of their erection. Many of the churches of Mexico are architectural ge

ed until, in 1697, Fathers Kino and Salviaterra, of the Jesuits, with indomitable energy and

was a peninsula, and this was soon known as California. In this California there were many Indians, and it was to missionize these that the God-fearing, humanity-loving, self-sacrificing Jesuits just named--not Fra

few years fourteen Missions were established, beginning with

ornia Missions and established one other, that of San Fernando de Velicatá, besides bui

no, San Pedro Mártir de Verona, El Mision Fronteriza de Guadalupe, and finally, Santa Catarina de los Yumas were founded. This last Mission was esta

xcept in-so-far as their history connects them with the founding of the Alt

the Conquistadores. Four Franciscan priests, Marcos de Nizza, Antonio Victoria, Juan de Padilla and Juan de la Cruz, together with a lay brother, Luis de Escalona, accompanied Coronado on his expedition. On the third day out Fray Antonio Victoria bro

the king and his own financial reward and honorable renown. This leader was Juan de O?ate, who, in 1597, set out for New Mexico accompanied by ten missionary padres, and in September of that year established the second church in what is now United States territory. Juan de O?ate was the real colonizer of this new country. It was in 1595 that he made a contract with the Viceroy of New Spain to colonize it at his own expense. He was delayed, however, and could not set out until early

m the Indian's standpoint, by Marah Ellis Ryan, in her fascinating and illuminating novel, The Flute of the Go

de Zarate Salmeron, having left a most interesting, instructive account of "the things that have b

mastered the Indian language and baptized 6566 Indians, not counting those of Cia and Santa Ana. "He also, single-handed and alone, pacified and converted the lofty pueblo of Acoma, then hostile to the Spanish. He built chur

istorian of New Mexico, laid the foundation of the parish church, which was completed in 1627. When, in 1870, it was decided to build the stone cathedral in Santa Fé, this old church was demolished, except two large chapels and the old sanctuary. It had been described in the official records shortly prior to its demolition as follows: "An adobe building 54 yards long by 9-1/2 in width, with t

, and its original walls still form a part of the church that stands to-day. I

till be seen a few miles above Glorieta on the Santa Fé main line. This pueblo was once the largest in New Mexico, but it was dese

of seven hundred of its men--all of them--slain by their fellow-Hopis of other towns, simply because of their complaisance towards the hated, foreign long-gowns (as the Franciscan priests were called). Suffice it to say that Missions were established and churches built at practi