The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898 Page: 227
334 p. : ill., ports., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Fragments. 227
asked him about the mystery which was in the blue color, he told
me that all their people liked the blue color very much, and that
by preference they wished to be buried in cloth of that color. In
former time a most beautiful woman had come to see them, who
descended from heaven and was dressed in blue; they all wished
to be like that woman. When I asked him whether it was long ago,
the chief said that it had not been in his time, but that his mother,
who was very old, had seen her, and so had the other old people.
Therefrom can clearly be seen that it was the Mother Maria de
Jesus de Agreda who was in those countries very often, as she herself
confessed to the guardian father of New Mexico; the last time that
she was there, it was in the year 1631, as is evident from the same
declaration which she made to the custodian father of New Mex-
ico. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"FRAY DAMIAN MANZANET."
This, in the absence of any explanation, would lead any one to
think that he asserts that Maria de Agreda had herself been in
Texas. Now it appears that what he means to assert is that al-
though she had never crossed the ocean in the flesh, yet in a trance,
or ecstacy, her spirit had come over and materialized among the
Indians. My first impression upon reading it was that it was an
Indian legend. It sounds like one, and similar legends appear in
various places, notably in Peru, long before the discovery of Amer-
ica, and now I am convinced of the correctness of my first im-
pression. However that may be, Maria de Agreda seems to have
been in some measure the moving spirit in the discovery of Texas.
M. M. KENNEY.
Austin, Texas, Jan. 13, 1898.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898, periodical, 1897/1898; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101009/m1/249/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.