The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 138
ix, 354 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
whitewashed with lime; and its roof of good beams and shingles
(taxamanil) looks like a dome (parece arteson). Its decoration is
very bright and clean. It has sacred vessels, a bench for ornaments
and utensils, a pulpit with confessional, altars, and all the things
pertaining to the divine cult. Everything is properly arranged and
kept in its place. There is a baptismal font, with a silver concha
and silver cruets for the holy oils. The mission has fields of crops,
which depend upon the rainfall, for water can not be got from the
river, since it has very high and steep banks, nor from any where
else since there is no other place to get it.
"This mission was founded in 1754. Its minister, who, .as I have
already said, is Fr. Joseph Escovar, labors hard for its welfare,
growth, and improvement. He treats the Indians with much love,
charity, and gentleness, employing methods soft, bland, and
alluring. He makes them work, teaches them to pray, tries to
teach them the catechism and to instruct them in the rudiments of
our Holy Faith and in good manners. He aids and succors them
as best he may in all their needs, corporal and spiritual, giving
them food to eat and clothing to wear. In the afternoon before
evening prayers, with a stroke of the bell, he assembles them, big
and little, in the cemetery, has them say the prayers and the Chris-
tian doctrine, explains and tries to teach them the mysteries of
our Holy Faith, exhorting them to keep the commandments of God
and of Our Holy Mother Church, and setting forth what is neces-
sary for salvation. On Saturdays he collects them and has them
repeat the rosary with its mysteries, and the alavado cantado. On
Sundays and holidays before mass, he has them repeat the prayers
and the doctrine and afterward preaches to them, explaining the
doctrine and whatever else they ought to understand. If he orders
punishment given to those who nee it, it is with due moderation,
and not exceeding the limits of charity and paternal correction;
looking only to the punishment of wrong and excess, it does not
lean toward cruelty or tyranny.'
"The Indians with which this mission was founded are the Co-
xanes, Guapites, Carancaguases, and Coopanes, but of this last na-
tion there are at present only a few, for most of them are in the
woods or on the banks of some of the many rivers in these parts;'See note ante, p. 136.
138
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907, periodical, 1907; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101040/m1/158/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.