The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 41, July 1937 - April, 1938 Page: 164
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Guevavi as a central mission.26 When the United States Govern-
ment undertook restoration work at Tumacacori, the bodies of
Fathers Carillo and Guti6rrez were found there on the Gospel
side of the altar and were removed to San Xavier. Now their
bones lie buried within the shadow of the mission which they
built.
It will be of interest to learn a little more about Father Bar-
bastro, to whom we are indebted for definite information on the
building of San Xavier del Bac. Though he deserves to be ranked
among the most prominent pioneers of the Southwest, his name
and fame have heretofore remained almost unknown. By 1788, as
he himself tells us, he had been a missionary in Sonora for twenty-
one years, six of which he spent as father presidente of all the
missions in the care of the Queretarefios and five years more as
superior of the newly formed custodia of San Carlos.27
Francisco Barbastro was born in 1738 in Villa de Carifiena,
Arag6n, in the archdiocese of Zaragoza. At the Convento de Jesis,
of the Franciscan province of Arag6n, in the latter city, he was
received into the Franciscan Order. Subsequently he became a
parish missionary as a member of the Franciscan college of San
Roque de Calamocha. At thirty-five he joined the missionary col-
lege of Queretaro in New Spain, arriving there in 1770.
Without delay he was sent to the missions in Pimeria; and
there he remained till his death in 1800, a period of about thirty
years. In fact he had made a vow not to abandon the Sonora
26Viveroy's report of 1793, in Maas, op. cit., p. 118, where we learn that
Guevavi and one of its visitas, Son6itac, had perished, and that two visias
survived, Tumacacori and Calabazas, the latter now being a station of the
former. Tucson is mentioned as a visit of San Xavier del Bac. In all
Pimerfa Alta there were eight central missions and nine mission stations,
not including the two which had to be abandoned; and these missions were
again in the care of the college of Queretaro.
27This he avers (Memorial, lZo. cit., fol. 235v) not in boastful fashion
but merely to indicate that he is able to give a truthful report. That he is
also desirous of telling the truth is evident from his protestation to this
effect, which he confirms with the avowal that "neither in my youth nor
now at an advanced age have I sought aught else than to terminate a life
of service for God and Your Majesty by a happy death." He also tells us
(ibid., fol. 255-255v) that Father Antonio de los Reyes was stationed only
at one mission of Sonora, namely, Cucurpe, and there only for two years
and ten months (1768-1771), and hence could not speak from personal
experience when he wrote of other missions, all the more so when he spoke
of those in Coahuila and New Mexico. Not that he accuses Friar Reyes of
wilful insincerity, but he shows that this missionary, and afterwards
bishop, was misinformed on some points.164
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 41, July 1937 - April, 1938, periodical, 1938; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101103/m1/180/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.