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SPANISH-MEXICANS 231
ornament (Corateral) of carved wood, gilded, over, with its niche, and
glass case, in which was placed an image of carved wood of Saint An-
thony (San Antonio), with his diadem and silver feather, with the
Child in his arms. There was also a wood carving of Saint Joseph
(de tres quartas) with his diadem and silver staff, with the Child Je-
sis in his hands; an image of Our Lady of Dolores, and an image
of Saint Anthony (como de tres quartas), which was in the room which
served as the Sacristy.
Further descriptions followed, when the mission branding iron
was delivered, along with the measures in the temporary granary.337
On April 10, 1794, Don Pedro de Nava, the Comandante General
of the northeastern interior provinces, including Texas, published a
decree by which the missions within his jurisdiction were secularized.
His orders, however, for the discontinuance of the Texas missions, and
the abolitoin of the community system by which the Indians held
their property, placing them on the same footing as other Spanish
subjects, do not seem to have been fully carried out in Texas. The
Franciscans in many instances remained as pastors, though they re-
ceived their jurisdiction from the bishop, like other parish priests.
Their missions subsisted in a flourishing state until about 1813, when
they were suppressed by the Spanish Government, and the Indians dis-
persed, says the Catholic Encyclopedia, citing a decree of the Spanish
Cortes, dated September 13, 1813. The Supreme Government of Mexico
ordered the execution of the decree of the Cortes, and finally in 1827,
the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas divided out the mission lands.
From the records in the County Clerk’s office, Bexar County, “it is
evident that many petitioned for and obtained grants of lands in the
old missions. In 1824 all property belonging to the missions was sold
at auction, including houses, walls, and even fences.”338 As late as
August 23, 1830, Ygnacio Chaves, Alcalde, gave possession of a grant
of a lot on Valero Mission lands, to José Maria de Cardenas.
“Although it be admitted that the ecclesiastics did not always use
the power placed in their hands for the best interests of the country
and the material prosperity of the colonists, yet it must be conceded
that the work of the religious orders was the most sincere and faith-
ful of that done under any part of the colonial system. Faulty as their
System might be, and ignorant as were many of those who sustained
it, the rule of the ecclesiastics is, after all, the only redeeming feature
of the early practical results of the great theory of conquest. The
missionaries, as far as possible, stood between the natives and the Eu-
ropeans, and shielded the former from the oppression of unjust and
rapacious men.” ‘The missionaries settled Texas, their process of col-
onizing the native and building churches ‘being about the same here as
elsewhere.339 They introduced civilization, as it is known to Europeans,
and prepared the soil for future colonization and industry.
_337 Villa de. San Fernando and Presidio de S. A. de B. May 12, 17; signed Manuel
Mufioz, in the é i i iel Gutierrez.
P presence of And Benito Courbiere and Gabriel Gut
T 338 Castafieda, Carlos E., A. Report of the Spanish Archives in San Antonio, Texas,
hesis, the Univ. of Texas., Brownsville, Tex., August, 1923, Ms., D- 27. , 1891
54 se Blackmar, Frank W., “Spanish Institutions of the Southwest,” Baltimore, + PD.
“65 and 233,
oe