Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744Fewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744
But the missionary labors of Porras came to an untimely end. It is
written that by 1633 he had made great progress in converting the
Hopi, but in that year, probably at Awatobi, he was poisoned. Of the
fate of his two companions and the success of their work little is
known, but it is recorded that the succession of padres was not
broken up to the great rebellion in 1680. Figueroa, who was massacred
at Awatobi in that year, went to Tusayan in 1674 with Aug. Sta. Marie.
Between the death of Porras and the arrival of Figueroa there was an
interval of eleven years, during which time the two comrades of Porras
or Espeleta, who went to Tusayan in 1650, took charge of the spiritual
welfare of the Hopi. Espeleta and Aug. Sta. Marie were killed in 1680
at San Francisco de Oraibi and Walpi, respectively, and José Trujillo
probably lost his life at Old Shuñopovi at the same time. As there is
no good reason to suppose that Awatobi, one of the most populous
Tusayan pueblos, was neglected by the Spanish missionaries after the
death of Porras in 1633, and as it was the first pueblo encountered on
the trail from Zuñi, doubtless San Bernardino was one of the earliest
missions erected in Tusayan. From 1680 until 1692, the period of
independence resulting from the great Pueblo revolt, there was no
priest in Tusayan, nor, indeed, in all New Mexico. Possibly the
mission was repaired between 1692 and 1700, but it is probable that it
was built as early as the time Porras lived in Awatobi. It is
explicitly stated that in the destruction of Awatobi in 1700 no
missionaries were killed, although it is recorded that early in that
year Padre Garaycoechea made it a visit.
The disputes between the Jesuits and Franciscans to obtain the Hopi
field for missionary work during the eighteenth century naturally
falls in another chapter of Spanish-Tusayan history. Aside from
sporadic visits to the pueblos, nothing tangible appears to have
resulted from the attempts at conversion in this epoch. True, many
apostates were induced to return to their old homes on the Rio Grande
and some of the Hopi frequently asked for resident priests, making
plausible offers to protect them; but the people as a whole were
hostile, and the mission churches were never rebuilt, nor did the
fathers again live in this isolated province.
In 1692 Awatobi was visited by Don Diego de Vargas, the reconquerer of
New Mexico, who appears to have had no difficulty bringing to terms
the pueblos of Awatobi, Walpi, Mishoñinovi, and Shuñopovi.[64] He
found, however, that Awatobi was "fortified," and the entrance so
narrow that but one man could enter at a time. The description leads
us to conclude that the fortification was the wall at the eastern end,
and the entrance the gateway, the sides of which are still to be seen.
The plaza in which the cross was erected was probably just north of
the walls of the mission.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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