The Old Franciscan Missions Of CaliforniaJames, George Wharton
Religion
The Old Franciscan Missions Of California
James, George Wharton
Franciscans -- California; Spanish mission buildings -- California
On September 8, Padres Somera and Cambon founded the Mission of San
Gabriel Arcángel, originally about six miles from the present site.
Here, at first, the natives were inclined to be hostile, a large force
under two chieftains appearing, in order to prevent the priests from
holding their service. But at the elevation of a painting of the Virgin,
the opposition ceased, and the two chieftains threw their necklaces at
the feet of the Beautiful Queen. Still, a few wicked men can undo in a
short time the work of many good ones. Padre Palou says that outrages by
soldiers upon the Indian women precipitated an attack upon the
Spaniards, especially upon two, at one of whom the chieftain (whose wife
had been outraged by the man) fired an arrow. Stopping it with his
shield, the soldier levelled his musket and shot the injured husband
dead. Ah! sadness of it! The unbridled passions of men of the new race
already foreshadowed the death of the old race, even while the good
priests were seeking to elevate and to Christianize them. This attack
and consequent disturbance delayed still longer the founding of San
Buenaventura.
On his way south (for he had now decided to go to Mexico), Serra
founded, on September 1, 1772, the Mission of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.
The natives called the location Tixlini, and half a league away was a
famous canyada in which Fages, some time previously, had killed a number
of bears to provide meat for the starving people at Monterey. This act
made the natives well disposed towards the priests in charge of the new
Mission, and they helped to erect buildings, offered their children for
baptism, and brought of their supply of food to the priests, whose
stores were by no means abundant.
While these events were transpiring, Governor Portolá had returned to
Lower California, and Lieutenant Fages was appointed commandant in his
stead. This, it soon turned out, was a great mistake. Fages and Serra
did not work well together, and, at the time of the founding of San Luis
Obispo, relations between them were strained almost to breaking. Serra
undoubtedly had just cause for complaint. The enthusiastic, impulsive
missionary, desirous of furthering his important religious work,
believed himself to be restrained by a cold-blooded, official-minded
soldier, to whom routine was more important than the salvation of the
Indians. Serra complained that Fages opened his letters and those of his
fellow missionaries; that he supported his soldiers when their evil
conduct rendered the work of the missionaries unavailing; that he
interfered with the management of the stations and the punishment of
neophytes, and devoted to his own uses the property and facilities of
the Missions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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