Humanities 1301.002
Professor Mariana Ornelas
Teri Trevino
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Mission San Francisco de la Espada
Mission Espada is one of the four missions in San Antonio, Texas. Established in 1690 A.D. originally as San Francisco de los Tejas, it was moved in 1731 A.D. to San Antonio and renamed San Francisco de la Espada after Saint Francis himself who founded it. Espada is actually in means to say “sword”, so it might sound something like “The Sword of Saint Francis”. Espada consists of a granary, textile shop, blacksmith shop, tannery, Indian and missionary housing, irrigated farms, a ranch and a church and chapel. Walled up for protection from hostiles, this mission and its sister missions are still in service today.
Mission Espada was a site for producing fired tiles and bragged that they had true kilns. By bringing Spanish rule to Texas and conquering the natives into submission for church and crown, they established an outpost of sorts of the mission itself. Of course the mission still had to defend itself while being the Spanish empire’s “secure bastion of believers” (Field, 2007).
When Mission Espada was built, some of the tribes in the surrounding area didn’t care for their presence. The first greatest threat the missionaries faced was from the Apaches who did not want to do as the local Coahuiltecans did and join the Church. Eventually, the Comache tried their luck on horses storming the thick stone and mud walls as well.
On pretty much any day you had something you were supposed to be doing. As a man, if you weren’t training to defend the mission or tending to the farms, you were learning or you were at mass. As a woman, your day consisted of work and childbearing. Your duties of “work” were such as: kneading, knitting, weaning and kneeling.
The inhabitants that came to be at Mission Espada eventually fell out of their own primitive ways and firmly took on and integrated the Hispanic culture into their lives. They soon gave up on any ways but those they had come to know at the mission resulting in the development of a people who would one day go against the country that started all this – so they could be free. Wanting to be free didn’t change the way the church and such would look. The Franciscan Brothers, monks, had such elaborate decorations to show who they descended from and that they’d never forget who they were and to try to attract new settlers with the beauty of the church.
Not only was Mission Espada relocated and renamed, but the appearance and ownership also became altered. In 1823 A.D. all the Spanish missions became secularized by independent Mexico (Field, 2007). Because the walls were loose and broken, locals took the stones for uses in other places. Over time grass grew over the cemetery that is alongside the chapel itself. The crosses rotted away and walls crumbled with age, time and rain. The mission herself began to empty as the inhabitants moved on. In the midst of those who lived there in that time, they began to procreate with each other and produce offspring of both Native Indian and European bloodlines. These descendants are now known as Mestizajes. Today they all speak Spanish and attend Catholic churches for worship.
On the trip before I had read any kind of information regarding the mission, I knew absolutely nothing. I didn’t even know what a mission was or what it looked like! I do not have any missions in Colorado where I come from. As I was there though, I listened to Professor Myers and one of the brothers that was there and learned a few things. I learned two brethren live there at all times in a still active parish. Back when the mission was still building the chapel, church was held elsewhere. When newcomers came with the idea of worship in such violent times, they wanted a promise that they would be safe. I would have to say that learning that the mission is still open to people today and still holds mass and teaches surprised me. I got to see a real brother of the cloth like the ones you see in old movies and I didn’t think they existed anymore!
When you look at Espada, you can see some of the pieces of history still as a part of her. The chapel itself was built in the original Spanish design. Part of the chapel, the façade, is composed of hundreds of years of Islamic and Morrish occupation of Spain. Just the way that some of the designs are portrayed in the completion of the mission shows where these ancestors came from. When you enter the chapel, it’s through a “Moorish keyhole”, and a replica of Christ is seen just from under the Muslim door carvings.
One last and large part of historic value is the waterways or acequias of the missions. In Espada you have the oldest and still working sewer system ever made in the United States. That is OLD! It was carved out of the grounds the mission was on in order to irrigate and water the crops surrounding the grounds as well as provide moving water for their sewage. It was cut or dug from the banks of the San Antonio River and spread through the area as means to control where it went. Eventually this waterway or irrigation would end up dumping right back into the river just before it hit the San Antonio Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. They used manual gates to stop and/or slow the flow of water so it was regulated for the drought and rainy seasons.
I have no past experiences of any of these or other missions. The only person who can relate to having anything to do with them is my brother-in-law who came to one of them to learn. They are beautiful despite their age and how much they’ve faded away. Most of all, they are very important and will always be a great and significant part of this city’s history and life.
Mission Espada is one of the four missions in San Antonio, Texas. Established in 1690 A.D. originally as San Francisco de los Tejas, it was moved in 1731 A.D. to San Antonio and renamed San Francisco de la Espada after Saint Francis himself who founded it. Espada is actually in means to say “sword”, so it might sound something like “The Sword of Saint Francis”. Espada consists of a granary, textile shop, blacksmith shop, tannery, Indian and missionary housing, irrigated farms, a ranch and a church and chapel. Walled up for protection from hostiles, this mission and its sister missions are still in service today.
Mission Espada was a site for producing fired tiles and bragged that they had true kilns. By bringing Spanish rule to Texas and conquering the natives into submission for church and crown, they established an outpost of sorts of the mission itself. Of course the mission still had to defend itself while being the Spanish empire’s “secure bastion of believers” (Field, 2007).
When Mission Espada was built, some of the tribes in the surrounding area didn’t care for their presence. The first greatest threat the missionaries faced was from the Apaches who did not want to do as the local Coahuiltecans did and join the Church. Eventually, the Comache tried their luck on horses storming the thick stone and mud walls as well.
On pretty much any day you had something you were supposed to be doing. As a man, if you weren’t training to defend the mission or tending to the farms, you were learning or you were at mass. As a woman, your day consisted of work and childbearing. Your duties of “work” were such as: kneading, knitting, weaning and kneeling.
The inhabitants that came to be at Mission Espada eventually fell out of their own primitive ways and firmly took on and integrated the Hispanic culture into their lives. They soon gave up on any ways but those they had come to know at the mission resulting in the development of a people who would one day go against the country that started all this – so they could be free. Wanting to be free didn’t change the way the church and such would look. The Franciscan Brothers, monks, had such elaborate decorations to show who they descended from and that they’d never forget who they were and to try to attract new settlers with the beauty of the church.
Not only was Mission Espada relocated and renamed, but the appearance and ownership also became altered. In 1823 A.D. all the Spanish missions became secularized by independent Mexico (Field, 2007). Because the walls were loose and broken, locals took the stones for uses in other places. Over time grass grew over the cemetery that is alongside the chapel itself. The crosses rotted away and walls crumbled with age, time and rain. The mission herself began to empty as the inhabitants moved on. In the midst of those who lived there in that time, they began to procreate with each other and produce offspring of both Native Indian and European bloodlines. These descendants are now known as Mestizajes. Today they all speak Spanish and attend Catholic churches for worship.
On the trip before I had read any kind of information regarding the mission, I knew absolutely nothing. I didn’t even know what a mission was or what it looked like! I do not have any missions in Colorado where I come from. As I was there though, I listened to Professor Myers and one of the brothers that was there and learned a few things. I learned two brethren live there at all times in a still active parish. Back when the mission was still building the chapel, church was held elsewhere. When newcomers came with the idea of worship in such violent times, they wanted a promise that they would be safe. I would have to say that learning that the mission is still open to people today and still holds mass and teaches surprised me. I got to see a real brother of the cloth like the ones you see in old movies and I didn’t think they existed anymore!
When you look at Espada, you can see some of the pieces of history still as a part of her. The chapel itself was built in the original Spanish design. Part of the chapel, the façade, is composed of hundreds of years of Islamic and Morrish occupation of Spain. Just the way that some of the designs are portrayed in the completion of the mission shows where these ancestors came from. When you enter the chapel, it’s through a “Moorish keyhole”, and a replica of Christ is seen just from under the Muslim door carvings.
One last and large part of historic value is the waterways or acequias of the missions. In Espada you have the oldest and still working sewer system ever made in the United States. That is OLD! It was carved out of the grounds the mission was on in order to irrigate and water the crops surrounding the grounds as well as provide moving water for their sewage. It was cut or dug from the banks of the San Antonio River and spread through the area as means to control where it went. Eventually this waterway or irrigation would end up dumping right back into the river just before it hit the San Antonio Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. They used manual gates to stop and/or slow the flow of water so it was regulated for the drought and rainy seasons.
I have no past experiences of any of these or other missions. The only person who can relate to having anything to do with them is my brother-in-law who came to one of them to learn. They are beautiful despite their age and how much they’ve faded away. Most of all, they are very important and will always be a great and significant part of this city’s history and life.
Works Cited
Field, Rex Lewis. “MISSION SAN FRANCISCO DE LA ESPADA OF SAN ANTONIO”. Mission Epada Student Guide. Ed. Rex Lewis Field, 2007. Palo Alto College: San Antonio.
Myers, Peter. “Class Presentation at Mission Espada”. History 1301.006 Class. September 14th, 2007. Mission San Francisco De La Espada. San Antonio.
Stowitts, Ginny; Gieseler, Sandra. “The Spanish Mission System”. Texas Politics: Roots, Culture and Reform. 4th, ed. Kendall/Hunt. Dubuque. 2004.8.
