The San Xavier Missions (San Ildefonso, San Xavier, and Candelaria)
San Xavier Mission Complex Archeological District
Milam County, Texas
Coordinates: 29.317201, -98.450100
#TravelSpanishMissions
Discover Our Shared Heritage
Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary
Map by NPS.
Early difficulties
In June 1745, members of the Yojunes, Deadoses, Mayeye and Yerbiapime tribes petitioned Father Mariano de los Dolores y Viana to establish a mission near the San Gabriel River for them. Fray Mariano had previously visited the area and attempted to convince the tribes there to move to the missions at San Antonio. Father Francisco Xavier Ortiz, the commissary visitor, was persuaded to petition the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro to establish the missions. The location would not only convert a new group of Indians but the missions would disrupt and prevent native peoples from the San Antonio missions from avoiding Spanish control by running away and taking shelter with non-missionized groups to the east. The project would also have the added benefit of interrupting French trade with those groups. A long debate ensued over the location the Spanish viceroy had approved. Eventually the missionaries from the Franciscan College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro pushed the project through and received approval to found the missions, but the project remained unpopular with secular officials. It took two and a half years before Viceroy Francisco de Güemes y Horcasitas officially approved the project in 1747.
Once the missions were established the enterprise was plagued by lack of supplies and bureaucratic barriers. Even though the three missions were clustered near the Presidio of San Francisco Xavier de Gigedo, royal officials refused to send more soldiers to the presidio to mount a suitable defense of the missions. The small detachment of soldiers proved inadequate to ward off the frequent Lipan Apache attacks and the soldiers themselves later became a problem for the missionaries and native peoples.
Unknown artist, unknown date. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Father Mariano established the first mission, San Xavier de Horcasitas, in 1747 but little progress or stability was achieved for the first few years due to Mariano's illness, Apache raiding, and lack of supplies. Construction of the second settlement, Mission San Ildefonso, began on December 27, 1748, and the mission was formally established on February 25, 1749. Mission Ildefonso was located on the south bank of the San Gabriel River, near the mouth of Brushy Creek (Arroyo de las Ánimas). Gathered at this site were Orocquisac, Bidais, and Deadoses Indians, who spoke a similar dialect and intermarried. These groups had extensive trading contacts with the French and were shrewd when it came to negotiating between Spanish and French influences. When the mission ran out of food, soldiers and missionaries relied on trade with the Indians for supplies.
The third mission came in July 1749 with the founding of Mission Nuestra Señora de Candelaria on the south bank of the San Gabriel River to congregate the Bidais, Orocoquisas, and Cocos. Mission Candelaria had a problematic relationship with the soldiers sent to protect it. When the Presidio of San Francisco Xavier de Gigedo was established near the mission in 1751, the captain of the presidio, Felipe de Rábago y Terán, decided upon his arrival that the missions should be moved and attempted to undermine the work of the missionaries. Relations continued to deteriorate as reports of lewd behavior among the Spanish troops, in particular the presidio captain, spread through the mission community.
The situation worsens
A group of Coco Indians gathered at the missions and awaiting establishment of their own separate mission, left in March 1749 because of harassment from soldiers charged with protecting the missions . In May of 1750 a smallpox epidemic hit the new missions and the combination of the soldier provocation and disease led to the decision of many Indians to leave. Missionaries managed to re-congregate the Indians by 1750, but shortly thereafter many tribal groups abandoned this mission to join their allies in a campaign against the Apaches.
Conflicts between the missionaries and the military authorities, especially over the soldiers' harassment of the Indians, caused the missionary work to suffer. At one time the entire presidio garrison was temporarily excommunicated. In 1752 Rábago was implicated in the murder of missionary Father Juan José Ganzabal and a soldier at Mission Candelaria, and the captain was removed from office. This incident did much to destroy the morale of the soldiers, missionaries, and the Indians. When the Bidais tried to return to the mission in 1753 the fathers sent them back to their lands because the mission lacked supplies. In August 1755 unhealthy conditions and a drought, exacerbated by lack of supplies, led to the unauthorized decision to move the missions and presidio to springs along the San Marcos River, and a year later they were moved yet again to the last site in present-day New Braunfels. The missions were then incorporated into the ill-fated Mission San Saba.
Photo by Christopher Talbot. Courtesy of NPS.
The San Xavier missions' history is one of the dramatic stories in the era of Spanish colonization in Texas. It is testimony to the complexity of problems faced by missionaries, soldiers, and native peoples. Through preservation, investigation and study of these sites, we can better understand the different Spanish interests that came into conflict as well as the complexity of native politics that involved the interplay of Yojuane, Mayeye, Ervipiame, Asinia, Top, Nabedache, and Lipan Apache groups. For these reasons San Xavier Mission Archeological District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. No mission buildings and structures remain above ground today and visitors cannot go see the original sites because their locations are restricted in order to protect them. Three roadside Texas State Historical Markers with no connection to the sites' locations commemorate the missions. Visitors interested in the Spanish mission period in Texas are highly recommended to stop at the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park, in San Antonio two hours southwest of Milam County. The park helps interpret Texas' Spanish colonial history and includes excellent examples of the churches, mission buildings, and acequias typical of the period. Free tours are available to visitors.
Plan Your Visit
San Xavier Archeological District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has a restricted location. For those who enjoy looking for historical markers, the commemorative Texas State Historical Marker for Mission San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas is located on FM 908 eight miles west of Rockdale, TX. The marker for Mission San Ildefonso is on the north side of the river on FM 487 six miles east of San Gabriel, TX. Closer to San Gabriel, also on FM 487, is a State Historical Marker for Mission Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria del Cañón.
To learn about the Spanish colonial period in Texas, visit San Antonio Missions National Historical Park whose visitor center is located at 6701 San Jose Dr., San Antonio, TX. For more information, visit the National Park Service San Antonio Missions National Historical Park website or call 210-932-1001.
Last updated: April 15, 2016