FRIARS
300
FRIARS
with the year 1573, made renewed attempts and
laboured with such success that in 1610 the numerous
missionary houses were united with those of Cuba in
a custody, which two years later was elevated to the
rank of province under the title Santa Helena de la
Florida. It was the first organization of its kind in
America north of Mexico. Juan de Copila was chosen
first provincial. In 16.34 there were reported 35 friars
in charge of 44 Indian missions and mission stations,
around which gathered as many as 30,000 converted
Indians. This result was not achieved without much
hardship and loss of life. Five of the Fathers were
killed at their post by the savages, and one was held as
a slave. In 1646 there were fifty friars scattered all
over Florida. In 1702 and 1704 Governor Moore of
the English Protestant colony of Georgia fell upon the
flourishuig missions, destroyed the buildings, killed or
scattered the converts, or carried them into slavery,
and butchered seven of the devoted missionaries m
such a horrible manner that the historian John Gil-
mary Shea exclaims: "The martyrdom of the Fran-
ciscans of Ayubale has no parallel m our annals, except
in the deaths of Fathers Br^beuf, Lalemant, Daniel,
and Garnier in the Huron country; but the butcheries
perpetrated there were not enacted before the very
eyes and by the order of the governor of a Christian (?)
colony." In 1763 Spain ceded Florida to England to
recover Havana. The destruction of the Indian mis-
sions, which " under the rule of the Franciscans had
been the diadem of the Church in Florida", as Shea
declares, and the subsequent cession of the territory to
the hostile English, forced the Franciscans to leave the
country along with most of the Spanish colonists. A
few reappeared later, but no permanent settlement
was again established. Their principal monastery in
the city of St. Augustine had been confiscated, and is
now a United States Government barracks. .The last
friar seems to have resided in Florida about the year
1795. These missionaries are also noted for the fact
that one of their number, Francisco Pareja, in 1612
published a catechism in the language of the Timu-
quanan Indians. A " Confesario" by him was printed
in the next year; a grammar in the Indian tongue fol-
lowed in 1614, and an abridgment of Christian doc-
trine in 1627, the first books printed in the language
of North American Indians, with the exception of Fr.
Zumdrraga's Compendium mentioned above.
In 16S5 three French Franciscans and three Sulpi- cians accompanied Robert de la Salle into Texas as the first missionaries; the friars came exclusively for the Indians. With the exception of Father Athana- sius Douay, the Rev. Cavalier, and a few of the men who escaped to Canada, all the members of this expe- dition were massacred, and the buildings destroyed. In 16S9 the Spanish Franciscan Damian Mazanet ar- rived with a guard of soldiers. In the course of time a large number of missions were established on the Gulf coast, in the region of San Sabd, and notably on the Rfo San Antonio, but the War of Mexican Independ- ence put an end to these establishments. The most noted among the friars were Antonio Margil, declared Venerable by Pope Gregory XVI, in 1836, and Isidro Espinoza, the author of the "Cronica Serilfica y Apos- tolica", the standard work on the missions of Texas. Altogether about 160 Fathers and lay brothers toiled among the Texans under the most disheartening cir- cumstances down to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Six of the friars were killed by the savages, and six are said to have perished in prairie fires. Since then the mission buildings have been deserted or turned to the use of parishes, and the Indian converts have disajipcared.
Fatiier ^Iarcos de Niza, the same who founded the missions of Peru, discovered the territories of Arizona and New Mexico in the very heart of the continent in ISIi'.t, eiglity-eight years before any English settle- ment was made on the sea-coast. One year later the
same Father, in company with Fathers Juan de Pa-
dilla, Juan de la Cruz, and Brother Luis de Escalona,
led Francisco Vdsquez de Coronado to Zufii and to the
Rio Cirande del Norte near the present city of Santa
Fe. When Coronado and his soldiers, disgusted at
not finding the precious metal in quest of which they
had come, abandoned the country in 1542, Padilla, La
Cruz, and Escalona remained behind and established
missions near Bernalillo and Pecos. Father Padilla
after some success proceeded to the north-east and
was killed by savages, possibly on the banks of the
Platte River. Father Juan de la Cruz and Brother
Escalona were murdered at the instigation of medicine
men. Two Fathers and Brother Rodriguez re-entered
New Mexico from the south in 15S1 only to obtain the
crown of martyrdom at the hands of some Pueblo In-
dians near Bernalillo. It was Brother Rodriguez who
gave to the territory the name of New Mexico. At
the end of the sixteenth century concerted efforts on
the part of the Franciscans protected by military
guards resulted in numerous missions all over the ter-
ritory and in northern Arizona among the Moquis.
At most of these places the Fathers conducted schools
for the Indian boys. During the revolt of August,
1680, sixteen Franciscans were massacred at their
post in New Mexico and four others were put to death
by the Indians of northern Arizona. Twelve years
later other friars of the same province of the Holy Gos-
pel, Mexico, succeeded in restoring most of the de-
stroyed missions, but not till six of their number had
been martyred l)y the treacherous savages. In all
thirty-eight of the friars were killed for the Faith in
New Mexico and northern Arizona. Three others
were lost and probably suffered the same fate. From
1539 to about 1840 upwards of three hundred Fran-
ciscans laboured among the Indians in that territory.
In October, 1897, at the request of the Most Rev. Peter
Bourgade, the Cincinnati province accepted missions
in New Mexico, and at present these Fathers are sta-
tioned among the Navaho Indians, among the Puel>-
los at Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, and Jenies.
In addition they have charge of parishes at Pena
Blanca, Carlsbad, and Roswell. In southern Arizona
the Fathers of the missionary college of Santa Cruz,
Quer^taro, took charge of the Indian missions after
the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. In 1780 the fa-
mous Father Francisco Garces with three companions
founded two missions near the mouth of the Gila River
on the California side of the Rio Colorado; but all four
were horribly butchered by the savages in July, 1781.
Other friars, however, continued the missions among
the Papago below Tucson, and towards the close of the
eighteenth century erected the beautiful church at Del
Bac which still commands the admiration of travellers.
When Mexico won independence, the leaders, who
hated the religious and more particularly the Fran-
ciscans, insisted on the expulsion of those of Spanish
birth, and thus wrecked the missions, as nearly all the
missionaries were Spaniards. The Franciscan prov-
ince of St. Louis towards the close of 1895 agreed to
the urgent appeal of the Right Rev. Peter Bourgade,
Vicar Apostolic of Arizona, and accepted the parish in
the city of Phoenix with all the surrounding missions
among the Pima and other Arizona tribes. They con-
duct a large and flourishing school on a reservation
near the Salt River.
California after the secularization (see California Missions) retained most of the Fathers until their death. The missions fell into ruins or later came into the hands of the secular clergy. In 1840 the first Bishop of the two Californias was appointed in the person of the Franciscan Garcia Diego y Morena. In 1884 only the mission of Santa Barbara was still in charge of the friars who conducted a college there. To prevent the community from dying out it was incor- porated into the province of the Sacred Heart of St. Louis. Since then the houses and friars have niulti-
