Spanish missionaries

“ A fair-minded man would have duly attributed their joy of mind and kindness to strangers to religious feeling,—to the love of God, for whose sake these Spanish missionaries had given up father and mother, friends and worldly prospects, to spend their lives, year in and year out, without hope of earthly reward, in these spots, dismal enough to the ordinary tourist, but to them bright and cheery, as they were the posts alloted to them by Divine Providence for the extension of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. ”

“ Heresy made no headway in Spain or in the colonies, and the king gained the upper hand in the management of the Spanish and American church. Meanwhile Spanish missionaries were carrying on one of the greatest campaigns of proselytism ever waged. The thoroughness of the conversion of the natives in Spain’s colonial possessions has been questioned, but there is no doubt that something of the external forms and the glamour—so much, at least—of the Catholic religion was implanted in the Americas in such a way that it has withstood the experiences of centuries. ”

“ We have seen the Spanish Franciscans' zeal in the land of the Aztec, and we have also seen the noble cooperation given them by the government and civil authorities of Catholic Spain. We have traced the missionaries' steps, followed by gallant Portolá, and his fellow officers and men, and have sympathized and rejoiced with them in their hardships and joys. We have no doubt, often marveled at the stupendous work of the Sons of Saint Francis in the conversion of the unenlightened heathen, and have seen the Indian tribes turn from the worship of idols to the altar of the one true God. ”

“ The records of the Spanish missionaries, who were the first to establish settlements in Northern Mexico, one of which was the Presidio of Fronteras, in 1690, show that they were constantly carrying on an unequal struggle with their savage neighbors, whom they could neither subjugate nor civilize. ”

“ These old Spanish missionaries were great men in their day; brave, patient and very self-sacrificing in their attempts to [Pg 133] settle the wild countries and civilize the Indians.
This Father Junipero walked all the way from the City of Mexico to San Diego, although he was more than fifty years old; and finally, after he had spent nearly a quarter of a century in founding missions up and down the coast of California, he walked all the way back to Mexico, where he died. ”

“ It would be extremely interesting, did space permit, to follow fully the wanderings and achievements of that class of pioneers of America who have left such a wonderful impress on the whole Southwest,—the Spanish missionaries. Their zeal and their heroism were infinite. No desert was too frightful for them, no danger too appalling. Alone, unarmed, they traversed the [Pg 97] most forbidding lands and braved the most deadly savages, and left in the lives of the Indians such a proud monument as mailed explorers and conquering armies never made. ”

“ The high courtesy, the chivalry of the Spanish nobles, so conspicuous in their dealings with their European rivals, either failed to touch them in their dealings with uncultivated idolators, or the high temper of the aristocracy was unable to restrain or to influence the masses of the soldiers. It would be as ungenerous as it would be untrue, to charge upon their religion the grievous actions of men who called themselves the armed missionaries of Catholicism, when the Catholic priests and bishops were the loudest in the indignation with which they denounced them. ”

“ But he has nothing of the kind to tell us of Christian missionaries in St. Domingo before the work of devastation and depopulation had been completed. The natives were found by the Spaniards in a peaceful, contented, and, so to speak, innocent condition. There were from the first some among the Spanish invaders, besides ecclesiastics, who were men of gentle blood and of education. They called themselves Christians. All their references to their “sacred faith,” their most “holy church,” are profoundly reverential, and they exult over their privileges as its children. ”

“ At first Spaniards were in the majority, and it was natural that the Jesuits should establish themselves in Spain’s dominions. By 1547 they had five institutions in Spain, and by 1566 sixteen. Soon afterward they began to appear in the Americas, where they became one of the principal agencies of the Spanish crown in the conversion and subjection of the natives, being perhaps the most effective of the missionary orders. Not only as missionaries but also as theologians, scientists, and men of letters the Spanish Jesuits were among the most distinguished men of the age. ”

“ From all this it is plain that the missionaries in this region who are busied with the ministry of souls have no need of España nor of anything Spanish for their comfort, except companions to help them in the work. As there is no rule without an exception, it must be so in this case; but if any missionary is unhappy here, it is generally because he has failed in his obligations and become lukewarm in his devotions. Those that can speak the language and thereby convert souls are happy in their work; and those who cannot learn the language should accordingly be unhappy. ”

“ She shall reap where others have sown and planted. Let her gird herself to the work, and go forth and gather with joy the good wheat that others—the poor Spanish missionaries—have sown in tears and cultivated through much tribulation. ”

“ A considerable proportion of the secular clergy in America were natives of Spain, being for the most part such as had little prospect of advancement in their own country. They were, as a body, not remarkable for their attainments either in science or in literature. But the greater part of the ecclesiastics in Spanish America were regulars. The missionaries of the four mendicant orders{138} had permission from the Pope to accept parochial charges in America, without being subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese. ”

“ We will now endeavor to trace the history of Freemasonry in the Philippines and its connection with the insurrection there. In the Philippines Freemasonry found itself face to face with a simple native population, mostly Christian, and an active body of Spanish missionaries belonging to various religious Orders, loyal to their native country, possessing unbounded influence over their flocks, and rapidly bringing under the yoke of Christ the tribes [67] who were still Pagan. The religious were a power that they could not hope to cope with for a long time ”

“ Bringing, as did the missionaries, a similar but more imposing ritual, with dogmas in many points analogous, but accompanied with the sublime teachings of the gospel, the propagation of the new faith was so facile, that a single generation might have witnessed the nominal christianization of the entire empire, had not fatal dissensions arisen among the different orders of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian missionaries. ”

“ They did not call their settlements towns at first, only Mission [Pg 14] s; and they had at one time twenty-one of these Missions on the California coast, all the way up from San Diego to Monterey; and there were more than thirty thousand Indians in them, all being taught to pray and to work, and some of them to read and write. They were very good men, those first Spanish missionaries in California. There are still alive some Indians who recollect these times. They are very old, over a hundred years old ”

“ It is more than likely that, as in the case of other mythical paladins, the legend of a mighty hero arose from the somewhat weakened idea of a great deity. Some of the early Spanish missionaries professed to see in Quetzalcoatl the Apostle St. ”

“ We have followed the venerable band of missionaries from their homes in Spain, where fired with zeal for the conversion of the savage heathen of the New World they set out for the comparatively newly discovered land of Mexico, where Spain had already a few establishments and churches, an archbishopric in the city of Mexico, and the Franciscan Fathers a well equipped monastery and mission at San Fernando in the northern part of the country. ”

“ As far as their history can be traced, they have been a pastoral and agricultural people, raising flocks and cultivating the soil. Since the introduction of the Spanish Catholic missionary into the country, they have adopted mainly not only the Spanish language, but the religion of a Christian church. ”

“ I realize that a pure faith and a veritable love of humanity moved the first missionaries who came to our shores. I acknowledge the debt we owe those noble men; I know that in those days Spain abounded in heroes, of politics as well as religion. ”

“ They are ignorant, filthy, untruthful, lazy, treacherous, murderous, brutal, and black. Spain has kept her hand at their throats for many weary years, and the only thing that has saved them from being throttled is the powerful influence in their discipline effected by the Roman Catholic Church. When our zealous missionaries have succeeded in leading them into the confines of other creeds, we shall have all the excitement we want in Puerto Rico, and the part of our army stationed there will have no lack of exercise. ”

“ It was the purpose of the Fathers to have the new Missions farther inland than those already established, that they might reach more of the natives: those who lived in the valleys and on the slopes of the foothills. Besides this, it had always been the intent of the Spanish government that further explorations of the interior country should take place, so that, as the Missions became strong enough to support themselves, the Indians there might be brought under the influence of the Church. ”

“ Most of these men spring from the lowest rank of the people. Numerous existing pious foundations in Spain make it possible for the poor man, who cannot pay for schooling for his son, to send him to the seminary, where he learns nothing outside of the special service for which he is trained. Were the friars of a finer culture, as are a part of the English missionaries, they would, for that reason, have but little inclination to mix with the people, and consequently would not obtain over them the influence that they generally have. ”

“ To this man,
thus endowed,
fell the mighty
task of
bringing into obedient subjection a numerous native race, without the aftermath of hatred and revenge that usually flows from military conquest. The presence of soldiers
in California
was
deemed
essential,
but
the
great civilizing influence exerted by Spain over the native population was through her missionaries. The Presidio stood guard, but its active aid was seldom invoked. Spain had learned the value of the spiritual appeal. The Mission as a means of conquest and civilization was a plant of slow growth. ”

“ The missionaries do not speak of baptism nor of religion till they have gained the good will of the pagans, until they realize that they are being listened to willingly and that they (the pagans) put trust in their words. When they begin to like the Spaniards, and to hold in esteem their customs and ideas, then the missionaries gently insinuate themselves and begin to teach them the truths of our holy faith and to show them the observances and rites of our religion. ”

“ As I have written to your Majesty of our need here of ministers to give Christian instruction, I have great hopes that your Majesty has done us the favor to send a great force of missionaries to this vineyard and to this new field of Christendom, which so sorely needs them. I hope, too, that these laborers will not come from Mexico, but from España, and that they will be among those who are most needed there; for this land, so new and so distant from your Majesty's royal sight, demands such men. ”

“ Besides all these, the pueblos of Zia, Santa Ana, Tesuque, Pojoaque, San Juan, San Marcos, San Lazaro, San Cristobal, Alameda, Santa Cruz, and Cochiti had each a church by 1680. That shows something of the thoroughness of Spanish missionary work. A century before our nation was born, the Spanish had built in one of our Territories half a hundred permanent churches, nearly all of stone, and nearly all for the express benefit of the Indians. That is a missionary record which has never been equalled elsewhere in the United States even to this day ”

“ There seems to be no doubt that the long conflict of races and religions in the peninsula affected the character of the Spanish Christians more profoundly, both for good and for ill, than it affected the people with whom they strove. It hardened and energized them, preparing them for the bold adventures they were soon to pursue in a new-found world, and for a lordly career in all parts of the rounded globe. It embittered and gave fierceness to a sentiment among them which bore some likeness to religion, but which was, in reality, the partisanship of a church, and not the devotion of a faith. ”

“ While under our present system of the government of this United States, the Indian has been an outcast and a derelict to be robbed and cheated by his white brother, yet on the other hand the Spanish missionary brought into the life of the simple native of the new world the wholesome light of Christianity, which made him recognize in the Red Man the same soul which was made in the image and likeness of the common Creator of us all. ”

“ In the face of incredible hardships and discouragements, these devoted, if narrow and simple, men succeeded in establishing a string of missions from San Diego to Sonoma. The energy, self-sacrifice, and persistence of the members of this expedition furnish inspiring reading today and show clearly of what the Spanish character at its best is capable.
For the next thirty years after the founding of the first mission in 1769, the grasp of Spain on California was assured. Men who could do, suffer, and endure occupied the land. ”