On my most recent trip to Texas, I was fortunate to get to explore two of the San Antonio Missions. In this video we will visit Mission San Juan.
There are a total of five missions with the most famous being The Alamo. The other four missions running south along the San Antonio River are the Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose (which I will present in a future video), Mission San Juan and finally the most remote, Mission Espada.
Founded in 1731, the Mission San Juan Capistrano, as it was formally named, is in a serene rural setting and is considered a small neighborhood mission. The mission site was selected due to the fertile ground and abundance of water from the San Antonio River.
Unfortunately, from the begin there was much adversity for the people of the new mission. The indigenous people suffered, and many died because of the introduction of European diseases like smallpox and measles throughout mission.
Spaniards founded the missions of San Antonio along with the Roman Catholic church. The missions were a form of outreach program. Their primary purpose was to expand the frontiers of Spain as well the Catholic Church among the indigenous people of the Americas.
The main goal at the missions was to develop a sense of community amongst the indigenous and Spanish people. There was both spiritual activities tied into the church as well as economic activities to make a self-sustaining locality.
The economic activities include modernize farming techniques and the expansion of trades – Growing of grains, raising of livestock, manufacturing of clothing out of raw textiles and building projects.
Other indigenous tribes, namely the Apache and Comanche, would raid the mission pillaging the spoils and hurting the inhabitants of the mission.
Large farmlands the surrounded the mission were plentiful with some using irrigation re-routed from the San Antonio River. The surplus of food and livestock were traded to other missions and sold in areas to the south which is modern-day Mexico.
By 1762 there were 203 Indigenous people residing at the mission. Despite the early success of the mission, the construction of a new and larger church, which began in 1772 was halted by 1786 due to lack of participation.
During this time there was political pressures as the governing powers of the geographic area were influx as well as support for the mission in general.
Today the San Juan Parish continues to be active. The larger church became a reality and serves as a centerpiece for the parish. Parishioners and their families can still pray at the same place as their ancestors did hundreds of years before.
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