Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña

Mission Concepcion was established on this site in 1731 when Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion de los Hainais was relocated here from East Texas after struggling to survive since its founding in 1716. In this location the renamed mission was successful in spite of the harshness of the land, Comanche raids, and deadly epidemics that periodically depleted the Indian population.

The stone for the church and mission buildings was quarried from a nearby quarry which is still visible today although it resembles only a shallow, grassy pit on the edge of the mission grounds.  

The style is considered to be Spanish Colonial, but information in the mission referred to the style as Spanish Baroque with Moorish elements in the arches and windows. 

The most striking features are the original Native Indian paintings that survive on the interior walls of the convento.  Time had taken its toll on the frescoes, obliterating them with dirt and salt deposits from the limestone wall. In 1988 an international team of experts cleaned the frescoes and stabilized the walls.

Prior to the restoration only one eye was visible on this fresco that was referred to as the "Eye of God". Peeling away the layers of grime revealed this delightful mestizo face surrounded by a sunlike halo. 

The church was used for many purposes after secularization was completed in 1824. From 1855 to 1911 there were several efforts to re-establish the church. In 1913 the refurbished church re-opened and continues today to serve the community.

Mission Concepcion and the other 4 San Antonio Missions are administered by the National Park Service as part of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.  However, the Catholic Church owns and maintains the parish churches as part of the agreement reached in 1978 to avoid conflicts of church and state.

In 2015 the 5 missions were named World Heritage sites.

The interior of the church is quite dramatic (even if there is a guy on a ladder changing light bulbs). 

Concepcion is the best preserved of the Texas missions.  Most of what is visible today is original; the church is thought to be the nation's oldest unreconstructed Spanish church. Preservation efforts included re-routing a road around the original mission walls to open up the space around the mission.

The Battle of the Alamo hasn't ended

Before I move onto the next post, I feel that I would be remiss if I did not continue just a bit with the last post.  While it focused on what is known today as Alamo Hall I thought it would be appropriate to briefly mention the actual Alamo and Alamo grounds and the current battle going on there today. 

Alamo chapel doors

The Alamo is always associated with the battle to the death that took place in March 1936, but its history began long before that and has continued right up to the current day.  Originally founded as Mission San Antonio de Valero in 1718 near the San Pedro Springs it would move a year later and then again in 1722 to its present day site. 

A concrete version of the acequia that brought water to the Mission from the San Antonio River

The history of the Alamo and the surrounding grounds is much too complex to even briefly summarize here and there are plenty of good sources to consult regarding the many events that these walls have witnessed.  The Battle of the Alamo was to the death, but in subsequent years there have been many locally earth shaking battles over these walls and the surrounding grounds. Preservation has been at the heart of each battle, but now it is the question of who will manage the Alamo complex in the future that is stirring the waters. 

East entrance of Alamo Gift Shop

The State of Texas took control from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who had saved it from destruction in 1903. Now the Texas General Land Office is conducting a national search for a new management company to run the Alamo.  Personal opinion:  that strikes absolute terror in my heart! What concerns me is if an outside management company will truly understand what they are managing.  The chapel has serious structural issues that must be addressed and the debate is raging about the entire area known as Alamo Plaza and its preservation, just to name a few of the issues a management company will immediately face.  The property is not just something that a management company can manage.

If you would like to read more I'm attaching a link to an article in the San Antonio Express News published on Sunday, March 16, 2015 and an editorial published on Thursday, March 18, 2015 if you want to read further. 

A new era is dawning at the Alamo
Yes to an Alamo amendment

Mission San Francisco de la Espada

Mission Espada is the farthest south of the five missions the Spaniards established in the San Antonio area.  Today the peacefulness of the property conceals the troubled beginning of the mission and its struggle to survive. It is hard to imagine the raids of the Apache and Comanche Indians, the battle here just before the battle of the Alamo, and the mission buildings crumbling back into the South Texas brush land.  But the fruits of a hard working priest and dedicated preservations are visible today. 

The mission was established at this location on March 5, 1731, one of three missions being relocated from East Texas.  The mission had originally been established near present day Nacogdoches in 1690.  It was abandoned 3 years later and then re-opened in 1716 at another site about 10 miles away.  That mission would also be abandoned.  In 1721 the mission would be reestablished on the Neches River.  In 1730 the missionaries and some Indians left East Texas, hauling their goods and supplies in wagons with the livestock following along side.  East Texas had not been kind to the Franciscans; illness and hostility with the French forced their departure.

The door of the chapel is intriguing.  Its irregular arch has been the subject of much speculation.  The most popular theory is that the master stonemason had left Espada and the workers left behind were unsure of how to place the stones and reversed the two lower stones on each side.  However, the design has also been considered to be Moorish and has been compared to similar doorways and facades found in northern Spain.  It is one of my favorite parts of the mission.

By the early 1880's all that was left of the chapel was the crumbling façade.  The missions had been secularized in 1824 and had all fallen into disrepair.  The Espada community remained active and vibrant, but the mission had almost completely disappeared when Father Francis Bouchu came to Espada in 1885.    Father Bouchu was a man of many skills and an efficient manager as well. Upon coming to Espada he embarked on a one man project of restoring the mission property.  He rebuilt the convent for his residence and added a general store on one end.  He managed the store at first and used the proceeds to purchase former mission tracts from private owners.  The chapel was re-built by 1887.  After his death in 1907 the chapel was closed and would not re-open until 1911 with  a new roof, ceiling, doors and windows as well as a brick floor.

Interior of chapel

The mission underwent extensive restoration in 1955.  Old walls were reconstructed and a public road that ran through the mission was re-routed.  In 1967 the Franciscans would return.  Restoration work was done again in 1984 by the National Park Service after the formation of the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park.  As with Mission San Jose, the Catholic Church owns and maintains the church to honor separation of church and state.

A fire in the chapel's roof in 1998 was quickly extinguished, but damaged the roof and interior. The restoration that followed restored the roof to a previous design and allowed for the small attic space to be converted to accommodate modern air-conditioning equipment.

One of the priests who lives in the Convento is an avid gardener; his love of flowers is evident around the convento.  I've never talked to him, but have seen him standing in the sun on a hot Texas day in his long priest frock coat talking gardening with visitors!  The changes which Father Bouchu made to the convento have been removed so that it resembles the original convento. The walls in the foreground of the above picture are the restored foundation walls of another chapel which started construction in 1762.  This structure was torn down sometime around 1777 when it was deemed as unsafe.

During the years the Mission was in use the convento building had two workrooms that housed weaving looms and spinning wheels. Each mission had to be self sufficient and Indians were required to learn trades and skills such as spinning and weaving.  Blacksmithing was another skill taught to the Indians.  The Spaniards felt that teaching European skills to the Indians was vital to the colonization process. 

The focus of the Espada visitor center is on the trades and crafts taught to the Indians.  On my last visit a kind docent who is a member of a local weaving guild talked with me at length about weaving and demonstrated the loom set up in the visitor center.

This unique circular bastion was added by soldiers of the Mexican Army sent to Espada after a Comanche raid in 1826 destroyed crops, killed livestock and wounded several men. In 1915 the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word opened a school within the perimeter of the walls formed by the bastion.  It would operate here for 52 years while serving the many ethnic groups of the Espada community.

Perimeter walls

The original walls were built of bricks made on site and fired in a kiln just beyond the walls.  These bricks were thinner and wider than bricks of today.  The "ladrillos" closely resembled the size and shape of Roman bricks that had been brought into Spain more than two thousand years ago. The master craftsmen that built the missions were mestizos, part Indian and part European.



Ruins of Indian quarters

 

 

Mission San Jose revisited

I began this blog with two posts about Mission San Jose.  The restoration work being done on the side of the chapel is finished, so I want to add some additional photographs here.

The Rose Window

There is a lot of folklore associated with this beautifully carved window, but it is because the origins of the window are not really known.  It is popularly attributed to Pedro Huizar, a sculptor and surveyor, who was said to have created the window in honor of a sweetheart named Rosa who died at sea on her way to Pedro. However, there are no records to indicate any truth to the tragic tale.  Huizar did perform a survey of San Jose and several other missions as they were being secularized. The window is thought to have been crafted by native craftsmen who trained at the Franciscan college in Zacatecas and dedicated to Santa Rosa of Lima, Peru.

Detail of roses on window

The intricate design of the window shows why San Jose has the title "Queen of the Missions".  In his journal, Fray Juan Agustín Morfí described the mission as being:

"It is, in truth, the first mission in America . . . in point of beauty, plan, and strength . . . there is not a presidio along the entire frontier line that can compare with it."  (from www.nps.gov)

 

The mission was built of limestone which gave it durability.  It is estimated that what is seen of the chapel today is 80% original even with the collapse of the bell tower in 1903 and the dome in 1873.

Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo part 2

As I drove up to the mission I had to stop to make this picture because I had the sudden realization that this was exactly the view that travelers approaching from the south would have seen when the mission was functioning.  I can only imagine what a welcome sight it was to weary travelers who knew that soon they would be safe within the compound walls. Today there is city all around the mission, but it appears isolated from this view.

 

 

The grist mill was restored in the 1930's with funding from the National Society of Colonial Dames in Texas.  It was running in this picture; the park ranger had just finished filling the bowl on the floor with ground wheat.

 

 

 

These stones in the plaza represent the foundation of a workshop discovered during restoration work.  In mission times the Indians lived in quarters in the walls around the plaza. Originally there were just dwellings and no walls, but increasing Apache raids necessitated the enclosure of the mission with a solid wall.  Workshops for blacksmithing and weaving and other mission activities were also in the walls.  By the 1930's the walls were non-existent with roads crossing over the plaza. 

 

When I brought my Girl Scout troop to tour the mission, we ate our picnic lunch in the plaza. I'm not sure if they would let us do that again!  But the girls did not leave any trash behind, they were very mindful of being respectful while on the grounds. 

 

 



These arched walls are all that remain of the convento where the Franciscan priests lived.  Benedictine priests from Pennsylvania lived at the mission from 1859 to 1868.  They were brought to the mission as part of a program to revive San Jose.  

 

 

They began a restoration project on the convento which was left unfinished. Their renovation added the pointed Gothic arches.

 

The interior of the chapel recently went under another complete makeover.  The roof had completely collapsed prior to restoration in the 1930's; for many years  prior to that the mass was held in the sacristy with worshipers standing outside.  Today San Jose is an active parish. It is not uncommon to see a wedding or baptism taking place when you visit.  The church itself is owned and maintained by the Catholic Church, thus avoiding conflict of church and state.

 

 

As with any old property, the maintenance and renovation process is constant.  Due to work on the chapel I did not take a picture of the Rose Window because of equipment and wall coverings being in the way. I thought I had one from prior visits but I can't find it, so I'll just have to go back!

Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo (part 1)

 



Mission San Jose was established in 1720, by the Catholic Church and Spain for the purpose of transforming natives into loyal, productive Spanish citizens in an effort to establish colonies in this part of New Spain.  Mission San Antonio de Valero had been founded in 1718 and three other missions would later be relocated from East Texas.  This group of missions were moderately successful in their mission work.  Mission San Jose was relocated to this location in 1740. 

 

After secularization was completed in 1824 San Jose would fall into disrepair.  Fortunately, through the work of the San Antonio Conservation Society, federal New Deal agencies, state and local agencies the mission was saved from destruction.  Today the five missions form the San Antonio Missions National Park.

 



Chapel doorway

 

Ornate carvings and bright geometric designs painted on the chapel wall earned Mission San Jose the title of "Queen of the Missions".

The door on the right is the stairway to the bell tower.  The wooden steps (barely visible) were hand hewn by Indian workers from single blocks of wood.  The bell tower collapsed in 1928.  The roof  and church dome had collapsed in 1874. The massive wooden doors on the chapel had disappeared and the sagging doorway had been propped up.  The statues and carvings had been destroyed by souvenir hunters who took away chipped off pieces.





The granary

This granary could hold enough grain to feed the mission for a  year.  When restoration efforts began its roof was also missing and cows and bootleggers where its inhabitants. The roof was restored by the WPA.



Interior of the granary

The first time I visited San Jose was in the fall of 1976.  It was a cool, crisp day outside, but when I walked into the granary I immediately felt the warmth of a small fire burning in the fireplace (left side).  I doubt they burn fires in there any more, but it was an amazing experience to feel that warmth from all the way across the room.  The object at the back of the room is a glassed in, narrated diorama that shows the mission as it was in mission times.  I suspect the painting on the roof dates to the WPA project, but have not confirmed that.  Note the distinctive line of where the original wall meets the restored roof.



Side view of granary (entrance is just beyond the first buttress)

(to be continued)