DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm drawing straight from the official marker on the Bosque-Larios Expedition — let me tell it to you the way it deserves to be told. Picture northern Mexico in the 1500s. The land was torn by strife, as the Indian inhabitants resisted Spanish efforts to enslave them.
That tension simmered for a hundred years. A full century of it. And then, in 1675, a man decided something had to change.
His name was Antonio Balcarcel — described on this marker as a wealthy humanitarian — and he set out to invoke justice and help missionaries Christianize the land. Now, a man like that doesn't ride out alone. In the spring of 1675, Balcarcel sent an armed expedition north.
He placed it under the command of Fernando del Bosque, and riding alongside was Fray Juan de Larios, a missionary with a mission in the truest sense. Also in the party was Fray Dionisio de San Buenventura, serving as army chaplain. That is quite a company for quite a journey.
They crossed into Texas near the site of present-day Eagle Pass, and they marched — almost to where San Antonio stands today. But the moment that would echo through history came just three days after they entered Texas. They were in camp on the Nueces River, about nine miles southwest of present Uvalde.
They set up a portable altar — out there in the open country, under the Texas sky. And from the surrounding land, they gathered. One thousand, one hundred and seventy-two Indians came together with the expeditionaries.
And then Fray Larios began to chant the Mass. May 16, 1675. That date matters.
What happened on the Nueces that morning is recorded as the earliest known occasion of a high — that is, a sung — Mass in Texas. Not just early. The earliest recorded.
And Fray Larios wasn't finished. He baptized fifty-five infants that day, and he instructed the adult Indians so that they might receive baptism at a future time. The marker tells us that the missionary activity that began on that day eventually brought about the founding of the Texas mission system.
A portable altar. A riverside camp. Twelve hundred souls gathered between April 30 and June 12, 1675.
That's how big things sometimes start — not with a city, not with a cannon, but with a chanted prayer rising up off a Texas river nobody was mapping yet.
What the marker says
(April 30 - June 12, 1675) In the 16th century, northern Mexico was torn by strife as the Indian inhabitants resisted Spanish efforts to enslave them. A century later, wealthy humanitarian Antonio Balcarcel set out to invoke justice and help missionaries Christianize the land. In the spring of 1675, Balcarcel sent out an armed expedition under Fernando del Bosque to accompany Fray Juan de Larios on a mission north of the Rio Grande. Also in the party was Fray Dionisio de San Buenventura, an army chaplain. Entering Texas at a site near present Eagle Pass, the expedition marched almost to the present site of San Antonio. Three days after entering Texas, when they were in camp on the Nueces, about nine miles southwest of present Uvalde, they set up a portable altar. The expeditionaries gathered with some 1,172 Indians to hear Fray Larios chant the Mass. Later Fray Larios baptized 55 infants and instructed the adult Indians so that they might be baptized at a future time. The celebration at the Nueces on May 16, 1675, is known as the earliest recorded occasion of a high (sung) Mass in Texas. Missionary activity that began on that day eventually brought about the founding of the Texas mission system. (1975)