Margil Was 60 Years Old When
He Founded Missions Here.
By Rev. Eugene Sugranes, C.M.F.
Originally published in the San Antonio Express newspaper, Sunday, 22 February 1931.
In
our ardent zeal and praiseworthy eagerness fittingly to celebrate the Bi-Centennial
of the founding of San Antonio, wrapped up in the splendors of this glorious
anniversary, we are apt, I very much fear, to forget, or perchance to consign
to the limbo of oblivion, or at best, to relegate into the common background
of secondary, unimportant matters, the memory of those great men of the past
who were here long before we came into existence as a corporate city, as the
first municipal government in Texas. And yet, this memorable historical event,
the founding of our immortal city, was made possible by and was chiefly due
to their wisdom and foresight.
"Now giants were upon the earth in those days," men endowed with almost superhuman powers, with unlimited energies, with extraordinary faculties both in the physical and spiritual realms, men of mettle, possessed with of such an endurance and perseverance that almost baffle our human comprehension. It is rather hard for us of this day and generation, the age of speed and comfort, of the television and telephone, of the wireless and radio, of the flying steed and the horseless flivver, to realize how one single man of that caliber was able to achieve and to endure so much and to undertake so many arduous tasks and enterprises and bring them all to a happy and successful issue.
Among the heroes that form the glorious galaxy of dreamers and empire builders who at sundry times, allured by the beauty of our climate, have passed through the portals of our city, the father of the Missions, the Venerable Padre Antonio Margil, the illustrious founder and builder of the missions in and about San Antonio, ranks highest and foremost. A resume of his saintly life, a bird's eye view of his wonderful career, may be of interest, nay an inspiration, to the thousands of our fellow citizens who are preparing themselves worthily to commemorate the natal day of our beloved Mission City.
Doubtless there are many in our mist who labor under the misapprehension that he whole life of Father Margil, or at least a considerable portion of it, was sent in Texas in the missions in and about San Antonio. Indeed, the task Father Margil performed here is of such magnitude, of such colossal proportions, as to make him worthy of being numbered among the immortals. And yet, strange to say, what Father Margil achieved in San Antonio represents only an insignificant fraction of what he did during the long years he lived and worked among the Indian aborigines on this Western Hemisphere. Broadly speaking, he spent half a century in the Indian Missions of America. And yet, he was only five years in Texas and a little over a year in San Antonio. And, strange as it may seem, into those short years he crowded the labors, the activities and successes of a long career.
Then, again, some of us may be inclined to think that Father Margil was a comparatively young man when he came to Texas. Now to think so is to wander far from the real truth. Father Margil was over 60 years old when he first came to San Antonio.
Another remarkable characteristic which places Father Margil in the category and catalogue of the saints is found in the fact that he always traveled on foot. If the day of his canonization ever comes, he will be declared the patron saint and protector of the knights of the road, the weary willies, tramps and hoboes. He tramped all over the Mexican republic and evangelized that country from the east to the far west, from the north to the extreme south. Then he preached missions and conducted all revivals all over the republic of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
When he was a sickly old man, Father Margil came on foot all the way from Nicaragua to Texas, covering an approximate distance of some 2,000 miles. So great was his zeal for the glory of God, so untiring were his efforts for the salvation of souls that he was then already known as the "Apostle of Guatemala," nay more, the "Apostle of North American Continent."
That I am not exaggerating, but telling the plain truth when I point out his feeble and aged condition at his coming to Texas may be gathered from the fact that on that occasion he was so exhausted that, falling dangerously sick, the last sacraments had to be administered to him. Yet, unconquerable and undaunted, he fought back the grim reaper. He fully recovered, and, in spite of his advanced age and the inroads of his mortal malady, he tackled the task so dear to his heart; viz, the evangelization of Texas, the founding of the missions in and about San Antonio.
Padre Margil walked barefooted without shoes or sandals on his feet and fasted almost every day in the year. He never ate meat or fish, or drank wine or took stimulants of any sort. He slept every little, but passed in prayer the greater part of the night. And when he took his all too short and much-needed rest, he slept on the ground with a poor blanket or mat for a mattress and the trunk of a tree for a pillow.
"His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world: "this is the man."
Great men, geniuses, are apt to be the possessors of one-track minds. But Padre Margil was the happy owner of a many sided and wonderful personality. His personality attracted alike the lowly and the most distinguished. It is something precious like a masterful painting or a cathedral that should be preserved for future ages.
In addition to his being an untiring and most successful worker in the vineyard of the Lord, Father Margil was the most capable leader, an executive of rare ability, an empire builder, a seer, a dreamer who had the gift and ability to make his dreams come true. Accordingly, he built roads, founded mission and pueblos, organized and led exploring expeditions, tilled the soil and taught the Indians the beautiful arts and domestic sciences.
He founded three colleges. In 1687 he founded and became the first president, guardian or superior of the famous college of Santa Cruz de Queretaro, Mexico. In 1701 he founded the celebrated College of Christ Crucified in Guatemala. And in 1704 he founded the famed College of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Zacatecas, Mexico.
These colleges were active centers of missionary activities. there young men, young levities were trained for the missionary work among the Indians. These educational institutions were also the headquarters that supplied the missions of Texas with able and zealous missionaries.
In 1716 Father Margil led a band of Franciscan priests and lay brothers into the practically unknown and unexplored territory of Texas. Here he founded the Mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe among the Nacogdoches, the Mission of Dolores among the Aya and the Mission San Miguel among the Adays. When the French destroyed these missions in 1719 Father Margil withdrew to the Rio of San Antonio and remained near the present city of San Antonio for more than a year.
Here in 1720 he founded Mission San José De Aguayo, familiarly known as the Second Mission. This mission was called San José De Aguayo in honor and memory of the Governor of Texas, Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo. Doubtless Mission San José is the most beautiful of all the missions. She is, indeed, the "Queen of the Missions", The facade os a veritable riot of art and beauty. The world famed South window is still considered by far the finest gem of architectural ornamentations, existing in America today.
Then Father Margil returned with his friars to the scene of his former activity, restored the missions which had been destroyed by the French settlers in Louisiana. During the time he was in the missions of Texas, Father Margil wrote a dictionary of the various dialects spoken by the Indians of this vast territory. In 1722 Father Margil was appointed president or guardian of the college he had founded, the College of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Zacatecas, and compelled to leave his beloved Indians in Texas. At the term of his office he resumed his missionary work among the Indians in Mexico and in this work he persevered unto the end, until death.
Father Margil was born in Valencia, Spain, On Saturday. Aug. 18, 1657. On Monday, Aug. 20, 1657, he was baptized in the parish church commonly known as St. John of the Market by the Vicar of the parish, Padre Policarpio Andreu, receiving the names Agapito, Luis, Paulino and Antonio. His father's name was John Margil and his mother's Esperanza Ros. The trade of Margil's father is given in the baptismal record as fishmonger. Margil's godfather was Antonio Pradela, a coachman, and his godmother was a young lady whose name was Paula Castillo.
A short note is found in Father Margil's baptismal record to the effect that the case or process of his beatification has already been started in Rome. This baptismal record is kept in the archives of old San Fernando Cathedral. It was taken from the Baptismal Records Book No. 16, page 64, which is found in the archives of the parish church of St. John of the Market at Valencia, Spain. Father Margil's baptismal record also states that he came a Franciscan. Another most valuable and precious relic of Father Margil is found in the archives of the old San Fernando Cathedral; viz: his signature affixed to a baptismal record. He performed the ceremony at the Mission of San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo Mission, on Feb. 4, 1720.
Padre Margil entered the Franciscan Order in his native city of Valencia on April 22, 1673. After his ordination he volunteered for the Indian Missions in America. He arrived in Vera Cruz, Mexico, on June 6, 1683. During his life time he baptized over 80,000 Indians. He spent almost 50 years of his life in the Indian Missions on this Western Hemisphere. Full of merits, venerated as a saint, acclaimed as an apostle of the Indians, he went to his eternal reward at the celebrated Convento Grande de San Francisco in the City of Mexico, on Aug. 6, 1726. His virtues were declared heroic by Pope XVI, in 1836.
The following epitaph or inscription was engraved upon his tomb: "Here rest the mortal remains of the Venerable Servant of God, Fray Antonio Margil, founder, missionary, prefect and guardian of the Colleges of Propaganda Fide of Santa Cruz de Queretaro of Cristo Crucificado de Guatemala and of Santa Maria de Guadalupe de Zacatecas, which he erected in the Kingdom of New Spain. H was famous for his virtues and celebrated for his miracles. He died in this Convento Grande de San Francisco in the City of Mexico on August 6, 1726." "The memory of him shall not depart away, and his name shall be in request from generation to generation."
