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 The Bosque-Larios Expedition
N 29° 04.288 W 099° 50.533
14R E 418023 N 3216196
Second of two state historic markers in a highway rest area on the US 83 near the Nueces River in Zavala County, Texas
Waymark Code: WMPNC2
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/25/2015
Views: 4
This historic marker preserves the history of the Bosque-Larios Expedition, a 17th century expedition that eventually led to the rise of he missions in Texas. Near the site of this rest area, on 16 May 1675, the first high mass in Texas was sung.
The marker is located in the highway rest area just over the Zavala County line near the Nueces River, about 10 miles north of La Pryor, and 10 miles south of Uvalde.
Marker Number: 462
Marker Text:
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 Buenaventura, 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 of 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)
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Visit Instructions:
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