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 Mission San Jose - San Antonio, Texas Posted by:  iconions
N 29° 21.743 W 098° 28.802
14R E 550467 N 3248247
This Mission was established in 1740 and is the most complete of the five San Antonio Missions. It is located at 6519 San Jose Drive in San Antonio Texas.
Waymark Code: WMYAVV
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2018
Views: 5
Established on its Present site ca. 1740, Mission San Jose is the most complete of five extant eighteenth-century mission complexes to be found in San Antonio. The San Jose buildings are of significance to the study of Texas colonial history and provide the contemporary observer with a visual concept of that important frontier institution.
This Mission was established in 1720 on the east bank of the San Antonio River but was removed to a new site on the west bank ca. 1724-1727, and again a second time to this present site cat 1739. Named in honor of the Marquis de Aguayo, and conducted by friars of the Franciscan College of Zacatecas, the mission was very successful. The first buildings were constructed of palings, wattle and daub, thatch and adobe. By 1749 the mission complex consisted of a church, a friary, granary and Indian habitations. The Indian houses were integral with the ramparts and served to enclose the large protected plaza.
The present renowned church was begun in 1768 by Fr. Pedro Ramirez de Arellano, and it was completed sometime after 1778. By then the purpose of the mission was largely fulfilled; this fact, coupled with a great decline in the Indian population, caused the mission to be secularized in 1759. Although the buildings remained in intermittent use over the years, substantial reconstruction has been necessary in recent years. In 1941 this site was declared a National Historic Site.
- Texas State Historical Atlas Entry
Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo is a historic Catholic mission in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The mission was named in part for the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, José de Azlor y Virto de Vera. Many buildings on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, borrow architectural elements from those found at Mission San José.
The mission was founded on February 23, 1720, because Mission San Antonio de Valero had become overcrowded shortly after its founding with refugees from the closed East Texas missions. Father Antonio Margil received permission from the governor of Coahuila and Texas, the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, to build a new mission 5 miles (8 km) south of San Antonio de Valero.[2] Like San Antonio de Valero, Mission San José served the Coahuiltecan Indians. The first buildings, made of brush, straw, and mud, were quickly replaced by large stone structures, including guest rooms, offices, a dining room, and a pantry. A heavy outer wall was built around the main part of the mission, and rooms for 350 Indians were built into the walls.
A new church, which is still standing, was constructed in 1768 from local limestone. The mission lands were given to its Indians in 1794, and mission activities officially ended in 1824. After that, the buildings were home to soldiers, the homeless, and bandits. Starting in 1933, the Civil Works Administration and then the Works Progress Administration provided the labor to rebuild and restore the grounds of the mission. Some of the funding for the restoration came from money allotted by the United States for the Texas Centennial Exposition held in Dallas in 1936. The mission walls and Indian quarters were re-built, and the granary was restored.
The church facade features from the top: a cross, representing Jesus Christ, St. Joseph (San Jose) holding the infant Jesus, St. Dominic and St. Francis, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary), and St. Joachim and St. Anne holding the infant Mary.
Mission San José is now part of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. In 2015, along with The Alamo and Mission Concepcion, it became one of five missions in San Antonio designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Today the mission is an active parish, and is staffed by the Order of Friars Minor. The current pastor is Fr. Rogelio Martinez, OFM.
- Mission San Jose Wikipedia Entry Visit Instructions:
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