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 Mission San Francisco de la Espada - San Antonio, Texas Posted by:  iconions
N 29° 19.094 W 098° 27.061
14R E 553306 N 3243368
This mission church was constructed in 1756. It is located at 10040 Espada Road in San Antonio, Texas.
Waymark Code: WMYAY0
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2018
Views: 2
Mission San Francisco de la Espada, located in southeast San Antonio, stands partially in ruins, partially reconstructed and partially restored. Initially, the mission complex was made up of temporary buildings. By 1745 though the building of permanent stone structures had begun. One building in progress at this time was the small chapel, part of which has survived and is still used today. The south and north walls had collapsed when Father Francis Bouch arrived as parish priest in 1858. It is due to his efforts that the church is rebuilt and standing today. Ruins of a later church (1762) are located on the south of the compound adjacent to the convent. It was demolished in 1777 because of faulty construction.
The mission complex follows a similar arrangement to that of other missions, particularly San Juan Capistrano. That is, rooms and buildings arranged in a rough quadrangle around a central courtyard. Entrances to the rooms are made through those walls facing the courtyard leaving the exterior protected. The main entrance to the mission compound was through a gate on the south.
The Espada church is a small, rectangular building whose main facade faces east. Transepts on the south and north elevations give the building the traditional crossshape. A two-tiered espadana the width of the east facade is pierced by two bells on the lower tier and a third at the top. Finials at either side of the tiers and a wrought iron cross at the top complete the decorations of the wall belfry. The arrangement of this espadana is virtually identical to that of San Juan.
Attached at right angles to the rear south wall is a covered arcade with rooms in back of it creating the west wall. The convent is built onto this arrangement at right angles at the south end of the arcade. The convent is a rectangular building with the greatest length on an east/west axis. This complex of three contiguous buildings, convento, arcade with rooms and church, has a flat roof surrounded by a parapet and drained by canales.
The fortified bastion in the southeast corner, of rubble construction, is part of the early construction at the site. It is unique in that no other missions here have surviving remains of any fortified section of the wall.
- Texas State Historical Atlas Entry
Mission San Francisco de la Espada (also Mission Espada) is a Roman Rite Catholic mission established in 1690 by Spain in present-day San Antonio, Texas, in what was then known as northern New Spain. The mission was built in order to convert local Native Americans to Christianity and solidify Spanish territorial claims in the New World against encroachment from France.[1] Today, the structure is one of four missions that comprise San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.
Founded in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas near Weches, Texas and southwest of present-day Alto, Texas, Mission San Francisco de la Espada was the second mission established in Texas.
Three priests, three soldiers and supplies were left among the Nabedache Indians. The new mission was dedicated on June 1, 1690. A smallpox epidemic in the winter of 1690-1691 killed an estimated 3,300 people in the area. The Nabedache believed the Spaniards brought the disease and hostilities developed between the two groups.
Drought besieged the mission in the summers of 1691 and 1692, and the Nabedache wished to get rid of the mission. Under threat of personal attack, the priests began packing their belongings in the fall of 1693. On October 25, 1693, the padres burned the mission and retreated toward Monclova. The party lost its way and did not reach Monclova until February 17, 1694.
The mission was re-established in the same area on July 5, 1716 as Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas. The new mission had to be abandoned in 1719 because of conflict between Spain and France.
The mission was tried once more on August 5, 1721 as San Francisco de los Neches. As the Nabedache were no longer interested in the mission, and France had abandoned effort to lay claim in the area, the mission was temporarily relocated along the Colorado River in July 1730. Mission Tejas State Park encompasses the original site of the mission.
The mission relocated to its current location in the San Antonio River area (coordinates 29.3177°, -98.4498°) in March, 1731 and was renamed San Francisco De la Espada. A friary was built in 1745, and the church was completed in 1756. The relocation was in part inspired by fears of French encroachment and need for more Missionaries to tend to San Antonio de Bexar's Indian population. The Mission encountered great difficulties in presiding over the Indian population and experienced common rebellious activity.
Several modern churches have been architecturally based on the design of this mission including St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Wimberley, Texas, north of San Antonio.
- Mission San Francisco de la Espada Wikipedia Entry Visit Instructions:
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