Mission San Jose in San Antonio -- Mon., Sep. 17

Think back in time. What do you remember? If you're like most Americans you remember living in a home, visiting with relatives, worshiping, celebrating holidays, and enjoying a life with a certain continuity to it.

Imagine if another culture conquered ours. All of a sudden, your language changes, your traditions are usurped and new ones imposed by someone else, and your traditions are suddenly considered pagan and wrong. Added to that, new diseases spread through your family and 70% of them die because they have no natural or built-up immunity. Welcome to the world of the Coahuiltecans (pronounced kwa-weel-tekens), several hunting and gathering bands of American Indians.

Mission San Jose tells the story of these Native Americans and their rough life in the 1600s. Even before the missions, the Coahuiltecans were being crowded out of their hunting grounds by the nomadic Apache and Comanche from the north. 

According to the National Park Service brochure:

"But a greater threat was the European diseases introduced by the Spanish, which eventually decimated their numbers. Struggling under such hardships, Coahuiltecans proved to be relatively willing recruits for the missionaries. In exchange for labor and conversion to Catholicism, Indians received food and refuge in missions."

In reading the displays in the Visitor Center, it is quite clear that the Catholic Church was not just helping the Indians, they were helping Spain create a foothold in the New World. 

Again, quoting the National Park brochure:

"Tales of riches spurred the early Spanish explorers northward across the Rio Grande...As dreams of wealth faded, the Spanish concentrated more fully on spreading the Catholic faith--the basis of Spanish colonial society--among the frontier Indians. Financed by the Crown, Franciscan missions served both Church and State. As an arm of the church, the mission was the vanguard for converting the Indians spiritually. As an agent of the state, the mission helped push the empire northward. Missions also offered Indians sanctuary from their enemies."

"The chain of missions established along the San Antonio River in the 1700s is a reminder of one of Spain's most successful attempts to extend its dominion northward from New Spain (present-day Mexico). Collectively they form the largest concentration of Catholic missions in North America."

The Spanish missions helped form the foundation for the city of San Antonio. Here are photos of Mission San Jose.

Indian quarters.

The church (with kiln in front of Indian quarters).

Indian quarters. Kilns throughout grounds in front of Indian quarters.

 

Convento

Side door into church.

Detail of cherub head on door frame.

Beautiful arches of the Convento.

Church interior.

 

Teaching with stone: The frescoes and elaborate stone work were functional as well as artistic. The symbols and decorations were tools for teaching faith to Indians who had never heard of any of this before and couldn't yet understand their new language. 

There is a separate brochure dealing entirely with "Teaching with Stone." Here are some of the highlights:

Symbols of Catholicism and Spanish culture:

• Heart: symbolic of love, piety, understanding, courage, devotion, sorrow, and joy. The three hearts found on the facade represent the Holy Family.
• Pomegranate: symbolizes church because of the inner unity of the countless seeds in one fruit. A traditional symbol of purity, the pomegranate and its seeds symbolized the countless and growing number of converts. The juice's deep red color symbolizes the blood of Christ.
• Shell: symbolizes baptism. Shell designs are frequently found above doorways and windows, symbolizing baptism as the entryway into Christianity.
• Rose: red represents martyrdom; white represents purity.
• Angels: serve as a link between God and Man, heaven and earth. San Jose's angels are cherubs and bear Native American features in their design.
• Pinjante: replicate cut paper ornaments used to decorate for festive occasions.

On the main church entrance door below there are six saints represented. The oval rose window is an architectural term for the decorative window above the main door of a church. This is not Rosa's Window which is found in another photo.

Main entry into church.

Rosa's Window (also called Rose Window)

 

Rose Window explanation.

Today I learned more about the acequias, or aqueducts, built and used by the missions and surrounding farms. You can still see the acequias today. There is one behind Mission San Jose which powers a grist mill and I took photos there today.

Inside the grist mill.

Convento

Church side view.

Bell tower--chimes every 1/2 hour.

The granary.

 

Love this cactus growing on the roof.

Flower and shadow.

 

Outside of Mission San Jose walls.

 

My afternoon was beautiful and informative. Tomorrow the San Antonio Zoo. Stay tuned.

Welcome to Steve at My Life Outdoors. His wife just wrote an excellent blog about hiking with children. You can check it out at the link.

Travel Bug out.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame! -- Tues., July 3

San Antonio, Texas:

Talk about a rude awakening this morning...I was sorta reading, then snoozing UNTIL I heard the riding lawnmower. Whoever was driving that thing was in a big hurry. I leapt out of bed and dressed for the day remembering that the internet cable for our booster is lying across the grass behind our 5er. Bob hooked up our booster to a shed by the back fence of the RV park.

Out the door I flew to unhook the cable to prevent damage. The riding lawnmower guy headed away from our rig so either he didn't mow in the back (not much grass or weeds) or the riding lawnmower didn't send our internet cable to internet cable heaven. All was fine. By then I was wide awake.

Stayed up, ate breakfast, showered, washed dishes, paid some bills, took out trash, thought about the gate guard ladies having lunch at DQ in Cotulla, and checked my email and blog comments. 

This afternoon, I did some shopping at a Super Walmart 1-1/2 miles from our RV park. We learned to appreciate city conveniences when we were out in the caliche dust at the oil field. Out there an old, small Walmart was 40 miles away.

On my drive to and from Walmart, there is Mission San Jose, a National Historical Park.  Our sightseeing will include a number of missions very close to our RV park. The place looks like it has some stories to tell. The outer wall is limestone. Inside the wall are a number of buildings. I can't wait to learn more about them.

When Bob returned home from work, we went to see the San Antonio Missions play baseball against the NW Arkansas Naturals. The Missions are a AA affiliate for the San Diego Padres; the Naturals are the AA affiliate for the Kansas City Royals. 

We arrived at the stadium a few minutes after the 7:00 p.m. start time. A crowd was lined up at the ticket windows so we joined the group. We weren't there a minute when a gentleman walked up to us and asked us if we would like free tickets. 

Bob said, "Seriously?"

The man said, "Yes. I work for a hospital and we have a group of tickets. No one is using these and we'll be in our company suite."

We thanked him profusely and headed into the game. Our seats were the first row, A5 and A6! Wow! What a great view of the game.  Sometimes we're in the right place at the right time.

The evening was perfect for a baseball game. Temperature was in the mid-80s with a light breeze--so pleasant--and no humidity. San Antonio won 2-0.  The San Antonio Missions currently have a nine-game winning streak.

We got home and Bob was out like a light in the recliner in the living room. I'm falling asleep at the computer. Time to head for bed. 

Happy Independence Day everyone. Nitey nite.