extracts from the work entitled “history of california, posthumous work of the noble abbot don francisco saverio clavigero.” venice, 1789.
Besides this gift of the viceroy, there was another from the pious Marquis of Villapuente, who, desirous of the conversion of the heathen, contributed the capital for the foundation of a new mission in the port of “La Paz,” and wanted the same Father Bravo to be the founder. This man willingly took charge of this arduous and dangerous task, [Page 355] and having bought all that was necessary at that time for the colony he embarked from Acapulco, in the new boat borrowed from the viceroy, and reached Loreto. (Vol. 2, p. 19.)
We can not say in particular what Father Guillen had to do and suffer in the foundation of that mission and in the twenty-five years while he was in charge of it, but it is known that with indescribable sufferings he passed through the woods and congregated the scattered Indians in new populations, three of which were joined to the mission of St. Louis Gonzaga, which, at the cost of the most noble Mexican, Don Louis de Velasco, Count of St. James, was founded in 1747. It is known also that the territory of his mission was so large that it extended from one ocean to the other; there was not an Indian left who was not made a Christian, or at least a catechumen. The said sufferings being augmented by the great sterility of all that territory, except in a small area of Apate, in which a little corn was sown. This mission of the Señora Adorada served as a refuge to missionaries and neophytes during the rebellion of Perecui, in 1734, concerning which we shall presently speak. (Id., p. 42.)
At the close of the year 1706 it was very much desired to establish a mission in Kadakaaman, an inland place situated at the foot of the mountains at the 28th degree of latitude and distant about seventy miles to the north of the mission of Guadalupe, which was then the mission farthest north; but the scarcity of missionaries and the foundation of other missions that seemed more necessary delayed its establishment until 1728. Father Juan Bantista Luyando, a Mexican Jesuit,a not only gave a part of his fortune for the foundation of this mission, but asked permission of the superior to go in person to establish it. Finally being ordered to California, he set out from Loreto at the beginning of the year above named, accompanied by nine soldiers and arrived at Kadakaaman on January 20. (Id., p. 48.)
The missionaries found no other remedy to put a stop to these evils (uprisings) of which they were afraid except that of increasing the number of missions in that region. Their desires were seconded by the inexhaustible generosity of the pious Marquis of Villapuente and of his cousin, known by the name of Doña Rosa de la Peña. The marquis furnished the capital to found a mission near Cape San Lucas, and Dona Rosa the capital for another which should be established in the port of Palmas, where the one of Santiago was already situated. (Id., p. 69.)
Two things were needed to advance the missions to the northward, as the missionaries desired, namely, the capital to found them and the locations to establish them in, and there was no hope of the one or the other until God moved the mind of an illustrious and most noble benefactress. This was the Duchess of Gandia, Doña María Borja, who, having heard an old servant of hers, who had once been a soldier in California, speak of the sterility of that region, the poverty of the Indians there, and the apostolic labors of the missionaries, thought that she could not do anything more pleasing to God than to devote her fortune to the aid of these missions. She therefore ordered in her will that there be provided out of her ready money those large annuities which she left her servants during their lives, and that all [Page 356] the rest of her estate should go to the missions of California, together with the capitals of the above-mentioned annuities after the death of those who enjoyed them, and that a mission, consecrated to the honor of her beloved ancestor, St. Francis Borgia, be founded in said peninsula. The sum of money acquired from this legacy by these missions amounted, in 1767, to sixty thousand dollars, and a like amount ought to be obtained after the death of the pensioned servants, over and above some very large debts which there was hope of recovering. With such a large capital many missions could be founded in California, as in fact they would have been founded if the Jesuits had not been obliged in the above-mentioned year to abandon that peninsula. (Id., pp. 139, 140.)
Much more noteworthy was another renunciation made by the same Jesuits in the year following that of 1767. Doña Josefa de Arguelles y Miranda, a Mexican lady, not less pious than rich, devised to the missions of California and to the College of Guadalajara her large estate, which was valued, according to common opinion, at six hundred thousand dollars. A capital so large would have greatly assisted the progress of Christianity in said peninsula, except that the Jesuits, fearing to excessively provoke the enemies of their order (having already suffered so much from calumnies in Portugal, France, and other States in Europe), solemnly renounced said immense legacy in favor of the Government of Mexico. (Id., p. 170.)
The church and the houses of the missionary and soldiers which were built there were miserable huts of wood, covered with the leaves of the above-mentioned palms. This mission bore the name of Santa María, consecrating it to the mother of God in memory of the Duchess of Gandia, notable benefactress of those missions, at whose expense this was and the others were to be founded. This missionary, in order not to neglect any work which might prove to be to the advantage of his mission, cultivated a small field near the stream, and there sowed corn and cotton, both of which were in good condition in January, 1768, when the Jesuits were obliged to abandon these missions. (Id., p. 182.)
- Of a very noble family, and descended from the first gentleman who established the Jesuits in Mexico.↩