divisions of the missions of california between the dominicans and franciscans—extent of the territory known by the name of california.
The Reverend Father Iriarte presented the royal cedula to His Excellency Don Antonio María Bucareli y Ursua, viceroy of this New Spain, and, in view thereof and of the fact that the reverend father superior of my college had formerly proposed to relinquish control of some of the old missions, observing that new ones were being founded, and so great an extent of territory populated by heathen had been opened in San Diego and Monterey that the college could not take charge of so many, as I have already explained at the meeting of the prelates.
His excellency called a meeting of the war and treasury board on the twenty-first of March, 1772, by which it was determined that the reverend father superior of the Franciscans and the vicar general of the Dominicans should convene and settle between themselves the division of the missions in accordance with the above-cited cedula of His Majesty, and they agreed on what is set forth in the concordat, which the royal board, together with his excellency the viceroy approved, of which the father superior sent me a copy, from which the following is an extract:
[Page 362]copy of the concordat.
Your Excellency: Friar Rafael Verger, present superior of the college of propaganda fide of San Fernando, of Mexico, and Friar Juan Podro de Iriarte, minister of the Holy Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) and head of the mission, which, by order of His Majesty (whom God preserve), he brought to this Kingdom for the Peninsula of California, obeying the superior decree of your excellency of the 1st of the month of April of the present year of 1872, in which you order them to divide between them the missions of the Peninsula of California for their respective missionaries, in accordance with the royal cedula, dated in Madrid on the eighth of April, of 1770, say that, having deliberated and considered in frequent conferences upon the matter, that it is the most powerful will of our sovereign and Catholic Monarch that the reverend Dominican Fathers, with their minister, the above-mentioned Friar Juan Pedro Iriarte, should enter the said peninsula of the Californias, because he so ordered it in his royal cedula of November 4, 1768, and afterwards in the above-mentioned one of April 8, 1770, in which, after having ordered and commanded concerning said division, he concludes repeating the same order notwithstanding the observations opposed by His Excellency the Marquis of Croix, predecessor of your excellency, and of the general inspector, Don Jose de Galvez, not deeming it well for his royal service that one order and much less one convent or college should occupy a peninsula of so great an area, and at the same time bearing in mind that this college alone has now under its charge not only the whole peninsula, but also all the territory discovered from the port of San Diego to that of San Francisco, which is about two hundred leagues distant, and bearing in mind that this division ought to be, in accordance with the royal cedula, with fixed boundaries for each order with the idea of a total separation and independence of action, so that in this way one will not conflict with the other, and to thus avoid the dissensions which might otherwise result, and likewise considering that the whole body of the peninsula, on account of the conformation of its surface, does not permit of a variation in the boundary lines; it only has one frontier, which is that of San Fernando Villacata, because the place called San Juan de Dios, which was once thought suitable for another boundary, upon word of Captain Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada, who has stated many times that it is not large enough for one ranch, in which also many fathers of this college agree, all of which we submit with due respect to your excellency, so that time as well as the proceeds of the pious endowments may not be uselessly spent. Bearing in mind all that has been said, and desiring to fulfil exactly the sovereign will of our Catholic Monarch, they have agreed to the following division:
That the Dominican Fathers take charge of the old missions which said order has in California, and the so-called frontier of San Fernando Villacata, following up its new conversions in this direction until they reach the boundaries of the mission of San Diego in that port, placing their last mission on the stream of San Juan Bautistaj the boundary of which shall be five leagues farther on, along a line coming out of the Sierra Madre, and ending before reaching the shore, and whence it may turn to the east with a slight deviation to the northeast, so that it ought to come out at the junction of the Gulf of California and the Colorado River, following thereafter the course [Page 363] which your excellency indicated in the royal order, and if in the intermediate territory between the Colorado and said San Diego another boundary shall be designated running north or northeast, they can also take the territory thus cut off in charge without prejudice to another order; and that the Franciscan Fathers maintain those (missions) which they occupy and continuing from said port of San Diego, in the direction of Monterey, to the port of San Francisco, and farther on.
In this way, your excellency, it will be accomplished that the long coast of southern California and mainland which follows it will not be under the charge of one order alone, which seems to be the principal intention of our Sovereign, and that the two orders of Dominican and Franciscan Fathers have in it their separate fields, and we do not consider it unjust that the college of San Fernando shall give up said missions, because it would otherwise be impossible to carry out the intention of His Majesty on account of which the father superior makes this division of them, hoping that with the efficacious aid your excellency has given the new settlements of the said port of San Diego and Monterey can subsist, and that care also will be taken that a suitable herd of cattle and sheep be transported for each of the new missions, as I pray to your excellency in the statement which I present under date of October 26, 1771, that this conquest being of such importance and consequence as His Majesty states in said royal cedula, you will not withdraw your powerful assistance until it is accomplished, even in the case (which God forbid) of some misfortune having happened in said port of San Diego or in any of the other missions. Therefore, they humbly beg that your excellency approve the said agreement and at the same time order that it have its proper effect, giving to each an authorized copy with the resolution of your excellency in which they will be favored, etc.
- Friar Rafael Verger, Superior.
- Friar Juan Pedro de Iriarte, Vicar-General.