Silent Witness to Progress of Nearly Two Centuries.

Silent Witness to Progress
of Nearly Two Centuries.

San Antonio Light newspaper, January 23, 1910, Sunday.
San Fernando, hallowed by history, a mingling of modernity with the handicraft of the fervent friar and industry-taught Indian, the old cathedral on Main Plaza has been silent witness to the progress of nearly two centuries; silent save when silvery- tongued bells have summoned to worship the high and the low, the bespangled cavalier and the buckskined vaquero of the olden time, as well as the soldier in arms who worshipped beside the matron with babe in arm, and in the changes that time records San Fernando has held to its own, the home of worship where the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Adoration of the Host, the Consecration of the Eucharist, the Celebration of the Sacraments still retain magnetic strength in drawing within the somber stone walls a goodly portion of the modern San Antonio.
Before the divine right of kings had been denounced from a Boston pulpit, before the conflicting claims of France and England had yet led to war in the new colonies, indeed, before colonial union of the New England colonies had even been suggested, San Fernando raised its dome on the principal plaza of the Presidio of San Antonio. While the fiery eloquence of William Pitt was declaiming against the stamp act of his king, and while the same king was acquiring by prowess of arms all of Canada and Florida, the bells of San Fernando were ringing gloriously in celebration of the union of gay caballero and soft-eyed senorita.
An even century before the rush of gold, seeking argonauts Californiawards, San Fernando was dedicated to the spread of Catholicism in "the town of San Fernando, government of Texas and New Philippines," when within the walls of the Alamo Texans were dying that Texas might freely live, it was from the tower of San Fernando that the flag of victory is said to have floated.
Save the Alamo itself, probably none of the remnants of the coming of the missionary friars is so replete with San Fernando, the ancient edifice being the only one that continues in everyday service, and the only one that is commingled with the present generation history of the city. Names that are familiar in San Antonio, Cassiano, Leal, Santos, Flores, Perez, appear in the first written words about San Fernando, and in the nearly two centuries since the dedication of the church thousands have been baptized, married and passed through the portals of the handwrought doors to the grave.
In the archives of Bexar county are preserved the ancient records that set forth the early history of San Fernando. In the petition to Prudencio de Orobio Basterra, governor and captain general of the province of Texas and the New Philippines, and dated February 17, 1738, wherein it is set forth that the holy padre Don Juan Rezio de Leon, curate vicar and ecclesiastical justice in conjunction with the justice and town council has decreed for the better service of God, our Lord, the promotion of divine worship and public convenience, that a parish church shall be erected under the invocation of the Virgin of the Candelaria and our Lady of Guadalupe, for whom the population profess a particular devotion.
But while the justice, town council and populace generally seem to have been united in proclaiming the need of the parish church, it does not appear to have been an easy matter to raise the necessary funds, even in that day of devout worship and the subscription headed by the governor, who contributed $200, reach only $642.25, a sum insignificant in comparison with the $5000 which the petitioners set forth was promised by the viceroy, Marquis de Casa Fuerte. In vain, it appears, the petitioners set forth their claims to the procurators and deputies at the court of Mexico, until finally a new viceroy having been inducted into office. In 1744 the devoted petitioners secured $5000 from the royal treasury, and it was in this year that the cornerstone was laid for a church "thirty varas in length and six in breadth."
Among the contributions found to have been recorded are several yearling bulls, ten fanegas of corn, ten cartloads of stone and numerous offers of labor.
The cornerstone of San Fernando was laid in May, 1744, but it was not until November, 1749, that the ceremony of dedication took place. Rev. Juan Francis de Espronceda was the parish priest and ecclesiastic of San Antonio which then was in the jurisdiction of the bishop of Guadalajara, Right Rev. John Gomez de Pareda. With the building of the new church there came what must have been pleasing to the "boosters" of that day, a boom, and the records show the arrival of sixteen families from the Canary Islands, as well as a large number of Tlascala Indians (who built the church). The friars were architects, stone masons, sculptors, carpenters and laborers, assisted by the lay brothers from the elder mission until we read that many of the Indians were impressed in the work.
San Fernando appears to have been the most important of all of the parish churches in Texas for the records are replete with entries showing visitations from missionaries working in the outlying region and more than a few massacred by Indians are noted as having occurred in the distant missions. Upon the visit of Bishop Francis de Buenaventura Tejada of Guadalajara, in 1759, the parish school of San Fernando was established, and in 1761 Father Jimenez and Joachin Banor set out from San Fernando in the hopeless endeavor of gaining converts among the Apache Indians.
Much of the early history of San Fernando cathedral is commingled with that of the Mission San Antonio de Valero, (at Alamo Plaza) and eventually as the towns of San Antonio and San Fernando built to the river the name San Antonio became adopted, or rather that of San Fernando was dropped. The written history of San Fernando, as contained in the old Spanish records, is desultory, save as to the baptisms, marriages and ecclesiastic visitations.
The modern San Fernando cathedral consists much of the old building, the domed portion facing the city hall having been the achievement of the Friars Garcia de los Angeles and de los Dolores. The original tower on San Fernando surmounted the corner of the building, and the present tower arrangement of the Main Plaza front came with the building of the cathedral. The original church was partially destroyed by fire in 1828 and the rebuilding was started in 1841.
San Fernando, as it now stands, is a mixture of the old and the new architecturally and historically. The curious polygonal western portion of the building, with its moresque dome, facing the city hall, is all the remains of San Antonio's first church edifice. The front of the cathedral was built over the old church, which was removed as the newer building was completed, the cornerstone having been laid in 1868, while the competed church, raised to the dignity of cathedral, was consecrated in 1873.
Right Rev. Anthony Domenic Pelicer, first bishop of San Antonio, was installed in the See of Christmas Eve, 1874, and administered the affairs of the diocese until his death in 1880, when he was succeeded by Right Rev. J. C. Neraz. The present bishop, Right Rev. J. A. Forest, was consecrated October 28, 1895, in San Fernando.
San Fernando cathedral is the throne-site of the diocese of San Antonio, and being the edifice in which the bishop performs his ecclesiastic functions, takes precedence over other churches. It is also the geographical center of the city, which extends six miles in all directions from its towers. And so with the passing of the years since San Fernando was hailed as the new parish church, under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, San Fernanddo has acquired a dignity in keeping with the development and expansion that have taken place within sight of its walls.
San Fernando cathedral ministers to the Mexican population of San Antonio, which is estimated at 16,000, to the French, Italians and Syrians, and is now in charge of the Sons of Immaculate Heart of Mary, an order which has its mother house in Arrando de Duero, Spain. They have their parochial residence at 617 South Concho street. The first superior of this order, which is particularly strong in Mexico, Central and South America, was the Very Rev. Father Marians, who left for Mexico about seven months ago. This house is the first of the order to be established in the United States, though since that time there have been houses established at San Marcos , Texas and San Fernando and San Gabriel, California.
The Very Rev. Father R. Prat, C. M. F. is superior of the order here in San Antonio, and has six other priests to assist him in the duties at San Fernando Cathedral. These are the Rev. Father I. Pujuol, the Rev. Father B. Serrano, the Rev.Father J. Aymemi, the Rev. Father D. Romeo, the Rev. Father A. Nebreda and S. Virumbrales. Besides the regular services of the church and the manifold duties connected with the church the priests of San Fernando have under their charge the San Fernando school for boys on North Laredo street and the San Fernando school for girls on San Saba street.
Among the societies in connection with the cathedral are the San Fernando society, the Children of Mary, the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, the Apostleship of Prayer, the Immaculate Conception society, the Catholic Mothers' society, the Archeonfrateralty of Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the St. Vincent de Paul society.

THE SECOND FLYING COMPANY OF ALAMO DE PARRAS Š1996,1997, Randell Tarin. All Rights Reserved.