Missions. From the very discovery of America the spiritual welfare of the
native tribes was a subject of concern to the various colonizing nations,
particularly Spain and France, with whom the Christianization and civilization
of the Indians were made a regular part of the governmental scheme, and the
missionary was frequently the pioneer explorer and diplomatic ambassador. In the
English colonization, on the other hand, the work was usually left to the zeal
of the individual philanthropist or of voluntary organizations.
First in chronologic order, historic importance, number
of establishments, and population come the Catholic missions, conducted in the
earlier period chiefly by Jesuits among the French and by Franciscans among the
Spanish colonies. The earliest mission establishments within the present United
States were those begun by the Spanish Franciscan Fathers, Padilla, Juan de In
Cruz, and Descalona of the Coronado expedition, among the Quivira (Wichita),
Pecos, and Tigua in 1542. Three years later the work was begun among the Texas
tribes by Father Olmos. A century thereafter the first Protestant mission
(Congregational) were founded by Mayhew and Eliot in Massachusetts. From that
period the work was carried on both North and South until almost every
denomination was represented, including Orthodox Russian in Alaska and the
Mormons in Utah.
In the four centuries of American history there is no more inspiring chapter of
heroism, self-sacrifice, and devotion to high ideals than that afforded by the
Indian missions. Some of the missionaries were of noble blood and had renounced
titles and estates to engage in the work; most of them were of finished
scholarship and refined habit, and nearly all were of such exceptional ability
as to have commanded attention in any community and to have possessed themselves
of wealth and reputation, had they so chosen; yet they deliberately faced
poverty and sufferings, exile and oblivion, ingratitude, torture, and death
itself in the hope that some portion of a darkened world might be made better
through their effort. To the student who knows what infinite forms of cruelty,
brutishness, and filthiness belonged to savagery, from Florida to Alaska, it is
beyond question that, in spite of sectarian limitations and the shortcomings of
individuals, the missionaries have fought a good fight. Where they have failed
to accomplish large results the reason lies in the irrepressible selfishness of
the white man or in the innate incompetence and unworthiness of the people for
whom they labored.
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