Mission Nuestra Señora del EspÃritu Santo de Zúñigav was founded in Matagorda Bay in 1722 to uphold territorial claims of the Spanish from the French in Louisiana. The mission was moved twice; first to Victoria, Texas in 1726 after an unsuccessful effort to befriend and assimilate with the Native Americans of Matagorda Bay, then to a safer and final location in Goliad, Texas in 1749 along the San Antonio River. By 1778 the mission was the first and largest cattle ranch in Texas, with over 40,000 free-roaming cattle. The mission also grew crops of grain, fruit, and vegetables.
The stone wall pictured is what remains of the original construction finished in 1758. The rest of the church was rebuilt in the 1930s. Much of the original stone was taken freely by local builders for construction of nearby buildings after the mission was secularized in the 1830s.
The early failures of the Mission Espiritu Santo was in part due to the missionaries’ failed collaboration and conversion attempts with a nomadic Native American tribe of the Gulf Coast and lands east of modern day San Antonio called the Karankawa. The Karankawa were skilled at building hollowed out canoes for navigating the rivers and waterways of the Gulf Coast and bow hunting big game. 
These people were tall and intimidating, often 6 feet or taller. They also practiced ritualistic cannibalism, often eating and terrorizing their enemies. 
This barbaric ritual made the tribe unpopular with European settlers, and by 1828 disease and conflict had all but exterminated the Gulf Coast natives.
These people were tall and intimidating, often 6 feet or taller. They also practiced ritualistic cannibalism, often eating and terrorizing their enemies. This barbaric ritual made the tribe unpopular with European settlers, and by 1828 disease and conflict had all but exterminated the Gulf Coast natives.
Today, Mission Espiritu Santo is a part of Goliad State Park. The cost to enter the park is $3. There are some great walking trails at Goliad State Park, the 1.1 loop by the mission takes you to the ruins of the kiln that was used in the 1930s to restore the iglesia. Espiritu Santo also has a sister site, Mission Rosario, who’s ruins can be visited only by appointment. I didn’t have an appointment but I drove to the site anyways. I guess I’m on a mission to see every Texas mission at this point.. maybe I’m connecting to my Irish-Catholic heritage or something, I don’t really know, but I’m enjoying the journey. I couldn’t cross the fence, the last picture shows the ruins of the original mission. The city of Goliad has a lot to offer, more on that to come!
-WAM-
October, 2021
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