The Ysleta Mission is considered the first and oldest mission established in the State of Texas and the second oldest continually active parish in the United States. This Mission resides in the heart of the Tigua Indian community, where culture and faith run strong.
In , founders Rev. In , the Tigua Indians established and built a permanent mission from adobe and Bishop Salpointe, of Tucson, dedicated the building in October Throughout its historical existence, the structure has been threatened by storms and natural disasters and the original structure has evolved.
Dedicated to the Tiguas' patron, St. Anthony of Padua, the pueblo and mission became the nucleus of a community that has existed for years—the oldest continuously occupied settlement in Texas. The Tigua have faced many challenges in the past three hundred years since arriving in what is now West Texas, and Mission Ysleta became their home and a place of meeting and mixing of cultures.
The original mission church at Ysleta del Sur is believed to have been built of mud-chinked logs and willow reeds. Later, Tigua labor built a permanent mission from adobe by Beginning in the s, and succeeding years, Indians and their friars began to flee the devastating drought, starvation, and Apache attacks.
Earlier short-lived mission sites in the seventeenth century at El Paso del Norte served the local Mansos and Sumas. In , a large influx of Spaniards and Pueblo Indian allies fleeing the Pueblo Revolt came to these communities around El Paso and helped establish new ones. Plan of Mission Ysleta, now Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, is an example of the New Mexican style of churches which were built during the 17th and 18th centuries, characterized by their linear, box like forms, with little emphasis on exterior decoration.
Through its history, Ysleta has been a meeting and mixing place, partly because of its location near the river and as the gateway to the New Mexican settlements up north. The mission was originally founded on the south side of Rio Grande, but the reason Ysleta is considered part of Texas and not Chihuahua, Mexico, is both a fluke of nature and political borders. Ysleta's current location is a result of a major flood that affected the missions in west Texas and east Chihuahua.
As a result of flooding, the river altered its course to the south and west, leaving Ysleta on the north bank of the main channel. Based on the terms agreed upon in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the main current of the Rio Grande is the international boundary between the U. Ysleta's shifting location is a reminder of the flexibility of culture and boundaries in the borderlands of the Southwest. In the process of construction of a federal building in the s, archeologists uncovered the remains of Ysleta Jacal, the Tigua settlement associated with the nearby Mission Ysleta.
A jacal is a wattle and daub structure, and this group of jacales dated between and The remains of the settlement represent the first generation of Tigua at the Ysleta mission. Archeological excavations found evidence that in this period, native foods like corn, prickly pear, mesquite, and amaranth continued to be gathered and eaten.
Along with domesticated animals, the people at Jacal Ysleta ate relatively high proportions of native animals like deer, rabbit, fish, and birds. As generations past, more Tigua took Mexican names, and some married Mexicans or Mexican Americans, but they maintained their native identities through time.
During the century of service by the Jesuits a number of smaller communities were established as missions of Ysleta Mission and have become independent parishes. In the first school was established at Ysleta Mission. The original community of sisters staffed the school for only a few years. Another famous Jesuit of the region, who was pastor of Mt.
Carmel Parish was Fr. He served the parish for over a third of the time the Jesuits were at Ysleta. The bell in the Mission Plaza is one of the surviving original bells. The current bells in the tower were cast in The Tigua people still identify with the Mission and observe several ritual days with dancing, drumming and chanting.
The principle of those days is the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, June 13th. Medium Measured Drawing s : 7 24 x 36 in. Data Page s : 19 plus cover page Color Transparencies: 3. East front elevation showing south wing at rear East and south facades and south wing to left South front facade of main chapel Front facade
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