Ysleta Mission

The Rio Grande Valley south of El Paso del Norte was, in the late seventeenth century, a part of the range lands of the Sumas and Manos Indians. The missionary interest in this land resulted from the forced settlement here in 1680-1682 of New Mexico Indians. A few Pueblo tribes, the Tiguas, Piro, Tano, and Jemez had maintained friendly relations with the Spanish during the revolt, and they, too, were forced to flee the northern Rio Grande Valley.

Ysleta del Sur, named after the original settlement in Ysleta, New Mexico, began as a refugee camp for primarily Tigua Indians. In 1681, 305 more Tiguas from upper Ysleta came to the camp after an abortive attempt to reconquer New Mexico in the same year. In 1684, the Tiguas were formally organized into the village of Sacramento de Los Tiguas de Ysleta.

"The first church was made of logs, probably from cottonwood trees which virtually forested the valley at one time. The first priest was Fray Avalo Zavalete. A new mission of Corpus Christi de Los Tiguas de Ysleta was officially bestowed upon Fray Joaquim de Hinojosa by newly appointed Governor Vargas in 1691" (Gerado Decorme, Short History of Ysleta Mission).

The Ysleta mission church was erected at its present site in 1744, on what was by then established farmlands (Binion, El Paso Landmarks, p.8). In 1760, Bishop Tamerón of Durango visited the mission and left this account: "Two leagues to the east of Senecú was the mission called Corpus Christi y San Antonio de la Ysleta, which also had a resident missionary. There were eighty-five families of Piro Indians with 491 persons (no Tiguas were mentioned), and eighteen Spanish families with one hundred and thirty-one persons" (Our Catholic Heritage, Volume III. p.235). "This was on the banks of the river, about five leagues east of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de El Paso, in Juarez). Its church was an exact replica of that at Senecú, being six varas (approximately 33.3 inches = 1 vara) long and five and a half wide, with a transept that measured nine varas" Ysleta, along with Socorro and San Elizario, was originally on the west bank of the Rio Grande. However, on January 12, 1849, a major flood changed the course of the river and cut a new channel which placed the three valley towns on the east or Texas side of the international boundary. Accounts of the effect of the periodic flooding of the Rio Grande are obscure; however, it would appear that such flooding must have damaged the mission.

In 1907, most of the church was destroyed by fire. In an effort to rid the belfry tower of bats, a sexton placed several buckets of sulfur and other chemicals in the tower overnight. The chemicals ignited during the night and destroyed most of the structure. Only the sacristy remained unscathed. A few of the relics, including the old mission bell and a statue of Christ which had been brought from Spain, were saved. The church was rebuilt almost immediately, utilizing the original sacristy and the remaining walls.

The mission at Ysleta was founded by Franciscans, was later secularized, and, since 1881, has been administered by the Jesuit Order. During the mission's long history, it has been named Mission de Corpus Christi de la Ysleta, Mission de San Antonio de la Ysleta, Mission de Nuestra Senora de Monte Carmelo, and Iglesia del Carmen.

The mission, while founded later than the New Mexico missions, is unique in that it has continuously served the Tigua Indian community from its establishment in 1682 to the present. On the west side of the mission plaza is the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo community building, which according to records was established between 1682 and 1690. The headquarters for the Tigua Indian Community also adjoins the mission plaza.

The Tiguas are a displaced branch of the Tiwa-speaking Pueblo Indians of central New Mexico. The Tiwa's strong, ingrained spirit of survival and retention of ancient culture could not be better illustrated than by the Tiguas, who still exist today as an intact group of Indians with many families of pure Indian strain living in the small community of Ysleta in the city of El Paso.

The Tiguas live in almost complete withdrawal from modern-day civilization and continue to practice their ancient customs. Each year they faithfully perform their Indian ritual dancing in the plaza in front of the Ysleta Mission church which their forebearers constructed, as wards of the missionaries nearly three hundred years ago. The Indians continue to maintain the tribal civil organization including the office of "cacique" or chief of the Tiguas, given to them under Spanish authority. dances, Indian chants, and a few remaining words of the Tigua language identify their unique cultural heritage.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1962.