Olivarez

At the end of the seventeenth century, Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares was an aging and often cantankerous priest who had spent many years as missionary in the province of Zacatecas. In 1699 Father Antonio Margil de Jes?s , guardian of the College of Santa Cruz de Quer?taro , chose two fellow Franciscans , Olivares and Marcos de Guere?a, for work in northern Coahuila. The new priests joined Father Francisco Hidalgo at San Juan Bautista , at first located on the R?o de Sabinas. Olivares was present at the founding of the second San Juan Bautista, begun on January 1, 1700, at the site of modern Guerrero, Coahuila. Another mission, San Francisco Solano-destined to loom large in the history of Texas-was founded in the same locale by Father Olivares on March 1, 1700. It apparently served Indian hunters and gatherers beyond the Rio Grande in Texas. For many years Olivares was closely associated with this mission and its more famous successor.