"Los Ojos de Padre Margil" ("The Eyes of Father Margil")
Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A Franciscan missionary who spent almost 50 years with the Indians of Central and North America, Father Antonio Margil de Jesus (1657-1726) was born in Valencia, Spain, and came to the New World in 1683. He founded three Catholic colleges before joining the Domingo Ramon Expedition to East Texas in 1716. He established three missions in this region, including Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe at present Nacogdoches. A severe drought, which began in 1717, ruined crops and caused many Indians to leave the mission. In the summer of 1718, according to tradition, Father Margil was led by a vision to a point near this site where the bed of La Nana Creek made a sharp bend. There he struck the overhanging rock shelf with his staff, and a stream of water gushed forth. Some accounts say that he made two openings in the rock, which became known as "The Eyes of Father Margil." This miraculous event inspired the Indians, and a relief expedition later found conditions at the mission greatly improved. In 1720, Father Margil founded Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo in San Antonio. He died in Mexico City. "The Holy Spring," now dry except during very rainy weather, symbolizes the faith and endurance of the Spanish missionaries. (1978)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the early 1700s, Spain pushed its mission frontier into East Texas, and Franciscan friar Antonio Margil de Jesus arrived with the 1716 Ramon Expedition to plant Catholic missions among the region's Native peoples. When a crippling drought struck in 1717 and scattered the mission's converts, tradition holds that Margil was led by a vision to La Nana Creek, struck the rock with his staff, and brought forth a spring. The twin openings he supposedly cut became known as "The Eyes of Father Margil," and the site remains a monument to the endurance of Spain's missionary enterprise.
Why it matters
The legend marks the fragile, faith-driven beginnings of European settlement in East Texas, when Spanish missions and the Native communities around them defined the region's earliest colonial history.
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Related people
- · Father Antonio Margil de Jesus
Related events
- · Domingo Ramon Expedition of 1716
Themes & tags
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