Site of the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria

The plaque's phrase about 'the circumstances connected therewith' covers a killing. The Handbook of Texas says Father Juan José de Ganzabal and the soldier Juan José Ceballos were dining with Father Miguel de Pinilla at Candelaria in 1752 when unknown attackers struck. Ceballos died of a gunshot, Ganzabal of an arrow through the heart. Ceballos had fled to the mission after the presidio commander, Felipe de Rábago y Terán, became involved with his wife. Rábago blamed the Coco people. The Handbook says later events suggested he was behind it; the Park Service says he was implicated and acquitted.

What the plaque says

Site of the Mission Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria Established by Franciscan missionaries in 1749 with the hope of civilizing and christianizing the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa, and other tribes of Indians. The martyrdom of Padre Jose Ganzabal and the circumstances connected therewith caused the departure of the Indians and the friars and the removal of this mission to the San Marcos River in 1755. Reestablished in 1762 on the Sabinal River for the conversion of the Lipan Apaches with the same name of Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 14 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.
• Calvert — 33 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.

More markers nearby

• Site of Mission San Francisco Xavier de Los Dolores — 0.5 mi
• Apache Pass River Crossing — 1.0 mi
• Site of the Mission San Ildefonso — 1.8 mi
• Locklin Cemetery — 4.3 mi