Mission Espada- San Antonio Missions National Historical Park — Attraction in San Antonio

Mission Espada is one of the oldest missions in Texas. It was established on 1690 and was moved with the others in 1731 closer to the San Antonio river. This mission is the furthest from San antonio and is part of the UNESCO world heritage site which includes the Alamo, Mission San Jose, Mission Concepcion, and Mission San Juan. This mission has the remnants of many buildings that provided shelter to many artisans that worked here. They grew criops here, did blacksmithing here, and spun cotton to produce article of clothing. If you go behind the compound you see the working acequia or aquaduct built by fransican friars to bring water from the river to irrigate the crops! Inside the main chapel youll find an active church on Sundays. Inside the chapel to the right, there is a cross that Pope John Paul left hit tshirt on during his visit in 1987. Its a beautiful piece of history...

We visited on a weekday and had a fabulous experience seeing the mission, visiting the church, and talking to Ranger Maggie who made us laugh with her tales. Also Deacon Albert and Mateo made the experience all that much more memorable. As you walk into the church there will a crucifix to the right of the altar. The cloth that covers Jesus’s loin is a relic from St. John Paul the 2nd. The fabric is from one of his t-shirts that he left for the church in Espada. The rosary garden is heart shaped and very peaceful. It was fun to speak with the locals and pleasant to see how friendly, helpful, and responsive they are. This made the visit to Espada special. We were invited to attend their ceremony this Saturday morning. It was indeed an experience we will always remember. There’s no fee to enter....

This was the last and fourth of our missions we went to. We followed a trail with the address I got off of the parks and wildlife webpage. There is some history information on placards inside the rooms. Make sure to looked at the ceilings, walls, floors, and behind every wall there are alot of history in these missions. Each mission is still a working church. This one in particular has the church access right from the back parking lot. I did not like this mission. There is potted plants everywhere I feel that it takes away from the beauty in the actual building and meaning behind the mission. It looks like someone lives there and just started planting plants everywhere. Also the church was locked and we weren’t allowed the enter. This was the only one of 4 that was locked. Highly...