Mission, Ysleta << ihs LEHT uh, >> is a Roman Catholic religious center near El Paso, Texas. It stands along the Rio Grande, the river that separates Texas from Mexico. Founded in 1682, Ysleta was the first Catholic mission in what is now Texas. Spanish missionaries and Pueblo Indians who became known as the Tigua established the center. Ysleta Mission became known as La Misión de Corpus Christi de San Antonio de la Ysleta del Sur. Corpus Christi is Latin for Body of Christ. San Antonio recognizes the Tigua’s patron saint, Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy. Ysleta del Sur is Spanish for Island of the South.
In the late 1590’s, the Spanish conquered the Indians of the lands that are now New Mexico. Franciscan missionaries converted many of the Indians to Christianity, and they built Catholic churches in many of the pueblos (villages). The Europeans banned Indian religious practices and forced many Indians to work for them. In 1680, Popé, a Pueblo Indian leader, led a revolt. The Indians killed more than 400 Spaniards and destroyed Spanish farms and churches. The surviving Spaniards and a group of about 300 Christian Indians, including many Tiguas, fled south to the area near what is now El Paso. In late 1681, Governor Antonio de Otermín marched north to try to reconquer the lost territory. He was soon forced to retreat. He returned to the El Paso area in early 1682, bringing with him about 300 more Tiguas.
By about 1682, Tigua Indians under the leadership of Otermín and Francisco de Ayeta, a Spanish missionary, constructed a Franciscan mission near what is now El Paso. The founders named the mission after Isleta (Little Island) Pueblo, an Indian settlement near present-day Albuquerque, New Mexico, where many of the Tigua had lived. That settlement stood along the Rio Grande, and seasonal flooding could turn its location into an island. Ysleta, in the form of the name eventually used by the mission in Texas, is an old alternate spelling of the settlement’s Spanish name.
In 1691, Spanish Governor Diego de Vargas gave the mission the official name Corpus Christi de los Tiguas de Ysleta. The Tigua, however, had regarded Saint Anthony as their special patron since they had lived at the original Isleta Pueblo. They continued to use his name for the mission church. During the 1700’s, the area around the mission became a prosperous farming and trading community. Mission residents constructed numerous church buildings. Most early buildings were destroyed, however, during floods in the 1740’s, 1829, and the 1850’s.
The mission became part of Mexico in the 1820’s. In 1848, following the Mexican War (1846-1848), the mission’s land became part of the United States. A few years later, Franciscan priests left the area, and French priests were recruited to staff the mission. At the request of these priests, the bishop of the region changed the mission’s name in 1874 to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Nuestra Señora del Monte Carmelo in Spanish. However, the old mission names are still often used. In 1881, Jesuit priests took over the mission. Fire destroyed much of the parish church in 1907, but it was rebuilt the following year. In 1918, church workers established the first school at Ysleta Mission.
Today, Ysleta Mission still serves as a spiritual center for the Tigua people. Each year, they celebrate the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua on June 13. The mission also celebrates the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in mid-July.
