Mission San Jose founded by: Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus [1657-1726]

Spanish colonialism, like that of other nations at the time, was exploitative. Yet the Franciscans who directed the missions did so with a relatively gentle hand. An order of friars whose members took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Franciscans pledged to serve as protectors of the Indians. They also assisted the Crown as explorers, cartographers, diplomats, scientific observers, and chroniclers. But their primary task in the New World was to aid in extending Spanish culture to whatever lands the Crown claimed.

The mission system sought to bring Indians into Spanish society by concentrating scattered tribes into church-centered communities. Under the direction of the Franciscans, Indians built these communities, eventually erecting stone structures and developing stable economies. The missions functioned primarily as religious centers and training grounds for the rudiments of Spanish citizenship.