First Mass

June 13, 1691

Photos

Documentation

• University of the Incarnate Word Journal of San Antonio History

Notes

While this 1691 event marks the first Mass and gave the area its modern name, it was a temporary camp rather than a permanent settlement. The permanent Catholic presence in Bexar County wasn't established until 27 years later, on May 1, 1718, when Father Antonio de Olivares officially founded the Mission San Antonio de Valero, which would later become world-famous as the Alamo. A modern commemorative sculpture and historical marker known as "Padre Damián Massanet's Table" sits in San Antonio today to mark the general location of the 1691 liturgy.