SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER DE NÁXARA MISSION. San Francisco Xavier de Náxara (Nájara) Mission was established by the Marqués de Aguayo for the Ranchería Grande Indians on March 12, 1722, one league south of San Antonio de Valero Mission. Aguayo had promised a separate mission for this group when he secured the services of a Ranchería Grande chief, Juan Rodríguez, as guide of his expedition. The new mission endured with little success until 1726, when it was merged with San Antonio de Valero. Its lands were regranted to the mission of Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña in 1731.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Herbert Eugene Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1915; rpt., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1970). Carlos E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas (7 vols., Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1936-58; rpt., New York: Arno, 1976). Charles W. Hackett, "The Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo and His Recovery of Texas from the French, 1719-1723," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 49 (October 1945).