Antonio Margil de Jesús, early missionaryto Texas, was born in Valencia, Spain, on August 18, 1657. His parents,Juan Margil and Esperanza Ros, were poor parishioners of the church ofSan Juan del Mercado. The parents also had two daughters. Margil attendedschool, where he demonstrated a peaceful and gentle demeanor and distinguishedhimself by his abject humility. Even as a boy he referred to himself as"Nothingness Itself," a title consistently used by him in adulthood. Inhis early teens Margil expressed his desire to become a Franciscan. OnApril 22, 1673, he received the order's habit at La Corona de Cristo inValencia. Further education included the study of philosophy and theology.At the age of twenty­five he received Holy Orders and soon acceptedthe challenge of missionary work in New Spain. He departed Spain on March4, 1683, and arrived at Veracruz on June 6.

ERROR MSGIn New Spain Margil was assigned to the missionary College of SantaCruz de Querétaro, from where he spent several yearsas a missionary in Yucatán, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. Margil returnedto Querétaro in late 1706, then traveled in early 1707 to Zacatecasto found and preside over the missionary College of Nuestra Señorade Guadalupe de Zacatecas. Rotterdam luxury hotelsHe was to have accompanied the DomingoRamón expedition of 1716, charged with setting up Franciscanmissions in East Texas. However, illness at San Juan Bautista preventedhis arrival in East Texas until after the founding of the first four missions.He did not arrive there until July 1716. In 1717 Margil supervised thefounding of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores and San Miguel de losAdaes, which with the previously established Nuestra Señora de Guadalupecompleted the missions under the control of the Zacatecan Franciscans.During the "Chicken War" of 1719, the six missions and a presidioin East Texas were all abandoned, and the entire Spanish population withdrewto San Antonio. In February of the following year Margil founded at SanAntonio the most successful of all Texas missions, San José y SanMiguel de Aguayo.

In 1722 he was recalled to Mexico to serve again as guardiánof the college he had founded. At the conclusion of his three­yearterm (1722-25), Margil resumed missionary work in Mexico. He died in MexicoCity at the church of San Francisco on August 6, 1726. Arguably the mostfamous missionary to serve in Texas, Antonio Margil de Jesús remainsunder consideration for sainthood by the Vatican. His career in Texas wasbrief but served as an inspiration to his Zacatecan brethren, who assumedcontrol of all Texas missions in 1773.