CHRISTIANITY AT SIA 
From the very beginning the invading Spaniards attempted to 
instruct the Pueblo Indians in Christianity and to convert them to 
this faith. Their efforts became both intensive and comprehensive 
after the period of colonization began at the end of the 16th century. 
The missionaries among the pueblos of the Rio Grande and Rio 
Jemez valleys were of the Franciscan order. 
The early missionaries, and indeed the Spaniards in general, pro- 
ceeded upon the principle that in order to convert the Indians to 
Christianity it was necessary to extirpate the native religions. Harsh 
and repressive measures were adopted to this end. Dances and 
ceremonies were prohibited, masks and other ceremonial paraphernalia 
were burned from time to time (White, 1934; Bandelier, 1890, p. 151, 
n. 2), priests and medicinemen were flogged or put to death, while at 
the same time missions and convents were being established within 
the pueblo communities. The Spaniards obliged the Indians to 
become church officers and assistants to the missionaries, and people 
were required to attend services under penalty of flogging: whips 
may still be seen in some of the missions today (I have seen this 
kind of whip at Santa Ana. See, also, Parsons, 1923 b, p, 179; Scholes, 
1937, p. 144; Rep. Comm. Indian Aff. for 1858, pp. 200-201, quoting 
the Rev. Samuel Gorman). And, of course, the records of the great 
Revolt of 1680 bring out clearly the bitter conflict between the 
Indians and the Catholic church. 
As we have already seen, a missionary was assigned to Sia by 
De Vargas in 1598. A church and convent had been built by 1613 
(Scholes and Bloom, 1944, p. 334). At the outset the missionary at 
Sia had Acoma, Zufii, and the Hopi villages under his jurisdiction, 
and later, Santa Ana was a visita of Sia, off and on, for many years: 
in 1614 (ibid., p. 334); in 1664, according to Zarate-Salmerén (quoted 
by Scholes, 1929, pp. 48-49); in 1694 (Dominguez, 1956, p. 167), and 
in 1782 (Bancroft, 1889, pp. 274, 281). Eventually, however, the 
mission at Sia ceased to have a resident priest and was served by one 
from Jemez. The date at which a priest ceased to reside in Sia is 
not known. It seems clear from the account of Bourke (Bloom, 
1938), that none was in residence in 1881, and Stevenson (1894, p. 11) 
states specifically that Sia was served from Jemez in 1890. This 
practice has, apparently, been continuous since that time. 
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