Did you know OLLU’s yearbook was titled The Margil? Nearly a century later, its namesake’s connection to the university lives on through art, historical collections, and a tradition of honoring San Antonio’s mission heritage.
Venerable Antonio Margil de Jesús (1657–1726), a Spanish Franciscan priest, founded Mission San José in 1720. Often called the “Father of the Texas Missions” and the “Patron Saint of Texas,” he referred to himself with remarkable humility as “La Misma Nada,” or “Nothingness Itself.” Although popularly associated with the patron saint title, his formal designation is Venerable.
OLLU’s Special Collections holds a portrait of Father Margil painted around 1770 by Nicolás Enríquez. The university loaned the painting to the San Antonio Museum of Art for its exhibition Fray Antonio Margil de Jesús: The “Patron Saint of Texas,” which ran from October 2013 through March 2014.
The university’s connection also includes La Semana de las Misiones, an annual celebration first held on Aug. 6, 1978, the anniversary of Margil’s death. The inaugural celebration was a collaboration between the Old Spanish Missions of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and OLLU’s former Institute for Intercultural Studies and Research.
Today, OLLU helps preserve access to mission history as steward of the Old Spanish Missions Historical Research Library collection. Original documents remain in convent archives in Zacatecas and Querétaro, Mexico. In the 1970s, Father Benedict Leutennegger, OFM, Father Marion Habig, OFM, and Sister Maria Carolina Flores, CDP, helped make those records accessible through photography and microfilm. A $350,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant will support the Sueltenfuss Library’s preservation of mission records and related collections beginning in January 2027, making high-resolution images searchable online with tools to help researchers worldwide transcribe and translate the documents.
Together with books and documents in OLLU’s Texana and Spanish Colonial collections, these resources connect the university community with Father Margil’s legacy and the history of the region.