Forty were killed on the spot, as well as
many wounded. This catastrophe was by far the worst ever visited on the
missions, and it was long before San Juan Capistrano recovered from the
blow - never, in fact, so far as the church was concerned, for it was
too badly injured to be repaired, and the fathers could not summon up
energy enough to build another. Since that dire Sabbath, a room in the
adjoining building had been used as a church. Father Zalvidea's greatest
desire, next to seeing the vineyards brought up to their proper
condition, was to build a new church, and these were the only mitigating
circumstances in his regretted change of residence; but he had been only
a few days at his new home, when he gave up his purpose with regard to
the church; it was beyond his power, as he saw. San Juan Capistrano had
been too long on the decline, and the neophytes were too indifferent, to
undertake this work.
So our Father Zalvidea confined himself to the simple religious duties
of his position, and left such grand projects as building a new church
to the future.
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