Spanish processional cross

After seizing control of central Mexico in the 1500s, Spain expanded its settlements north in the late 1600s to keep the French from settling lands they claimed. Establishing missions was an important part of this expansion and missionaries carried processional crosses, like this one from the 1700s, on their expeditions northward.

The Spanish built missions, presidios (military forts), and settlements along routes and rivers. They quickly encountered the American Indian tribes who lived in the area. Missionaries hoped to form Spanish Christian towns by converting American Indians to Catholicism and the Spanish way of life. 

In his 1690 report General Alonso de León recorded his meeting with the chief of the Cenis saying, “… and I presented him a staff with a cross, giving him the title of governor of all his villages, for him to rule and Govern …he accepted said staff with much pleasure, promising to do all he had been told.”

Wooden, hand-painted crosses with modest decorations were common on the northern frontier of New Spain and would have been used in what is present-day Texas. A processional cross is defined as a cross, usually featuring Christ being crucified, on a staff that is carried in processions or ceremonies. It can also be a symbol of rank or high office because historically, the use of the processional cross was reserved for Masses celebrated by a bishop or by a priest on special occasions like Palm Sunday or funerals.