How is San Antonio de Bexar, a Portuguese, "de Bexar"?
I read a biography. It never mentioned Bexar, a town in Spain. How did it become part of his name?
4 Answers
San Antonio, the saint born in Portugal, had nothing to do with Béjar in Spain, as far as I know. San Antonio, the city in Texas, traces its name back to June 13, 1691 -- the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua -- when a Spanish expedition came to the river they named Río San Antonio. Much later, on May 5, 1718, Martín de Alarcón founded the Spanish army garrison known as the Presidio de San Antonio de Béjar. The name Béjar (Béxar) honored the Spanish Duque de Béjar, brother of the Viceroy of New Spain, Don Baltizar de Zúniga, Marques de Valero. It was in the Viceroy’s honor that Mission San Antonio de Valero was named about the same time. Later, the mission church became known as The Alamo.
I've been looking into it....and I've discovered that San Antonio de Bexar used to be a city in the USA, before it was renamed San Antonio. San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.4 million. Located in the American Southwest and the southcentral part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County.
Hope that helps....if not, then I hope you find what you're looking for!
What I want to know is how a man from Portugal who was never in Spain, much less Bexar, became known as San Antonio de Bexar. Was a church in Bexar named for San Antonio and then when someone from Bexar went to the New World, named the place for his church, thus "San Antonio de Bexar"? How does a saint get that part of his name?
I don't know....maybe it's to distinguish 'San Antonio'. The one of 'Bexar'.
