The Bidai and the Blue Nun
by Robin Montgomery
The year was 1685. Across the land of the Caddo Indians, reaching into the area of original Montgomery County, excitement reigned. The reason: the Spanish were coming to minister to them. Peaking the Indians’
interest had been a young woman, a nun, whom , the Indians insisted, had walked among them. The nun confirmed the Indians’ claim, with proofs. However, she had never left her convent in Spain! What could have prepared the Caddo to believe in this miracle of bilocation? The most plausible answer lies with the Bidai (Bee Dye)Tribe.
The primary sphere of the Bidai was within the bounds of original Montgomery County, between the Trinity and the Brazos, bounded on the north by the Old San Antonio Road. However, the Bidai were kinsmen and allies of the Caddo, the latter aggregated mostly east of the Trinity. It is known that the impact of the Bidai stretched to the heart of the Caddo domain, for the Caddo, themselves, asserted to Spanish explorers that the Bidai were the builders of the great Indian mounds of East Texas.
It was the Bidai Shaman influenced the Caddo embrace bi-location, appearing to Caddo campfires in the form of owls. The Shaman could, the Caddo believed, cure the sick or cast evil spells.
Before the Spanish came to Texas, in the early sixteen hundreds, they ruled over New Mexico. To New
Mexico, some Jumano Indians came from Texas asking for Christian missionaries to their people. Surprised, the Spanish authorities inquired as to how the Indians learned about the Christian religion. The Jumanos responded that a Lady in Blue, a Franciscan nun, had walked among them, teaching them, in their own language. The Jumano pointed the Spanish toward the land of the Caddo.
Responding, the New Mexican Franciscans converted about 60,000 Texas Indians. Before these Franciscans could reach the heartland of the Caddo, however, an Indian revolt occurred in New Mexico, driving the Spanish to El Paso. It was while residing there, in 1685, that word of a French fort off Matagorda Bay prompted authorities in Mexico City to send military expeditions to the area.
By the time a Spanish expedition found the French establishment, the leader, La Salle, had been killed by his own men, near the Navasota River in later Ooiginal Montgomery County Territory. With the Spanish Expedition which found the French fort was a priest, Father Masinet. Happening upon the scene was a band of Caddos, who requested that the priest come to their land. “Why?”, asked the priest. “Because,” replied the Caddo leader, a woman in blue had kindled their interest in Christianity years before. The tribe longed for
further ministering.
Did the Lady in Blue really accomplish these great miracles. The King of Spain, Phillip II, for one, believed so. He exchanged some 600 letters with the nun in question, María Agreda. And the hierarchy of the Catholic Church came to believe it, after years of exhaustive research.
Truth or not, the result was the same. Belief in the story brought a multitude of Indians of Texas into the Christian faith, ,motivating the Spanish to establish a major road called the Bahia Trail through the heart of the land of later original Montgomery County.
The year was 1685. Across the land of the Caddo Indians, reaching into the area of original Montgomery County, excitement reigned. The reason: the Spanish were coming to minister to them. Peaking the Indians’
interest had been a young woman, a nun, whom , the Indians insisted, had walked among them. The nun confirmed the Indians’ claim, with proofs. However, she had never left her convent in Spain! What could have prepared the Caddo to believe in this miracle of bilocation? The most plausible answer lies with the Bidai (Bee Dye)Tribe.
The primary sphere of the Bidai was within the bounds of original Montgomery County, between the Trinity and the Brazos, bounded on the north by the Old San Antonio Road. However, the Bidai were kinsmen and allies of the Caddo, the latter aggregated mostly east of the Trinity. It is known that the impact of the Bidai stretched to the heart of the Caddo domain, for the Caddo, themselves, asserted to Spanish explorers that the Bidai were the builders of the great Indian mounds of East Texas.
It was the Bidai Shaman influenced the Caddo embrace bi-location, appearing to Caddo campfires in the form of owls. The Shaman could, the Caddo believed, cure the sick or cast evil spells.
Before the Spanish came to Texas, in the early sixteen hundreds, they ruled over New Mexico. To New
Mexico, some Jumano Indians came from Texas asking for Christian missionaries to their people. Surprised, the Spanish authorities inquired as to how the Indians learned about the Christian religion. The Jumanos responded that a Lady in Blue, a Franciscan nun, had walked among them, teaching them, in their own language. The Jumano pointed the Spanish toward the land of the Caddo.
Responding, the New Mexican Franciscans converted about 60,000 Texas Indians. Before these Franciscans could reach the heartland of the Caddo, however, an Indian revolt occurred in New Mexico, driving the Spanish to El Paso. It was while residing there, in 1685, that word of a French fort off Matagorda Bay prompted authorities in Mexico City to send military expeditions to the area.
By the time a Spanish expedition found the French establishment, the leader, La Salle, had been killed by his own men, near the Navasota River in later Ooiginal Montgomery County Territory. With the Spanish Expedition which found the French fort was a priest, Father Masinet. Happening upon the scene was a band of Caddos, who requested that the priest come to their land. “Why?”, asked the priest. “Because,” replied the Caddo leader, a woman in blue had kindled their interest in Christianity years before. The tribe longed for
further ministering.
Did the Lady in Blue really accomplish these great miracles. The King of Spain, Phillip II, for one, believed so. He exchanged some 600 letters with the nun in question, María Agreda. And the hierarchy of the Catholic Church came to believe it, after years of exhaustive research.
Truth or not, the result was the same. Belief in the story brought a multitude of Indians of Texas into the Christian faith, ,motivating the Spanish to establish a major road called the Bahia Trail through the heart of the land of later original Montgomery County.