Father Horra was one of the two original priests at Mission San Miguel Archangel. Although he was not Indian, he stood up for the rights of California Indians in the missions. Father Horra filed a complaint against his partner for mistreating the Indians in the mission, claiming that they were being excessively beaten and in some cases starved. Along with these accusations, he claimed that his partner was not following the model that had been established for running the missions because he let Indians become baptized and still live in their villages and did not teach all of them Spanish. The latter claims suggest that Father Horra was not against the mission system, only the people who were running it. After serving only two months in the mission, the church declared Father Horra insane and sent him back to New Spain.