A Road Trip
Spain’s efforts to colonize California from 1726 to 1823 left behind twenty-one missions.
The missions were established by the Spanish crown which controlled the secular activities of the Catholic Church of Spain and its territories. Together with the military, Spain established a presence in California and protected this territory from Russia and England. The military established presidios/forts close to the ports and acted as a provisional government. Spain’s representative distributed funds for the missions and recommended how many padres would be allowed at the various missions. Franciscan Padres established missions to teach the native population the Spanish culture, Christianity and a trade.
The end of the California missions came in 1834, when the Mexican government, which had gained independence from Spain, transferred control of the missions from the Catholic Church to civil authorities. The property passed into private ownership and the mission buildings fell into ruin. In 1933, the Union Oil Company deeded several parcels to the State of California. Under direction of the National Park Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps restored or reconstructed many of the mission's adobe buildings.
Fourteen missions, 2,500 miles and over 200 years later, we found that many of the Missions are still very much ALIVE!
Mission Basilica San Diego De Alcala, the first of the California’s twenty-one missions, was built in Old Town, San Diego in 1769.
San Buenaventura Mission was founded by Fray Junipero Serra in 1770--it was the ninth and last mission founded by Father Serra. It was named for a Franciscan theologian, Saint Bonaventura. The mission burned down in 1793 and it took the neophytes 16 years to build the church, which still stands downtown today and is a very active parish and school. Ventura, CA
Old Mission Santa Barbara, “Queen of the missions for its graceful beauty”, was the tenth mission that Junipero Serra had planned to establish, but before his vision could be fulfilled, he died in 1784. The location of the tenth mission on the hilltop has spectacular ocean views and is the only mission to remain under the leadership of the Franciscan Friars since the day of its founding in 1786. Santa Barbara, CA
Old Mission Santa Ines, named for Saint Agnes (Saint Agnes of Rome, a thirteen year-old Roman girl martyred in A.D. 304) and founded in 1804, is the nineteenth of the twenty-one missions. It was the last mission in the Southern California chain that stretches 650 miles between San Diego and Sonoma. It is today a working parish, and houses an order of Franciscan monks. Solvang, CA
Mission La Purisima Concepcion or La Purisima Mission, with the original Spanish name being La Mission de La Purisima Concepcion de la Santisima Virgen Maria (Mission of the Immaculate Conception of Most Holy Mary) was founded in 1778 as the eleventh of the twenty-one Californian missions. The mission was best known for its hides and blankets, and at its peak inhabitants herded as many as 24,000 cattle and sheep. The most extensively restored mission in the state, it hosts over 200,000 visitors each year. Mission La Purisima is currently the only example in California of a complete Spanish Catholic mission complex. Lompoc, CA
Mission San Luis Obispo, the fifth California mission, was founded by Father Junipero Serra in 1772. It is named for the patron saint of the mission, Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, France. The mission is the halfway point in the chain of missions and is often called the “Prince of Missions”. Mission San Luis Obispo is now a parish church with an elementary school. San Luis Obispo, CA
Mission San Miguel. Mission San Miguel Arcangel was founded in 1779 as the sixteenth of the twenty-one California missions. The mission was named for the “Most Glorious Prince of the Celestial Militia, Archangel Saint Michael”. Mission San Miguel's appearance is much the same as it was when founded--the inside of the mission has never been repainted. The pictures and the colors you see are the originals that were created and painted by Indian artisans under the direction of Esteban Munras. Today it is still a parish church, a novitiate for training Franciscans, and a center for retreats and meetings. San Miguel, CA
San Juan Bautista,
founded in 1779 by Father Fermin Lasuen, is the fifteenth of the twenty-one California missions, and was named for John the Baptist. San Juan Bautista is located in the San Juan Valley where the mission sits on the San Andreas fault! The church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1803, but because of its fast growth, plans were already underway to build a larger church. The mission is still active to this day and claims to have served mass every day since 1797. In 1957 the classic movie, “Vertigo” by Alfred Hitchcock was filmed on the mission grounds. San Juan Bautista, CA
San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission, the second mission founded June 1770 by Father Junipero Serra, was named for Saint Charles Borromeo, the Bishop of Milan. One of California's oldest Spanish missions it remains a parish church today and it is the only one to have its original bell tower dome. Mission Carmel is the burial place of Father Junipero Serra, Father of the Missions. Carmel, CA
Mission San Rafael Arcangel, founded in 1817 as a medical asistencia by Father Vicente de Sarria, was named for Arcangel Rafael, angel of bodily healing. San Rafael, a sub-mission, was a hospital serving the sick from Mission Dolores in San Francisco, making it Alta California’s first sanitarium. It was never intended to be a stand-alone mission but in 1822 was granted full mission status. San Rafael, CA
San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776 by Father Junipero Serra, was the seventh of the twenty-one California missions. Called the “Jewel of the Missions”, it is probably the best known California mission--famed for the beautiful gardens and the return of the swallows that annually migrate some 2.000 miles from their winter homes in Central America. San Juan Capistrano, CA
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, “King of the Missions”, largest and most populous of all the California missions--it is the eighteenth of the twenty-one California missions. It was founded by Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen in 1798, and named for Saint Louis IX, King of France. The current church, built in 1811, is the third church on this location. San Luis Rey, CA
Mission San Antonia de Pala, “Wonderworker of the world”, was founded in 1816 by Padre Antonio Peyri. A sub-mission of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, Mission Pala is the only surviving Asistencia in the mission system and the only mission-related structure still ministering to an Indian population. Pala Indian Reservation, Pala, CA
Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soladad, was the thirteenth of the twenty-one California missions founded in 1791 by Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen. It was named for Our Lady of Solitude. The name was taken from the remote location and an expression the native Indians used that sounded like “soledad,” the Spanish word for solitude. The tiles from the roof of this mission were once sold to pay a debt owed by the rancher who owned the land on which the mission stands.
Mission San Francisco Solono was the last and northernmost California mission, the twenty-first mission founded 1823 by Father Jose Altimira. It was named for St. Francis Solano, missionary to the Peruvian Indians. Mission San Francisco Solano was the only mission founded after Mexico’s independence from Spain. Sonoma, CA
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