Exploring the California Missions and Their Legacy
21 missions built along the California coast between 1769 and 1823 transformed native lives, highlighting the impact of colonization.
In 1769, Spanish missionaries led by Franciscan friar Junípero Serra established the first of 21 missions in present-day San Diego. The mission system was an audacious project for religious colonization. Under the guise of Catholic conversion, the missionaries aimed to connect California with the rest of the Spanish Empire and to provide economic stimulus by cultivating farmland and raising crops and livestock.
Through irrigation and the harnessing of water, they tapped new sources of wealth and allowed the explosive growth of California’s agriculture and ranching for centuries to come. The architecture of the missions with their striking Spanish Renaissance facades set the visual tone for all future California architecture. The friars laid out the presidios, pueblos and ranchos that developed into today’s great cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Yet much of this ‘progress’ was paid for with the lives of California’s native peoples, who were pressed into service at the missions and punished for practicing traditional cultural ways. The elaborate tribal governance, kinship systems, foodways and spiritual beliefs that had survived for generations were interrupted or outright destroyed by the missions. Disease, oppression and privation rapidly killed off native people throughout the mission territories.
The establishment of the mission system in California stemmed primarily from two rationales for the growth of the Spanish empire: the spread of Catholic Christianity as well as the conquest and territorial expansion of the empire and its colonial power. "For the Franciscan missionaries like Serra, the conversion of native peoples to Christianity represented a spiritual conquest and the highest calling. They saw themselves as saving souls from damnation by bringing Indigenous populations into the light of the Catholic faith."
The conversion of Indigenous peoples to Catholicism, and the universal spread of Catholicism as a whole, underscored this rationale. It was seen as a spiritual mission and imperative for the Spanish to bring Catholicism, literacy and Spanish norms to the Indians whom they encountered. Franciscan missionaries like Junípero Serra were behind the spiritual conquest of the New World’s ‘wretched communities’ of savages, in hopes of conversion of the masses. Conversion of the Indigenous populations was also meant to undermine traditional cosmologies and social structures that could serve as hedges against colonial domination. The highly regularized life of missionaries so committed to their religious service that they renounced marriage became a challenge to traditional Indigenous forms of life understood to be the antithesis of Spanish Catholic values.
In addition to religious motivations, establishing the missions allowed the Spanish empire to stake territorial claims and create a strategic foothold in Alta California to prevent other colonial powers like Russia, Britain, or France from gaining control of the region. (Hackel Footnote). Now that the mission system had been created, flags could be planted and Spain’s tenuous shrinking territory claim over Alta California was made more tangible. It also represented a wider colonial strategy of fortifying control of the Pacific littoral against the incursions of rival powers, notably Russia, Britain and France.
The missions created a series of permanent colonial garrisons, supported by agrarian development from which Hispanic settlement radiated. Missions provided food surpluses that could help to support the military presidios, towns and ranchos and from which expansion would continue. Meanwhile, from the missions, concentrated Indian labor could provide necessary sources of economic manpower. Further than these occupations for appropriation was the urge to accumulate lands and natural resources for the Spanish empire. The Spanish empire was expanding its territorial claims with each mission complex that planted crops and ranged herds. In the peripheral regions, native labor served the interest of resource extraction for fellow Spaniards and mercantile profits. As much as the zeal to spread Catholic Christianity fueled Spanish imperialist designs, the zeal for colonial expansionism did, too. The missions served two important imperialist purposes: the domination of Native peoples through religious conversion.
While the missions introduced new agriculture, architecture, and civic development to California, this "progress" came at a devastating human cost to the indigenous populations. The mission system disrupted and actively suppressed traditional Native American ways of life through forced labor, oppressive disciplinary practices, and the systematic erosion of cultural traditions and social structures. "Native people were conscripted into labor regimes at the missions, punished for practicing their cultural traditions, and subjected to assimilationist programs aimed at remaking them as Catholic Spanish subjects." (Hackel Footnote) This forced assimilation represented a profoundly dehumanizing attack on indigenous identity and sovereignty. The missions relied heavily on the forced labor of indigenous converts known as neophytes. In Contested Eden, Ramón A. Gutiérrez and Richard J. Orsi describe how "at each mission, hundreds of Native Americans lived in a highly regimented lifestyle, laboring in the fields, workshops, and domestic quarters under the strict supervision of the Franciscans." Gutiérrez /Orsi Footnote) Brutal corporal punishment was commonly used to enforce compliance and obedience. The concentration of native populations at mission sites caused widespread disease outbreaks that decimated communities already reeling from the cultural onslaught, as Norman Neuerburg notes: "Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and the lack of acquired immunities made the missions breeding grounds for epidemics of measles, influenza, and other Old World diseases that ravaged the native populations."
While enriching Hispanic cultural and economic prospects in California, the mission system represented a campaign of cultural genocide against the indigenous peoples through forced labor regimes, systematic oppression of traditions, disruption of social structures, and the unintentional but devastating spread of disease. Any honest assessment must reckon with this oppressive reality alongside the missions' more celebrated "achievements." Although the mission system sought to convert indigenous peoples to Christianity and erase their cultures, many Native Americans resisted colonization and retained much of their cultural practices. They resisted in overtly aggressive ways, of course, through widespread rebellion and occasional wars and massacres. But they also resisted in more subtle ways, through cultural adaptation and strategic retreat.
As he observed in The California Missions: Evaluating a Usable Past, ‘Indigenous men and women found ways to assert a degree of autonomy from missionary control, sometimes melding Native traditions with Catholic rites to create new, syncretic spiritual forms’. In this way, some indigenous communities opposed the Mexican authorities and, despite their outward adherence to mission life, continued to practice. There were other instances of armed resistance during the years of the missions too – none more successful, or better documented, than the Chumash Revolt of 1824, which brought together native people at several missions to rebel against and destroy mission control. Despite these crushing constraints, many Indigenous peoples and communities also demonstrated remarkable resilience: they maintained oral histories, kept up traditional crafts, and passed along language and cultural knowledge, sometimes in secret. As Kimbro and Costello note in ‘The California Missions: History, Art, and Preservation’ (2009): ‘The survival of Native languages and cultural practices into our time speaks to the resilience of California’s native peoples.
This resilience is further showcased by the fact that many California tribes remain culturally active and are revitalizing their histories and practices today. Indigenous peoples in California continue to survive and thrive after the destructiveness of the mission system and work today to reclaim their heritage and assert their rights over their ancestral lands and territories in modern-day California.
The California missions are fundamental to the industrialization of California’s agriculture. How so, one might ask, aren’t there oceans between California and the Mediterranean? As Gutiérrez and Orsi put it in ‘Contested Eden’: ‘the missions imported the seed of a multitude of Mediterranean crops and European livestock specifies that forever changed California’s ecology and economy’.
Wheat, barley, corn, fruit; in short, the missionaries brought foods that greatly broadened the state’s productive potential. Olive groves and vines prepared the way for California’s still-thriving wine industry. Cattle and sheep were central to mission economies, and the huge ranchos surrounding the missions became the forerunners of California’s ranching industry. ‘The missions induced a pattern of land use for cattle ranching that would persist well past the secularization of the missions,’ as Weber wrote in ‘The Spanish Frontier in North America’. Yet it is mission architecture that, above all, stands as a powerful and recognizable legacy of Spanish missionizing on the built environment in California. Its hallmarks – thick adobe walls, red-tiled roofs, and most importantly, both in the streets and throughout the missions themselves. As Kimbro and Costello wrote in The California Missions: History, Art, and Preservation, ‘The Mission Revival style, largely fashioned in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, demonstrates the staying power of mission architecture on California’s aesthetic sensibility.’ It seems there is a mission lurking everywhere you look, from public buildings to private homes.
In addition, the missions’ architecture introduced new building techniques and materials (including fired clay tiles) and brought irrigation to the region, defining subsequent building practices in California. In fact, many of California’s larger cities and towns are the direct product of the missions. As Hackel writes: ‘The missions were the seeds around which many of California’s largest cities grow.’ San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and many other major urban settlements grew out of the gardens of the missions. The missions also eventually linked together via El Camino Real, or ‘The Royal Road’, a network of California’s modern transportation routes, both important to the state’s development from a colonial territory to a state and critical to its urban geography to this day. Further, land-use patterns, including individuals’ own landholdings, were changed by the missions for generations to come. California’s agricultural industry, including the secularization of large tracts of the original Spanish missions’ land grants in the 1830s and 1840s, was a byproduct of the missions and largely set in place patterns of landownership, law and power that would shape California well into the 20th century. The legacy of the California missions lives on in modern California, from its farm-to-table culinary tradition, its Spanish-style architecture and land-use patterns, to its highways and finger-like layout of its cities. The mission era Interstate 5 in California.
The impact and legacy of the California missions has remained contentious for many decades, as Hackel writes in ‘The California Missions: Evaluating an Usable Past,’ ‘The missions both anchored California’s origins and remain, for many Native Americans, a painful reminder of colonial oppression.’ Their significance is the source of contention as to how to remember, and represent, the mission era. Perhaps the most contentious topic includes whether to honor Junípero Serra, a founding father of California sanctified in 2015, whom many indigenous peoples and their allies protest against for his institutionalized forced assimilation of Native Americans. This debate touches on the larger struggle to square how the missions are remembered and honored in today’s world, given their damage to indigenous people. Impassioned discussions continue to this day over land-owning rights and the repatriation of indigenous cultural materials, especially attempting to regain ancestral lands and sacred objects still in the possession of mission museums. Central to these enduring considerations is the predecessor legacies of the mission-era, still making a significant mark upon contemporary Native American communities today.
While the missions continue to spark controversy, they remain guarded. Ongoing efforts focus on preserving the missions and communicating their duplicitous history. Kimbro and Costello write in The California Missions: History, Art, and Preservation, ‘Contemporary preservation efforts seek to balance the missions’ historic authenticity with their problematic past.’ Many missions now include exhibits that represent history in a more balanced way, using indigenous voices and highlighting the damage caused by colonization – visits to the Mission San Juan Capistrano with the local Aboriginal community, the Acjachemen people, have resulted in a collaboration on exhibits that focus on indigenous history and culture. Likewise, educational programs have also changed. The California Missions Foundation, whose website states that it is ‘committed to programs and projects that preserve, protect, and promote a greater appreciation of California’s mission heritage’, tends towards one-sided glorification, but sometimes collaborates with Native American groups to create more inclusive and accurate representations of mission history and heritage.
Slow attempts at reconciliation and healing are taking shape. A few missions have issued apologies for past wrongs and forged alliances with indigenous peoples. As an article on the California Missions Resource Center website reports, several missions have hosted ceremonies of reconciliation, inviting tribal leaders to dialogue and engage in healing rituals. There is a call to be more aware of complexity and ambivalence in mission history. As Beebe and Senkewicz write in Junípero Serra and the Legacies of the California Missions, ‘A full reckoning with mission past requires an acknowledgment of what the mission could accomplish as well as the terrible damage it wrought on Native American lives.’ Universities and museums are doing their part. Increasingly, they are applying themselves to research, exhibits and curricula that are more truthful and balanced about the history of mission-era California in collaboration with tribal communities. The way forward, then, is probably to be found in more conversation, more indigenous voices in historical accounts, and more initiatives to mitigate the lasting consequences of the mission system for Native American communities. As the authors of the Critical Mission Studies blog opine: ‘Real healing comes only through frank acknowledgement of the past and meaningful attempts to address its ongoing effects in the present.’
Overall, the California mission era, beginning in 1769 and culminating in secularization in 1834, radically transformed the region’s culture, economy and society in ways that continue to shape it today. Within the context of this overwhelmingly negative legacy from the missions, agriculture, architecture and civic order emerged that still lay the foundations of modern California identity and that, despite their rapid and often forceful introduction, proved difficult to subvert. At the same time, the missions tied Native American peoples into deeply exploitative labor systems, violently repressed native cultures and forcibly appropriated native land, laying the foundations of the intolerance that later paved the way for the breeding grounds of anti-immigrant nativism in California. The legacy of the missions is essential for history, then, for at least the following reasons. It provides important context for understanding early California, helping explain the cultural influences that not only elucidate the patterns and practices of a distant past, but also continue to animate contemporary life. It explores indigenous perspectives that bring Native Americans of that era into the historical record in ways that sharply contrast with other sources. It is full of important ethical dilemmas. It shows the work that continues to be performed on reconciliation in the present. And it offers important educational opportunities, from school classes to scholarly research and writing. For more than a few of these educators, students, and scholars, it has shaped a sense of identification with the descendants of those who suffered in the missions or otherwise experienced the harsh effects of the colonization that proceeded thereafter. The mission era is a subject of intense historical debate, layering current concerns and developments onto the intensity and passion of what is too often characterized as America’s first Gilded Age. It also presents ways to examine and work through current debates on issues such as cultural contact and power during the colonial encounter. Ongoing arguments and negotiated reassessments and reconciliations over the missions’ legacy present history as active and ongoing, not a static relic of the past. Nothing makes a phenomenon more ‘Californian’ than its ability to spread fast and far (in the case of the missions, literally) and to leave part of its imprint on the geography of what is now the sixth-largest economy in the world. The missions serve as an important reminder of the historical layers that still outlive the events that shaped them.
Mission San Diego de Alcalá .
Image: "Mission San Diego De Alcalá." The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2024.
- Founded: July 16, 1769
- Secularized: 1834
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- San Diego, San Diego County, California
Native Population Impacted:
- Kumeyaay, Luiseño, Tipai-Ipai
Significance:
- The first of the 21 California missions, the birthplace of Christianity in the future state of California.
History of the Mission:
The first of the 21 California missions – Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá, named after the 15th-century Saint Didacus of Alcalá, better known as Saint Diego – was founded here on 16 July 1769 by Father Junípero Serra. This date inaugurated the Spanish religious and political goal to link Mission San Diego with a strand of missions running the length of Alta California. Initially sited on a hill above the bay, in 1774 the mission had to be moved elsewhere because of a drought. The new site, six miles inland from the bay near the San Diego River, had better agricultural prospects, as well as closer relations to local Indian villages. Its founding was opposed by the native Tipai-Ipai from the beginning, and there were battles almost immediately. Some people were killed on both sides, then in 1775 several hundred local Tipai Indians demolished the mission and killed its leader, Father Jayme, California’s first Christian martyr. The buildings were rebuilt as a fort. As the mission’s population grew, a larger church was required, which was designed in 1796 by the mission’s master mason Miguel Blanco with high windows to prevent entry by marauders as well as to help stabilize the adobe walls, and with strong buttresses added after a roof crack in 1811 that helped the mission withstand the earthquake of 1812. Prominent features of Mission San Diego include its 46-foot tall bell wall, or campanario, which houses five bells, the largest one named Mater Dolorosa and weighing 1,200 pounds. These bells summoned people to attend mass and to work, warned of approaching danger, heralded peace, and more. La Casa de Padre Serra, built in 1774, is the only building to survive Indian assaults and natural disasters; its Romanesque church and chapel remain dedicated to Father Junípero Serra. The site is also a mission with a long military history. US forces occupied it from 1846 until President Abraham Lincoln returned it to the Catholic Church in 1862. The church of Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá still functions as a parish church and is still called the Old Mission San Diego de Alcalá, while the newer church, La Capilla de San Bernardino serves the needs of the large, busy parish.
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo
Image Copyright 2000 by G.S. Breschini
- Founded: June 3, 1770
- Secularized: 1834
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey County, California
Native Population Impacted:
- Rumsen Ohlone
Significance:
- Headquarters of the California mission system from 1770-1803, burial place of Father Junípero Serra.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (known as Mission Carmel) was the second in the California mission chain and was founded on 3 June 1770 by Father Junípero Serra after the first at San Diego. Dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), a 16th-century archbishop of Milan, Carmelo became the padre’s favorite among his California missions. He died in Mission Carmel 14 years after founding the mission and is buried there. His body has been exhumed four times as part of the vetting process for sainthood. Father Serra’s final wish – for Father Lasuén to build a new stone church, in place of the original adobe chapel that had only lasted 30 years – was granted as the church was completed in 1797. The stone church at Father Serra’s former mission site in Carmel, California. The church today hosts a smaller chapel for prayer and the mission garden, built to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the mission historian Father Serra’s death. Mission Carmel was a religious compound, and also the administrative headquarters of the entire mission chain from 1770 to its closure from 1803 to 1812. It contains numerous artifacts of silver and bronze, especially the Serra Memorial Cenotaph of travertine, marble, and bronze, which depicts Father Serra and three other missionaries buried in the church sanctuary. More than being a colony, it was a center for learning, home to California’s first secularised library, then with 30 books, in 1778. The Secularisation, as it is termed, came in 1834 when the land was subdivided and sold and the mission was left to ruin. Restoration started in 1884, and it was made a Minor Basilica in 1960 by Pope John XXIII. FAther Serra died at Mission Carmel on 28 August 1784 and is buried in the sanctuary of the Basilica at the foot of the central altar. His garments, liturgical furnishings, and relics, recovered from the ruins of the Mission museum, can be seen in the Carmel Mission Basilica Museum. There, visitors can seek salvation through relics of one of California’s central spiritual actors.
Mission San Antonio de Padua
- Founded: July 14, 1771
- Secularized: 1834
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- Jolon, California, within the Valley of the Oaks, below the Santa Lucia Mountains, adjacent to Hunter Liggett Military Reservation.
Native Population Impacted:
- Salinan Tribe
Significance:
- Third mission in the California mission chain, renowned for its complete mission-era water system and the first Spanish red-tile roof in California.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Antonio de Padua, the third of the 21 Franciscan missions built in sequence along California’s coastal drainages from San Diego to Sonoma, was founded on 14 July 1771 by Father Junípero Serra under orders from Pedro Fages, the Commandant-General of the Presidios of Upper California. Mission San Antonio lies deep in the Valley of the Oaks, and missionaries first struggled to establish the waystation at a site plagued by an unstable water source. The mission was moved in 1773, about two miles up the Los Robles Valley, to a more favorable site where the padres built an extensive aqueduct system that brought water from the nearby San Antonio River for bathing, washing, and irrigation of crops, creating today the most complete mission-era water system in California. By 1773, small adobe dwellings and workshops were built. Then, too, there was more substantial building activity. By 1775, additional adobe buildings had been erected for the church, storerooms, and the padres’ rooms. The second church structure, constructed in 1779, was joined by more rooms and a tiled roof by 1781; this represents a considerable step up in terms of the level of sophistication of the site, being much more fireproof than the old thatched roofs, which were a fire hazard and not waterproof. Their work was soon amplified, adding ever more Spanish accoutrements and technology to the mission’s lifeways. In 1804 arrived Padres Padro Cabot and Juan Bautista Sancho who knew Gregorian chant and figured music, social and cultural life at the mission was enhanced with these musical gifts. By 1806, a water-powered gristmill was built to grind grain. Its millhouse and dam still stand. By far the greatest building project occurred in 1810, when the ‘Great Church’ was constructed to house the entire community within its 200-feet-long, 40-feet-wide walls topped with six-feet-thick adobe. The church – blessed in 1813 and the same building that stands reconstructed today – was followed by a series of impressive weaving, carding, spinning, carpentry, and other workshops attesting to the considerable self-reliance and communal life of the missions. Despite these accomplishments, Mission San Antonio also struggled. In 1834, it was secularised. That same year, Governor Figueroa declared that the mission was ‘open for all purposes of civil habitation, and the mission lands become ordinary and ordinary property’. Like the other missions of California, it would become a ruin. By 1851, the mission was formally turned over to the Church, but it continued to decline until, in the 20th century, the Historic Landmarks League and the Hearst Foundation undertook a sustained effort in its restoration.
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
Image: San Gabriel Mission Archives
- Founded: September 8, 1771
- Secularized: 1834
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- San Gabriel, California, just east of downtown Los Angeles.
Native Population Impacted:
- Tongva Tribe
Significance:
- Fourth mission in the California mission chain, known for its architectural uniqueness, economic productivity, and introduction of large-scale viticulture to California
History of the Mission:
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the fourth of Father Junípero Serra’s 21 missions, was founded on 8 September 1771 at the foot of the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains in the basin that would become the metropolis of Los Angeles. Gabriel, the archangel and patron saint of the mission, was named for the trails that crisscrossed the region, which became a hub of commerce for people of the local Tongva people and neighboring Chumash, Tataviam, Cahuilla, Luiseño, and others. Mission San Gabriel’s site was moved three miles from its original location in 1775 to improve the natural fertility of soils. The more productive locale enhanced the mission’s viability and bounty resulting in the name of the ‘Pride of the Missions’. The mission became the most productive in California. Other missions depended upon the San Gabriel Arcangel for supplies. Mission San Gabriel is also credited with introducing large-scale viticulture and wine into California – Californians owe the mission a great debt of gratitude for its agricultural endeavors, which set the stage for the Golden State’s wine industry. Architectural Style: The Moorish influence is most clearly seen in the cap or capped buttresses of the side walls, which were designed by the church’s architect, Father Antonio Cruzado, who was born in Cordova, Spain. (Cordova is very famous for its Moorish Cathedral of Cordova and some of the shadowed arches from this Cathedral are visually incorporated into the side views of the mission church.) The church building was completed in 1805 and constructed of adobe brick and a tile roof, the same size as Mission San Antonio at 295 feet long.
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa
Video: Mission San Louis Obispo Archives
- Founded: September 1, 1772
- Secularized: 1834
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- San Luis Obispo, California, in Central California
Native Population Impacted:
- Chumash Tribe
Significance:
- Fifth mission in the California mission chain, notable for its unique L-shaped church and its historical role in alleviating food shortages in early California missions.
History of the Mission:
Founded on 1 September 1772 and named after Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, this was the fifth of Father Junípero Serra’s 21 missions for the monarchy of Spain. It is located on land the missionaries discovered in 1769 on a failed expedition north from San Diego to Monterey, where they called the fertile valley La Cañada de Los Osos, the Valley of the Bears. By 1772, shortages of food at the first four California missions had become severe. In the summer of 1772, a hunting party was sent out to the area of the valley that was now remembered for its ‘abundant bears’. The soldiers not only obtained needed meat, they delighted the local Indians who ‘were much afraid of bears’. The good turn encouraged Father Serra to establish a fifth mission in the Valley of the Bears, where today stands the town of San Luis Obispo. Then in 1776, an Indian ignited the roof of one of the mission buildings with a flaming arrow, and it burned to the ground, taking extensive damage to other buildings with it. The mission fathers soon began manufacturing their tiles on site, instead of relying on distant sources. This led to a small shift in mission construction techniques. The long secondary nave that joins its typically rectangular plan (this church was built like an L) is also quite rare among the California missions. The walls of Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa reach 50 to 60 feet, in part to comply with Vatican law: that all churches are required to be as tall as the local trees from which they are built. (In this case, that would be pines.) The mission’s economic development was in the hands of Father Luis Antonio Martinez, who governed it for 34 years, developing a huge mission vineyard, producing wine that was sold to other missions and exported as far as England and Russia. In addition to food production and trade, the mission had extensive pastures that provided economic security.
Mission San Francisco de Asís
Image: Mission San Francisco de Asís Archives
- Founded: June 29, 1776
- Secularized: 1834
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- San Francisco, California, in the downtown Mission District
Native Population Impacted:
- Ohlone Tribe
Significance:
- Sixth mission in the California mission chain, notable for its resilience through natural disasters and its detailed interior artwork.
History of the Mission:
Now known as the Mission San Francisco de Asís, though commonly shortened to Mission Dolores from its nearby creek, Arroyo de los Dolores, it was founded on 29 June 1776 by the founder of the Franciscan Order in the Americas, Father Junípero Serra. He began setting up a string of missions along California’s coast only six weeks before the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia on 4 July. The United States sealed its westward expansion by taking half of Mexico’s lands in the war of 1846-48. As a result, the mission is part of the historical fabric of the American West. Bordered by Valencia, Howard and Sycamore Streets, what is today the Mission District’s bustling downtown was then home to the mission, as well as to the community that gathered around it during the mission’s time. Eventually, though, as San Francisco expanded into a larger city – and as its adjacent Mission Dolores Basilica, built in 1876, a century after the founding of the mission – the mission shrunk, both physically and symbolically, in the eyes of future generations. While the facade of the Mission San Francisco de Asís is quite plain, the interior is quite different. The ceiling of the church was painted by artists from local Native American tribes from a vegetable-based paint. The church altar is adorned with statues of various saints – as you can see, the interior of the mission is lavishly decorated and visually appealing. Perhaps most remarkable is the fact that Mission San Francisco de Asís, along with its associated Great Convent, survived the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire that destroyed much of San Francisco. The mission church is the oldest standing building in San Francisco and the only surviving intact mission Chapel out of the 21 missions he founded and directed. The history of the mission also reflects the fatal effects of European diseases on the Native American peoples. By 1832, more than 5,000 Native Americans had died at the mission, largely from illnesses such as smallpox and measles: diseases to which they had no natural resistance. The frequent rain and fog of the San Francisco Bay region made these health concerns worse. In fact, some mission fathers thought they should move the mission across the bay, ‘to heal the sick’. But the mission did not move. The cemetery at Mission Dolores is rich in artefacts of the past – including a statue to Father Serra himself.
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Image: Mission San Juan Capistrano Archives
- Founded: October 30, 1775 (abandoned shortly after due to Indian revolt in San Diego)
- Re-founded: November 1, 1776
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra (re-founded), initially founded by Father Fermín Lasuén
Location:
- San Juan Capistrano, California
Native Population Impacted:
- Acjachemen Tribe
Significance:
- Known for the annual migration of cliff swallows, it houses the oldest standing building in California, the Serra Chapel, and has a rich history of cultural and industrial developments.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded by Father Fermín Lasuén on 30 October 1775, was the lowest in Junípero Serra’s chain of missions. An Indian revolt in San Diego prompted the founding padres and soldiers to abandon the mission to help with the conflict, and, after it was contained, Father Junípero Serra led the party to re-found it himself on All Saints’ Day, 1 November 1776. The annual migration of cliff swallows has been the topic of as much talk as has ever been known about the mission. These birds come to roost here every year in the spring, and go ‘over the rocks in the fall’, we used to say, when the irresistible pull of the weather in the South dissuades them from remaining. The arrival of the swallows became one of the most famous aspects of Mission San Juan Capistrano after the song When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano (1940) by Leon René became a hit of this natural event. The Great Stone Church, built to handle the growing numbers who crowded the Serra Chapel that was completed in 1782 – still surviving as the oldest standing building in California, and the only California mission chapel where Father Serra led mass and baptisms – collapsed in the 1812 earthquake. Four of its bells survived: they now hang in a pretty clapboard bell wall and give the mission its ringing presence. The altar of the chapel, made of cherry wood with gold leaf, was imported from Barcelona, Spain, along with a statue of the mission’s namesake, St John Capistran. A side chapel of the church honours St Peregrine, the patron of cancer victims, and its altar is full of medal pendant miniatures left by visitors hoping for a cure. Mission San Juan Capistrano was a significant part of early California industry: it was the first to make iron from ore, with viscachitas or Catalan furnaces that produced metal tools and equipment. Grapes were planted and wine was made – a custom that continues to this day.
Mission Santa Clara de Asís
Image: Santa Clara University Archives
- Founded: January 12, 1777
- Patron Saint: St. Clare of Asis
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- Present-day Santa Clara, California, adjacent to Santa Clara University
Native Population Impacted:
- Ohlone Tribe
Significance:
- Mission Santa Clara de Asís, the eighth mission in the chain, was the first to honor a female saint, St. Clare of Assisi. Its location near Santa Clara University highlights its enduring educational and cultural significance.
History of the Mission:
Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded in 1777 by Father Serra on 12 January. He named it after St Clare of Assisi, the 13th-century foundress of the order of Poor Clares of Nuns, a rare exception among such missions that had patron saints who were male. Santa Clara Mission, like other California missions, was often beset by disasters – floods, earthquakes, and fire. The configuration of the mission site changed after the first mission, located on the Guadalupe River, was moved because of flooding. It was then located at a temporary site before finally being fixed at the new site, blessed by Father Serra on 19 November 1781. Natural disasters occurred as well – an earthquake in 1818 badly damaged the mission, which was left with no other option but to construct a temporary adobe church. After secularisation, the mission became a property of Santa Clara University and was ultimately razed in 1867. The second site (the current one) was built in 1822, only to be badly engulfed in fire in 1926, leaving behind only an adobe wall and lodge. The current church – rebuilt from the 1926 fire and with the original 1750s façade of a single tower and statues of saints carved in wood – still appears the way the mission would have done. The interior is redecorated with pastel pink and blue, while careful reproductions of the destroyed reredos and Augustin Dávila’s painted ceiling enhance historical authenticity. The four bells in the tower of the mission were cast in 1798, 1799, 1805 and in 1929 by Spain’s King Alfonso XIII. The cross at the mission contains pieces of the cross that once stood before the doors of the church that had stood in each of the five buildings for nearly 200 years.
Mission San Buenaventura
Image: Mission San Buenaventura Archives
- Founded: March 31, 1782
- Patron Saint: St. Bonaventure
Founder:
- Father Junípero Serra
Location:
- Present-day Ventura, California
Native Population Impacted:
- Chumash Tribe
Significance:
- Mission San Buenaventura, the ninth in the California mission chain, was the last mission founded during Father Junípero Serra’s lifetime. It played a significant role in the agricultural and spiritual life of the region, and was part of the strategically important Santa Barbara Channel section.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Buenaventura was founded under Father Junípero Serra by directive of the King of Spain on 31 March 1782 and was one of the six missions of the Santa Barbara Channel section. It was a latecomer to the southern missions, founded in the anxious aftermath of the Quechumín band’s foray into the Santa Clara Valley (near modern-day San José) in 1781, raiding missions and killing Father Santiago de Tores in the presence of a party of soldiers, causing fears of another Indian revolt in the midsection of California. The situation was strategically perilous for the Spaniards in the zone between the mountains and notch in the Santa Barbara Channel sloping south to the Pacific Ocean. Despite its complete and unchallenged rule in a feared uprising that never materialized, Mission San Buenaventura became a large agricultural operation, and the Chumash, who inhabited the area between Ventura and San Luis Obispo, formed its backbone. They were a sophisticated tribe, making baskets that were masterpieces of craftsmanship, and traveling to the Channel Islands – up to 65 miles out from the mainland – in plank canoes. At Cambon’s behest, the Chumash built a seven-mile aqueduct to deliver water to a water-filtration building called ‘el caballo’ (‘the horse’, for its horse-head-shaped spout). Transformed by Cambon into a jail, it became renowned for terrorizing the local population. Spiritual music was made with wooden bells unique to Mission San Buenaventura, rung only during Holy Week when the metal bells would be silent. The origin of the wooden bells is unknown, but they are original to the mission. Following a series of earthquakes and a tidal wave in 1812, it underwent a substantial restoration and is now home to a 400-year-old crucifix from the Philippines and a central statue of St Bonaventure above the Tabernacle. Other features include a shrine to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
Mission Santa Barbara
Image: Mission Santa Barbara." The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2024.
Founded: 1786
Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California Native Population Impacted: Chumash, Tongva Significance: Known as "The Queen of the Missions," headquarters of the California missions, first California bishop buried here, one of two missions continuously operated by Franciscans since founding.
History of the Mission:
Founded on 4 December 1786 by Father Fermín Lasuén, Mission Santa Barbara was dedicated to Saint Barbara and was delayed in its opening due to quarrels between the church and state over administration, beginning full operations a short time after the nearby presidio. Strategically located midway between northern and southern California missions, Santa Barbara was where mission system headquarters was moved after 1809, and it was the site of the first California bishop, Francisco García Diego y Moreno, who signed the founding papers for Pio Pico’s parish mission system here in 1842 and was buried here until his grave was destroyed during the US civil war. It is for this reason that it was designated a pro-cathedral church. Originally centered on the evangelization of the Chumash and Tongva peoples, Mission Santa Barbara was altered over the decades in a series of physical transformations that included the reconstruction of the town’s original adobe structures after earthquake damage. Between 1812 and 1820, a stone church was built to replace the adobe structures that had met the desire for historical authenticity when restored following the 1925 earthquake. Twin bell towers from its beginnings, the church was unique, with a second tower added in 1831 (the towers still stand). The bells in the belfry have always had a religious significance for people who visit the church – with six bells now hanging in them: one for each saint. The originals were made in Japan and purchased by missionary Father Junipero Serra. The seven statues hanging over the altar and decorating the church were imported from Mexico. Today, Mission Santa Barbara is an active parish church and museum, and its historical context and lofty sea-facing site form part of an annual program of community celebrations.
Mission La Purísima Concepción
Image: Jaguular-Perez, Mission La Purísima Concepción
Founded: 1787, Secularized: 1834 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California Native Population Impacted: Chumash, Salinan Significance: Known for its "living history" museum, unique linear layout, agricultural productivity, and reenactments of mission life.
History of the Mission:
Unlike the first missions built in Alta California that followed the more enclosed quadrangle plan, with an open front yard in the middle, the mission La Purísima Concepción (Found December 8th, 1787), the 11th mission in California, was the first built in a linear fashion. The reason for this varied depending on whom one spoke to – Father Fermín Lasuén believed it was because Indians from the nearby Chumash people were more docile than others, and the odd shape would help half of the neophytes (the Indians at the missions) feel safer, and help address the flooding that the Chumash valley frequently experienced. On 968 acres of land (with an additional 2,000 acres of parkland surrounding it today), the mission supported 16 different crops and 32 different kinds of livestock, including horses, cows, and deer. Horses, cows, and deer continue to roam freely at the mission today. The complex was reconstructed multiple times upon the site due to natural and strategic events. The initial adobe complex at Algascupi village collapsed and was reconstructed in 1802. With the support of the Beni Salah tribe, a powerful alliance, an earthquake in 1812 further encouraged its move three miles away from the Algascupi site to the Valley of Watercress in 1813. Defense was also important as a way of ensuring mission survival. Soldados de Cuera (soldiers who wore leather coats) were stationed at the missions as guards against intruders and to maintain order. The largest incident at the Mission La Purísima occurred in 1824 when an Indian revolt began at the Santa Inés Mission. Indians destroyed many of the buildings and killed 13 people. All work was halted until state guards from Santa Barbara Presidio arrived. Today, this living history carries on at Mission La Purísima Concepción, where, as at other missions, historical re-enactments and campouts take place regularly, and ‘Mission Days’ are occasionally held with docents demonstrating bread baking and fruit pressing, for example, that were part of the mission’s life. The self-sufficiency that meant so much to the mission’s organization—its agricultural cycle, hydraulic works and the artisanal practices of candle making and wool spinning, among others – carried with it both its material history and sense of cultural heritage.
Mission Santa Cruz
Image: Santa Cruz Archives
Dates: Founded: 1791, Secularized: 1834 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: Pueblo of Soquel, Santa Cruz County, California Native Population Impacted: Ohlone, Yokuts Significance: Known for its struggles with neighboring settlements, pirate raids, and subsequent decline after secularization.
History of the Mission:
This mission was founded on 28 August 1791 by Father Fermín Lasuén, and unlike other missions in California named after saints, this one was dedicated to the Holy Cross. The mission lay along the northern California coast and started out small. It also had a readily apparent, cursed trajectory. One of the earliest was the founding of the pueblo of Branciforte, across the river, by former convicts from Guadalajara who proceeded to encroach on the lands and resources of the mission and its Indian neighbors. This is why in 1818, with the notorious pirate Hippolyte de Bouchard, who had struck Monterey the year before, lurking offshore, the mission’s residents fled in a panic to Mission Soledad, only to find their own mission ruined and looted when they returned by its original inhabitants (the residents of Branciforte), who had recently been living on its grounds. However, after suffering through this, Mission Santa Cruz ran out of funds and fell into a long period of secularisation in 1834, during which its buildings fell into disrepair and decay. Then a major earthquake in 1845 knocked over the church bell tower and, two decades later, another earthquake in 1857 shook the structures to the point where they could take no more. Visitors today can see a recreation of the chapel, completed in 1931 and far smaller than the original. The recreation is in a building that contains originals of the paintings and statues, and other items such as a chalice used by Father Serra. The surviving objects offer real clues to the early meaning and use of the mission, despite all that befell it. The museum also houses vestments from different eras of the state’s history.
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
Image: C Wolf, 2020 Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad Archives.
Dates: Founded: 1791, Secularized: 1834 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: Soledad, Monterey County, California Native Population Impacted: Chalon, Esselen, Playón Significance: Known for its isolated location, recurrent floods, and restoration efforts by the Native Daughters of The Golden West.
History of the Mission:
The name of the mission’s patron saint, Our Lady of Solitude, identifies the Holy Mother who, in premodern Christianity, is said to have watched with solitude and unwavering love over a dying Christ. And Soledad is an accurate description of the mission’s remote and sparse surroundings. Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad was founded in 1791 by Father Fermín Lasuén. Faced with difficulties every step of the way in northern California, Soledad was charged with supporting other missions in the area, but was beset by floods from the nearby Salinas River which regularly destroyed adobe structures of the mission, as well as its isolation. As floodwaters destroyed its original plaster and adobe walls in 1828, the church was rebuilt at the east end of the padres’ quarters in 1832. Near the entrance, a faithful (but smaller-scale) replica rests by a wooden beam from which the original mission bell hung. Courtesy the author Built in the same modest style common to the missions, the structure bears a plaque inscribed with: ‘… united in the service of the ‘Master of the poor’, young servicemen and young Hispano-Indian women, dressed alike, worked together as equals, sewing, weaving, cooking on the fire, irrigating, harvesting, making fine baskets and walnut hulled dyes, and making clothes. Within the mission church, the fourteen stations of the cross that recount Jesus’ path to crucifixion introduce a distinctive set of religious narratives to the journey he undertook, with that story itself becoming as much about Zimbabwe as it is about Rome and Jerusalem. The original forms of such symbols exposed the mission’s enduring spiritual meaning despite its physical disadvantage. Following the flood of 1828, disease swept the Mission, killing many of the indigenous residents, and the death of Father Vicente Francisco de Sarría in 1824 further undermined Mi’scanto’s claims. As a result, many of the indigenous mi’scanto population relocated to California, looking for new pastures. Then secularisation in 1834 meant that the mission was reappropriated into a private home that eventually became, among other things, a grocery store and a restaurant. Abandoned for more than 90 years, it was deeded back to the Catholic Church in 1946 for a nominal sum, before buying it again for a mere $1. Since then, the mission, or at least the site has been well-tended. Through restoration and their continuing efforts, the Native Daughters of The Golden West have helped with the work of historical preservation that will keep Mission Soledad intact in the eyes of a broader public as a reminder of the history of California’s mission era. Small chapel, Mission Soledad.
Mission San José
Image: San Jose Archives.
Dates: Founded: 1797, Secularized: 1834 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: Fremont, Alameda County, California Native Population Impacted: Ohlone, Miwok, Yokuts Significance: One of the largest missions, known for its music education program and the 1868 earthquake.
History of the Mission:
Fifteenth in the chain, Mission San Juan Bautista was founded by Father Lasuén on June 24th, 1797; the feast day of John the Baptist, the saint of the mission. Just as the mission has been preserved, so too has the charming city in which it stands. Modeled after a Spanish town, some thirty historic buildings occupy the area surrounding the mission, offering visitors a look at what life was like during the mission era. The mission sits in Plaza San Juan Bautista. The Plaza Hotel, dating back to 1814, served as the mission barracks. The Zenneta House, or the Plaza Hall, dates back to 1868. The Plaza Stable was built in 1874 to serve as a stopover for travelers. Mission San Juan Bautista is in the unfortunate position of being on the San Andreas Fault. The powerful earthquake of 1906 ruined the outer church walls and other buildings. Near the mission stands an unspoiled section of the famous El Camino Real, or Kings Highway. Located just beyond the cemetery wall is a marker showing the direction the road took, connecting the twenty-one missions, six hundred and fifty miles in total, from San Diego to San Rafael. San Juan Bautista boasts the only three-aisle church among all of the missions. The archways, which separate the center from the side aisles, were destroyed in the 1812 earthquake. The fathers then filled in the two side aisles. However, church restoration in 1975 allowed the side aisles to be re-opened, returning the church to its original three-aisle design. Much of the church remains as it had in 1812, with the main altar reredos and bultos largely un-restored. Pay close attention to the church floor tiles and you will notice animal prints that were made while the tiles were left outside to dry in the sun. The church also plays host to the largest and most complete collection of apostolate paintings in the mission chain.
Mission San Juan Bautista
Image: Gina Barnes, Barnes Photography
Dates: Founded: 1797, Secularized: 1835 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: San Juan Bautista, San Benito County, California Native Population Impacted: Ohlone, Yokuts Significance: Known for its unique three-aisle church, Spanish town layout, and preservation efforts.
History of the Mission:
Dedicated on 24 June 1797 (commemorating the feast day of John the Baptist), Mission San Juan Bautista is the 15th in the chain and is located in the colonial-style city of San Juan Bautista, where about 30 historic buildings from the mission era create an impressive setting with a Spanish town shape around the mission. These adobes include the Plaza Hotel (1814), the Plaza Stable (1874) and the Zenneta House (originally Plaza Hall, 1868) all of which are open to the public. It perches on the San Andreas Fault, so even before it was abandoned, earthquakes appeared to take their toll on Mission San Juan Bautista. The outer walls of the church, and other parts of the mission, are still pockmarked from the massive earthquake of 1906. To the left of the mission is a preserved section of El Camino Real — the Kings Highway that ran between California’s missions. A plaque outside the cemetery wall shows the path the historic 650-mile-long route from San Diego to San Rafael took. One of the distinctive features of Mission San Juan Bautista is its three-aisle church. All of the other California missions are only two-aisled. The archways separating the centre from the side aisles were destroyed in the 1812 earthquake. Soon after, the fathers filled in the side aisles. In 1975, a restoration project opened up the side aisles once again, returning this mission church to its original form. Much of the interior was built or repaired in 1812, and is still as it was, including the main altar reredos and bultos; even the animal prints in the tiles on the church floor that were made when the tiles were drying in the sun, before the whitewash was applied are still present. The church has the single largest collection of apostolate paintings of any of the missions. The mission today – still an active parish church and a museum – remains an important site of pilgrimage and, in terms of planning and buildings, offers a touchstone to California’s mission past. Mission San Juan Bautista designed by Rolando Barrales.
Mission San Miguel Arcángel
Image: californiamissions.org
Dates: Founded: 1797, Secularized: 1834 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California Native Population Impacted: Salinan, Yokuts Significance: Known for its well-preserved interior frescos and surviving bell tower.
History of the Mission:
Dedicated on 25 July 1797, Mission San Miguel Arcángel was the 16th of California’s 21 missions founded by Fermín Lasuén, the eighth priest-president of the mission chain. It was positioned gradually between Missions San Antonio de Padua to the north and San Luis Obispo to the south, along a stemming, high-walled, off-river, secluded valley of the Salinas. A fire in 1806 destroyed the older, temporary church built in 1797. In 1818, construction began on the new, tile and adobe-block church with six-foot-thick walls. And here it stands today with one of the best-preserved interior frescos painted by the local Indians under the supervision of Esteban Munras from Catalonia in Spain. 18missionstl.org 18. Interior frescos painted by local Indians under the supervision of Esteban Munras from Catalonia in Spain c1818 at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, Oceanside, California On the hill is the church; in front and alongside it in the friars’ cemetery are about 2,000 Indians buried. Over the cemetery is a life-size bronze statue of Christ. In the mission museum is a fine Spanish 16th-century wooden carving of the patron saint of the mission, Saint Michael in his triumph over Lucifer. A garden walk frames three sides of the mission quadrangle along its perimeter, which is part of the historic landscape of the mission grounds. The bell tower, which stands at its original location of the early 1800s, is a prominent architectural feature. Mission San Miguel Arcángel, like many of California’s missions, came under secularisation between 1845 and 1870, and mission property was distributed among private citizens. Mission rooms were leased out for taverns, shops, saloons, and hotels. Mission San Miguel Arcángel off the California coast on 22 December 2003, just 35 miles from the 6.5-magnitude earthquake that destroyed its walls. Extensive cracks marred the walls of the mission. Courtesy NASA The mission remained closed to the public for several years. San Miguel Arcángel church and cemetery. Mission San Miguel Arcángel reopened to the public on 2 October 2009. The Mission San Miguel Arcángel remains an active parish church and museum. Preserving its cultural and historical legacy is an ongoing process. The mission at San Miguel highlights the reach of the mission era in California and the long-term effects of Spanish colonization upon the Indigenous population.
Mission San Fernando Rey de España
Image: California Mission Projects
Dates: Founded: 1797, Secularized: 1834 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén Location: Mission Hills, Los Angeles County, California Native Population Impacted: Tongva, Chumash Significance: Known for its impressive Convento building and historical significance in early California.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Fernando Rey de España (founded on 8 September 1797) was established by Father Fermín Lasuén along the El Camino Real, midway between the coast (Mission San Buenaventura) and the interior (Mission San Gabriel). The mission became a place of rest for travelers on El Camino Real and, an important connection point between missions and settlements in the area, while its location directly on the highway leading to the rapidly growing pueblo of Los Angeles made it an important regional center. Mission San Fernando’s other landmark is its Convento, arguably the highlight of the site for many visitors who mistakenly assume it is the main mission building. Designed by Father Carlos Maria Ancira Gumérez, and completed by his successor, Father María de Jesus María Yarnoz Bastida, the Convento was erected between 1809 and 1822, and represents some of the finest mission architecture in California. Facing east, it is defined on its front by a colonnade with 19 arches running the full length of the building, linked to a small chapel, kitchen, winery, two storehouses, a reception hall and living-quarters for resident priests and guests. Today, it is home to one of California’s richest collections of relics and furniture from the mission era. Its simple walls are illustrated with images of native design, while over the altar, carved from wood, is the statue of the mission’s patron, Ferdinand III, personally sent by the Spanish king. In its original form, it was arranged around the mission church on one side, and the other three sides consisted of living quarters and offices for missionaries and community activities, with a spacious patio around it and walls housing various rooms with a central courtyard. The large patio also served as a place of sanctuary in the event of Native uprisings. A fountain, modeled on one in nearby Cordova, Spain, completes the quadrangle. Its stonework was part of the original mission and was, in fact, the architectural element that drew Capistrano to San Diego to convert the Indians to Christianity to begin with. As was the case with many other California missions, the secularization of Mission San Fernando Rey de España in 1834 resulted in different owners and uses for mission property. In spite of such transformations, the site’s history and stunning architecture continue to draw visitors eager to learn about the history of California’s missions. The mission today remains an active parish church and museum, with occasional references to its founding history.
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia
Image: californiamission.net
- Founded: June 13, 1798; Secularized: 1834 Founder: Father Fermín Lasuén
- Location: Oceanside, San Diego County, California
- Native Population Impacted: Luiseño
- Significance: Known as the "King of The Missions" due to its size, population, and agricultural production. It is the largest mission in California and serves as an active parish and museum today.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, founded on 13 June 1798 by Father Fermín Lasuén, is arguably the most important of California’s Spanish missions. It lies, in modern Oceanside, in a much-watered locale where Lasuén could oversee a fertile valley and a gateway through which to funnel the local Luiseño population into Christianity’s sphere of influence. The centerpiece of the mission’s architecture was the wooden-domed church, completed in 1815: a building of both classical and baroque inspiration, based on a cruciform plan. The capacity of the mission to provide food led to successful farming and livestock husbandry of wheat, barley, corn, grapes, and olives. By 1825, the mission had grown to more than 2,800 people, the largest in California. Mission San Luis Rey survived secularisation in 1834, as its lands were redistributed. In later decades, the stone mission church and a few major buildings were preserved and became a National Historic Landmark – functioning as an active parish church, museum, and retreat center.
Mission Santa Inés
Image: Mission Images: Old Mission Santa Inés
- Dates: Founded: September 17, 1804; Secularized: 1836
- Founder: Father Estevan Tapis
- Location: Solvang, Santa Ynez Valley, California
- Native Population Impacted: Chumash
- Significance: Known as the nineteenth mission in the chain, it blends Spanish and Chumash cultures in a picturesque setting near Solvang.
History of the Mission:
Mission Santa Inés, founded on 17 September 1804 by Father Estevan Tapis, is considered the 19th of the chain. Officially titled the ‘Alcalá de Henares de San Antonio de Padua y Santa Inés’, it was named after the virgin Saint Agnes, and dedicated to the patron saint of Mexico, Saint Anthony, not to be confused with St Anthony of Padua. The mission sits in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley but is rivalled today by the nearby Danish town of Solvang. The mission was originally planned for the interior, near the San Joaquin Valley, but was built in this isolated spot, which could be reached only via rugged mountain passes, including Gaviota Pass and San Marcos Pass. The location made social life difficult to maintain, particularly for visitors. Among the various complications were the devastating earthquake of 1812, and a Chumash revolt in 1824, sparked by indigenous human rights abuses at the mission by military guards. Mission Santa Inés had a satisfactory agricultural and cultural production. After secularisation on 4 July 1836, the mission was rented to the Covarrubias family. The Mission’s glory was passing with the colonial influence over California. When Father Alexander Buckler began restoration on the Madonna Chapel in 1904, always with the assistance of his niece Maime Goulet, he was investing care in its brilliant paintwork and his sprawling museum of Mission art and vestments.
Mission San Rafael Arcángel
Image: saintraphael.com
- Dates: Founded (as asistencia): December 4, 1817; Designated a mission: October 1822; Secularized: 1834
- Founder: José Vicente de Sarría
- Location: San Rafael, Marin County, California
- Native Population Impacted: Northern California Indians, particularly those from San Francisco and Marin County
- Significance: Second to last mission in the chain, initially established as an asistencia to aid northern California Indians, later becoming an active ranch and eventually a mission.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Rafael Arcángel, established on 4 December 1817 by the padres of Mission Dolores under José Vicente de Sarría, was for many years an asistencia, or satellite mission to serve the sick and displaced northern California Indians who settled around San Francisco, where they found the climate harsh. It started with only a small amount of rice and a few sheep, and while he wasn’t sure it would succeed, sowing that initial crop, within a year the mission had close to 300 residents, including Indians from San Francisco and neighbouring Marin County. It grew into a thriving ranch with orchards, livestock, hayfields and a boat-building shop. Mission San Rafael as an administrative unit did not exist by October 1822; it was only named a mission on 21 April 1823. Secularisation occurred quickly in California. The first to be secularised – Mission San Rafael – was finished by 1834. The mission fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1870. In 1909, the Native Sons of the Golden West placed a bell and sign on the original location, and in 1940, supported by a Hearst Foundation grant, a rebuilding of the original of 1818 took place. The brisk whitewashed interior of the mission church, which has a small star-shaped window and unique Mudéjar star-window (seen in Mission Carmel), is dominated by the steeple of the adjacent church. Similar to Mission Dolores in San Francisco, Mission San Rafael pairs a well-preserved mission church with a large modern church tower that dwarfs it.
Mission San Francisco Solano
Image: Sonoma Historical Parks
- Dates: Founded: July 4, 1823
- Founder: Father José Altimira
- Location: Sonoma, California
- Native Population Impacted: Coastal Miwok and other indigenous groups
- Significance: Last and northernmost mission founded in California, marking the end of the mission era and Spanish-Mexican settlement in the region.
History of the Mission:
Mission San Francisco Solano, founded 4 July 1823 at Sonoma, California (near present-day Sonoma State University; destroyed in the 1960s), served as the cultural capstone to 300 years of (Spanish and Mexican) settlement in California d– the final mission begun without papal permission and after (Mexican) independence from Spain. It was Father José Altimira, sent to nearby Mission San Francisco de Asís, who became dismayed at the remote outpost and devised a new mission to be called Mission Solano. With California Governor Don Luis Arguello’s approval, the plans were to consolidate Mission San Francisco de Asís and Mission San Rafael into a new Mission Solano complex. Construction commenced with the wood frame barracks, building while waiting for the adobe mission to be completed. Construction was then suspended for a time because it was rumoured that the mission era was ending, only to resume under an agreement to keep Mission San Francisco de Asís and Mission San Rafael open. Mission Solano is near the site of the Sonoma military barracks, where the Bear Flag, California’s proclamation of independence from Mexico and declaration as a republic, was first raised on 14 July 1846. The second mission church at Solano, built in 1841 on the site of the original, which had collapsed, shows the relative simplicity of a church built in straitened circumstances. Inside, a portrait of the mission’s patron saint, Francis Solano, a missionary in Peru.