Catholic priests ventured out into California to create missions in the 18^th century from their Spanish bases in the Bajio of Mexico. Mission San Juan Capistrano is one of the best-known examples. Priests accompanied soldier-explorers who themselves were trying to duplicate the earlier exploits of Cortés, the brothers Pizzaro and many others. Fame and even more importantly, riches of untold amounts tempted them to push into the desert unknowns. But even as temporal gains pushed the main efforts, the spiritual mission remained an important sub context – natives to convert and to control.

CATHOLICISM COMES TO CALIFORNIA

In Alta California – today’s state of California – the priests represented Spanish control in lieu of other agencies. Leading the Catholic push into Alta California was Junipero Serra, a priest originally from a small village in Mallorca. Serra developed eight of the eventual twenty-one missions founded between San Diego and San Francisco. From 1769 until his death 28 August 1784 at the age of 70, Serra’s efforts pushed California into an era setting the stage for ever increasing changes pushing the province and later the state into one of the truly epic stories of the New World.

Iberian Catholicism went hand-in-hand with Iberian exploration and conquest, not only in California, but wherever their ships took them – the Canary Islands, the New World, the Philippines. Priests accompanied military forces as part of the ventures. Indigenous peoples became forced to resettle into settlements known as reducciones – reductions. Congregaciones was a similar term used in colonial Mexico. These new groupings of Natives bent on evangelization and assimilation into an Iberian Christian model. The forced resettlements aided civil and religious control with the added benefit of forced labor. The concentrations also led to disease spread. For example, the population in pre-Hispanic California sits at estimates of about 300,000. By 1834, estimates of the Native populations drop to only around 20,000 with most of those living in the far north.

focus

Here, I focus on one of the missions I recently visited – San Juan Capistrano. California history is replete with mythology. One of the strongest myths concerns the history of the Catholic missions in their attempt to gain souls for salvation. Maybe one of the centers for the mythmaking is the mission which arose at San Juan Capistrano in 1776.

Mission San Juan Capistrano became the seventh of an eventual chain of twenty-one missions founded by priests of the Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church. The mission figured as the next-to-last mission founded under the supervision of Father Junipero Serra, an indomitable spirit leading the Franciscan efforts in their 18^th century efforts first in Mexico and later in Alta California.

GIOVANNI CAPISTRANO

The 1776 mission became named after John of Capistrano – Giovanni Capistrano. Like his latter counterpart Serra, John was a member of the Franciscan Order. Born in the town of Capestrano in Abruzzo, Italy, he was known as the “Soldier Saint”. Also, like Serra, John saw elevation to sainthood after his 1456 death. It took both men a little over 200 years after their deaths to gain their canonization by the Catholic church. The elevation to saintly status for both men was not without controversy.

Born in 1386, John studied law at the University of Perugia marrying a rich lady before he was sent as a peace broker by the government in Perugia to the Malatesta family who ruled over Rimini along the Adriatic. Instead of peace, John was thrown into prison. Incarcerated, he began studying theology. Released, he acted upon a dream in which Saint Francis ordered him to enter the Franciscan Order. His marriage had not been consummated before his ill-fated mission to the Malatestas took place, so the church allowed the marriage to be annulled, and he entered seminary near the end of 1416.

father of the bonfire of vanities

Becoming a rigorous ascetic, he followed the example set by his seminary teacher, Bernardine of Siena – better known as Saint Bernardino.  Bernardine is remembered maybe best for his “Bonfire of the Vanities” where objects which could tempt people to commit sins – mirrors, cosmetics, playing cards, musical instruments, amoral books and other artworks – were thrown into fires accompanying Bernardine’s sermons.

John became a preacher of great renown, especially in north and central Europe. He attracted vast audiences such that the largest churches could not hold. He saw as an act of love the opportunity to speak against Judaism since they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. John strongly upheld the idea of papal supremacy, a stricter role for discipline within the Franciscan Order and against heresy of every kind.

He died after helping to lead a crusade against invading Turkish forces besieging Belgrade in 1456. The siege was lifted but John died a few months later of the plaque. He lies buried at the Franciscan monastery at Ilok, Croatia on the Danube, the church today consecrated in his name.

FRANCISCANS IN ALTA CALIFORNIA

A quick aside, Mission San Juan Capistrano was not the first Franciscan monastery of that name in the New World. That honor goes to another Mission San Juan Capistrano located on the south side of the San Antonio, Texas metroplex. That mission began in 1716 moving to its present location in 1731.

As noted in an earlier post, and in order to not repeat, read more about the Franciscan leader Junipero Serra here.

Briefly, the Franciscan Order replaced the Jesuits in the evangelization of California in 1767. The Jesuits had established a series of missions to the south in Baja California. In addition to taking over those missions, Serra was the religious leader of a mission founding expedition into Alta California in 1769.  After establishing a final mission in Baja California, Serra pushed on founding the first mission at San Diego on 16 July 1769 – Mission San Diego de Alcalá.

Despite a rough beginning in San Diego, Serra went on to found eight more missions between 1770 and 1782. His sole purpose in California, from his point of view, was to save souls of the Natives he found. He tried to protect them from abuses suffered at the hands of the accompanying Spanish soldiers.

A MISSION BEGINS

Permission for a new mission about halfway between the missions at San Diego and San Gabriel granted by the Viceroy of New Spain, Don Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa in early 1775. Franciscan priest Fermín Lausén with six soldiers and a muleteer established the mission at the confluence of the Trabuco and San Juan creeks. As the mission began, Native unrest swelled to the south and one missionary at San Diego died as a result.

This caused the return of Lausén to San Diego. He would go onto San Luis Obispo late in the next year for a short stint before returning to San Diego where he was given control. There he remained until the death of Serra in 1785. Lausén relocated to Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo from where he would oversee the establishment of another nine missions. During the retreat to San Diego, the mission bells laid buried to await another attempt.

That attempt came a year later when Serra, himself came with two other Franciscan missionaries to take up the work.  With eleven soldiers, they arrived back to the site at the end of October 1776. The bells were still there as well as an original wooden cross placed at the year before. Serra celebrated High Mass on 1 November in thanks for their safe return. A new mission site was, however, selected three miles to the west – right next to the Native village of Acjágchameme in a better location for water.

renewal

Cattle and neophyte labor from Mission San Gabriel came down to help develop the new mission. The first baptism became recorded 19 December – 4,639 total baptisms would take place between 1776 and 1847. A first adobe chapel went up in 1778, replaced by the larger “Serra Chapel” in 1782 – the oldest standing building in California. The chapel is the only remaining church in which Serra is know to have officiated in presiding over the confirmations of 213 people 12-13 October 1783. Living quarters, barracks, kitchens, workshops and storerooms all added to form a quadrangle.

Vineyards were planted in 1779 and a winery – a first for Alta California – was constructed in 1783. With the next few years, adobe houses provided a place for neophytes – converted Natives – to live.  With the growth of neophytes, a larger church seemed in order. The “Great Stone Church” began construction early in 1797. Included was a 120-foot-high campanile located adjacent to the main entrance. Foundation for the sandstone building measured seven feet thick. In 1806 the church stood finished.

collapse

But its lifespan was short for a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on 8 December 1812 knocked most of the church down. Forty-two people died in the rubble. Two of the eight domes collapsed. US Army engineers accidentally dropped two more in an accidental gunpowder explosion in 1864. There is only one half of one dome remaining of the Stone Church today. Services continued in the Serra Chapel with a new campanario – bell wall – built between the old and new chapels to allow four bells salvaged from the wreckage to ring out once again.

During the lifespan of the Mission, a total of 4,317 baptisms gained recording – 2,628 were children. In contrast, 3,153 deaths were recorded. The problem of concentrating people here, like at the other missions, was the spread of diseases became magnified.

EVOLUTION

A series of events made life at the Mission less tolerable – a pirate attack in 1818; Mexican independence in 1821; cattle disease, droughts, floods and Mexican settlers moving into the area taking over fertile fields left the local Native neophytes disillusioned. The Franciscans abandoned the Mission in 1834. Lands of the Mission passed into the hands of newcomers with the last of the properties sold off by the governor in 1845 to his partner and brother-in-law.

The immediate Mission holdings returned to the Catholic Church in 1865 but attempts to halt decay were ineffective. Restoration truly got underway with the 1910 arrival of Father John O’Sullivan. Aware of the historical value of the Mission, he re-discovered the chapel which in the intervening years, used previously as both a granary and a storehouse. He began the movement to restore the little chapel to its state today. Dying in 1933, O’Sullivan lies in the campo santo – Mission Cemetery – underneath a Celtic cross erected earlier to honor the Mission’s builders.

Over the latter parts of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, artists came to paint the ruins of the Mission. The romanticized view of the grounds seen through the eyes of the artists led to Hollywood incorporating the Mission as a backdrop to movies starting in 1910. Film star Mary Pickford married Owen Moore in the Serra Chapel secretly in 1911 – the marriage performed by O’Sullivan.

NEW MISSION CHURCH

Father O’Sullivan gained parochial status for the Serra Chapel in 1918. He hoped to restore the Great Stone Church, hopes not realized. With the large population changes in the area after World War 2, the need for a larger chapel became a priority.  Construction began in 1984 with dedication in 1987.

The new Mission San Juan Capistrano Church sits just north of the old Mission. The church stands modelled after the Great Stone Church though not a replica. At the heart is a 42-foot-high and 30-fot-wide retablo weighing 16 tons. Carved from cedar and covered in gold leaf, it resembles 17-18^th century Spanish-Mexican colonial retablos. The church became designated a minor basilica in 2000 and a national shrine three years later.

SWALLOWS

And then there are the swallows. American cliff swallows make their migratory trek north in the spring from Argentina. They like to use the ruins of the old stone church to nest within. O’Sullivan used public interest in the birds to generate funds for the Mission’s restoration using the swallow as the icon for the Mission. The birds became even more embedded in the public mind with the 1940 song When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano written by Leon René.

The main flock returns on 19 March – Saint Joseph’s Day – returning to the south around 23 October – Sain John’s Day. Many go to the town of Goya, Argentina where their arrival 24 November is also celebrated like in San Juan Capistrano with festivals. They leave Argentina about 18 February. Fewer birds seem noted in the last years due to urbanization.

When the swallows come back to Capistrano
That’s the day you promised to come back to me
When you whispered, “Farewell,” in Capistrano
’twas the day the swallows flew out to sea.

Leon René

VISITING THE MISSION TODAY

Admission is $18 for adults $15 for Seniors and $10 for students. Once past the entrance, turn to the left through the Front courtyard.

the soldiers

The building on the right is the Soldiers’ Barracks. Normally, each mission engaged six soldiers for its protection under the command of a corporal. Other soldiers could engage if needed from the Presidio of San Diego. Missions to the north of the Los Angeles Basin could call on three other presidios for extra help if needed. There lies an exhibit inside the Barracks describing the life of a soldier. The ethnic make-up of the soldiers serving in California mirrored the ethnicity of the Spanish Empire – Spanish, Mexican, African and Filipino. A soldier signed up for a ten-year minimum. Two thirds were illiterate. Some came recruited from prisons.

The presidios counted 65 soldiers normally. They were responsible for 4 to 6 missions in addition to other duties like escort duties for other expeditions and mail protection. Included within the Barracks, there was an arsenal, a command post, as well as sleeping quarters for unmarried men. Small garden plots lay behind the building. The soldiers also helped the Franciscans in their teaching, though for the most part, they complained of boredom in the peaceful environment surrounding Mission years for the most part. Many of the soldiers ended up marrying local Acjachemen women. These families lived in their own adobe homes located near where the train station is today.

natives and re-education

Moving on into the Central Courtyard still staying on the left, there is a long building which used to serve multiple functions – wool weaving, a store, soap making, a forge, winery and an olive mill. Today, the building is used to show art and an exhibit about the Acjachemene who the targets for salvation for the Franciscans were. Behind the building were vegetable gardens. Vineyards were further afield taken up by Camino Capistrano, the barbeque restaurant across the street from the Mission and the Amtrak train station.

Coming to the northwest corner of the central courtyard, you can walk down into the West Garden. The area looking towards the new Basilica used to hold vats for tanning cowhides. The north wing held schools for neophytes plus there is a small room devoted to Leon Remé and his song.

serra’s chapel

On the east side of the Central Courtyard sits a long building divided into a wine room on the north and Serra’s Chapel on the south. Entering the chapel, you find a small baptistry to the right. The retablo at the front stands dedicated in 2007 but is much older in design. Constructed in the Talleres de Arte Grande in Alcalá de Henares, Spain – a northeastern suburb of Madrid. The gold leafed retablo made of Brazilian cedar is full of imagery. Here stand swallows, Serra, Saint Joseph, Saint Francis and Blessed Kateri Tekawitha.

Exciting the chapel to the left takes you to the Mission Cemetery. Here lie some of the priests associated with the Mission and unmarked graves of some of the neophytes. The main cemetery for the Natives lies further to the northeast in ground presently occupied by the Bridges Community Day School. The old cemetery is dominated by the Celtic cross where Father O’Sullivan lies.

the great stone church

Next, wander around the east side of the Great Stone Church ruins through the Path of Remembrance. Wander around past the exhibits telling the story of the swallows to the original bell tower display. Two of the original bells – San Vicente and San Juan – sit where the original bell tower stood before the 1812 earthquake. Other bells salvaged from the ruins sit in a later built campanile to the left of the old Stone Church.  A plaque underneath notes a date when those bells were rung by then-President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat.

Sitting on a sandstone foundation seven-foot thick, the Great Stone Church required work efforts from the entire neophyte population. The stones came from quarries up to six miles away. Limestone crushed into powder supplied the erosion-resistant mortar. The walls of the transepts and apse behind the altar are still in place. The rest came down in the earthquake and ammunition accident of 1864.

Behind the 1813 campanile is an exhibit dealing with Father Junípero Serra. Included is a 1913 statue, The Coming of Two Cultures with Father Serra and an Acjachemen boy which used to stand near the entrance to the Mission.

You are now back to the front courtyard with a picturesque fountain full of ever-hungry koi. The exit is through the ubiquitous gift shop.

BEYOND

Two fairly recent books go into the era of Father Junípero Serra and his missions in Alta California: first there is Steven Hackel’s Junípero Serra, California’s Founding Father – 2013; second is Journey to the Sun: Junípero Serra’s Dream and the Founding of California by Gregory Orfalea – 2014; then for a completely alternative view, there is Native Alienation: Spiritual Conquest and the Violence of California Missions by Charles Sepulveda – 2024.