Kirk Whitney
It was early March 2013. Pope Benedict XVI had just retired, and Pope Francis had yet to be elected. The Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict was well underway, and after a making a detour at Mission San Juan Bautista on the way home from a family trip to Monterey, we resolved to visit all 21 of the California missions before the Year of Faith ended in November. Below are just a few of the many beautiful sites we saw along our West Coast pilgrimage.
Stained glass window at Mission Dolores Basilica. Padre Junípero Serra, a Franciscan priest and college professor, was appointed by the Spanish throne as president of the Baja Missions. Instructed to expand northward, he went on to found nine missions in Alta California.
Campanario at Mission San Diego. The first of what would eventually be a chain of 21 missions reaching northward along the California coast.
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (Mission Carmel). Considered by many to be the most beautiful of the California Missions, Mission Carmel served as Father Serra’s headquarters and his burial place.
Garden wall at Mission Carmel.
Mission San Antonio de Padua. Its remote location in California’s coastal mountains and rustic brick façade give visitors the feeling that they have traveled back in time to California’s mission era.
Interior of Mission San Buenaventura.
Grape arbor at Mission San Gabriel. This modern structure in the mission’s courtyard supports vines that are more than 200 years old. Mission San Gabriel was the site of California’s first winery.
The unique six-bell Campanario at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel.
Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores), founded in 1776. The Mission Delores Basilica (in the background) was first built in 1876. Destroyed in the earthquake of 1906, the current Basilica was built in 1918 and remodeled in 1928. The original mission chapel remains mostly intact and unchanged since 1791.
Ruins of the great stone church at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Once the largest of all the mission churches, its construction was completed in 1806. It was leveled by an earthquake in 1812.
Mission Santa Clara de Asís is in the heart of the Santa Clara University campus.
Interior of Mission Soledad. The aptly named Mission sits in an isolated, arid patch of land in the Salinas Valley.
Called “The Queen on the California Missions,” Mission Santa Bárbara was the first mission founded by Father Serra’s successor, Father Fermín Lasuén.
Mission Santa Bárbara as reflected in the fountain in its front courtyard.
Rose garden (a common feature among the missions) at Mission San Juan Bautista. The town and mission are at the edge of the Salinas Valley and sit directly on the San Andreas fault. Adjacent to the mission is a California state park that replicates the town square as it may have looked in the early 19th century.
Sculpture of St. John the Baptist, depicted with the features of the region’s native Ohlone tribe, at Mission San Juan Bautista.
Campanario at Mission San Miguel.
Interior of Mission La Purísima Concepción. The Mission, one of two now owned and operated by the State of California, is home to a sprawling 2,000 acre park and museum.
Original adobe arch at Mission Santa Inés. Nicknamed “the hidden gem” of the missions, Santa Inés has all the elements one would expect to find in a California mission: arched adobe walkways, a tall, three-bell campanario, a beautiful chapel and splendid courtyard—as well as a modern addition to the church, the Calvario, an outdoor Stations of the Cross.
Mission San Francisco Solano was the final and northernmost mission to be established in the chain. The mission functioned for only 11 years before being secularized in 1834.
Comments
Great article, brings back good memories; reminds me of incident, after taking cable car up to Mnt Jacinto in Palm Springs the lady at gift shop was selling Genuine 1790 replica maps of California Missions, great piece of art work, browned out images of trails and pictures of missions along California Coast. Then there was just east of Palm Springs the great Salton Sea, of course the sea didn't exist before the 1903 American canal break that flooded the Imperial valley and created the Salton Sea.