MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

:''Another mission bearing the name 'San Juan Capistrano' is the Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Antonio, Texas.
'Mission San Juan Capistrano' was founded on All Saints Day November 1, 1776 by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order. Named for a 15th century theologian and "warrior priest" who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy, San Juan Capistrano has the distinction of being home to the oldest building in California still in use, a chapel built in 1782; known alternately as "Serra's Chapel" and "Father Serra's Church," it the only extant structure wherein it has been documented that the padre officiated over mass.^[10] The founding document on display within the Mission is also the only known surviving founding paper signed by Father Serra.^[11] One of the best known of the Alta California missions (and one of the few missions to have actually been founded twice—another being Mission La Purísima Concepción), the site was originally consecrated on October 30, 1775 by Father Fermín Lasuén, but was quickly abandoned due to unrest among the indigenous population in San Diego.^[12]
The success of the settlement is evident in its historical records. Prior to the arrival of the missionaries, some 550 natives were scattered throughout the local area; by 1790, the number of converted Christians had grown to 700, and just six years later nearly 1,000 "neophytes" (recent converts) lived in or around the Mission compound. 1,649 baptisms were conducted that year alone, out of the total 4,639 souls converted between 1776 and 1847.^[13] More than 2,000 former inhabitants (mostly Juaneño Indians) are buried in unmarked graves in the Mission's cemetery (''campo santos'').^[11] The remains of Father (later Monsignor) St. John O'Sullivan, who recognized the property's historic value and working tirelessly to conserve and rebuild its structures, are buried at the entrance to the cemetery on the west side of the property, and a statue raised in his honor stands at the head of the crypt. The surviving chapel also serves as the final resting place of three padres who passed on while serving at the Mission: Fathers José Barona, Vicente Fustér, and Vicente Pascual Oliva are all entombed beneath the sanctuary floor.
The Mission entered a long period of gradual decline after secularization in 1834. Numerous efforts were made over the years to restore the Mission to its former glory, but none met with great success until the arrival of Father O'Sullivan in 1910. Restoration efforts continue to this day; "Serra's Chapel" is still used for religious services, and over half a million people visit the landmark every year. In 1984 a modern church complex was constructed just north and west of the Mission compound; the design is patterned after the old stone church, but twenty percent larger. About 400,000 visitors, including 80,000 school children, come to the Mission each year.^[15]

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''Mary Pickford's Wedding'' by American artist Charles Percy Austin. Oil on canvas.

Contents

Prehistory

History

Mission Period (1769 – 1833)

Rancho Period (1834 – 1849)

California Statehood (1850 – 1900)

20th century and beyond (1901 – present)

Other historic designations

Mission industries

Mission bells

"The return of the swallows"

California pepper tree

Notes

References

See also

External links

Prehistory

The current prevailing theory postulates that Paleo-Indians entered the Americas from Asia via a land bridge called "Beringia" that connected eastern Siberia with present-day Alaska (when sea levels were significantly lower, due to widespread glaciation) between about 15,000 to 35,000 years ago. The remains of Arlington Springs Man on Santa Rosa Island are among the traces of a very early habitation in Califronia, dated to the last ice age (Wisconsin glaciation) about 13,000 years ago. The first humans are therefore thought to have made their homes among the southern valleys of California's coastal mountain ranges some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago; the earliest of these people are known only from archaeological evidence.^[16]

The former Spanish settlement at ''Sajavit'' lies within that area occupied during the late Paleoindian period and continuing on into the present day by the Native American society commonly known as the ''Juaneño''.^[18] The name denotes those people who were ministered by the padres at Mission San Juan Capistrano.^[19] Many contemporary ''Juaneño'', who identify themselves as descendents of the indigenous society living in the local San Juan and San Mateo Creek drainage areas, have adopted the indigenous term ''Acjachemen''. Their language was related to the Luiseño language spoken by the nearby ''Luiseño'' tribe.^[20] The ''Acjachemen'' territory extended from Las Pulgas Creek in northern San Diego County up into the San Joaquin Hills along Orange County's central coast, and inland from the Pacific Ocean up into the Santa Ana Mountains. The bulk of the population occupied the outlets of two large creeks, San Juan Creek (and its major tributary, Trabuco Canyon) and San Mateo Creek (combined with Arroyo San Onofre, which drained into the ocean at the same point). The highest concentration of villages was along the lower San Juan, where Mission San Juan Capistrano was ulimately situated.^[21]
The ''Acjachemen'' resided in permanent, well-defined villages and seasonal camps. Village populations ranged from between 35 to 300 inhabitants, consisting of a single lineage in the smaller villages, and of a dominant clan joined with other families in the larger settlements. Each clan had its own resource territory and was "politically" independent; ties to other villages were maintained through economic, religious, and social networks in the immediate region. The elite class (composed chiefly families, lineage heads, and other ceremonial specialists), a middle class (established and successful families, and people of disconnected or wandering families and captives of war comprised the three hierarchical social classes.^[22] Native leadership consisted of the ''Nota'', or clan chief, who conducted community rites and regulated ceremonial life in conjunction with the council of elders (''puuplem''), which was made up of lineage heads and ceremonial specialists in their own right. This body decided upon matters of the community, which were then carried out by the ''Nota'' and his underlings. While the placement of residential huts in a village was not regulated, the ceremonial enclosure (''vanquesh'') and the chief's home were most often centrally-located.^[23]
Relatively much is known about the native inhabitants in recent centuries, thanks in part to the efforts of the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who documented his observations of life in the coastal villages he encountered along the Southern California coast in October of 1542.^[24] Fray Gerónimo Boscana, a Franciscan scholar who was stationed at San Juan Capistrano for more than a decade beginning in 1812, compiled what is widely considered to be the most comprehensive study of prehistoric religious practices in the San Juan Capistrano valley.^[25] Religious knowledge was secret, and the prevalent religion, called ''Chinigchinich'', placed village chiefs in the position of religious leaders, an arrangement that gave the chiefs broad power over their people.^[26]

History

Mission Period (1769 – 1833)

Father Juan Crespí, as a member of the "Portola Expedition" of 1769, authored the first written account of actual interaction between Franciscan friars and the indigenous population in the region that today makes up Orange County, after the group passed through on July 22 of that year. The travelers officially named the area after Santa Maria Magdalena (though it would also come to be called the ''Arroyo de la Quema'' and ''Cañada del Incendio'', "Wildfire Hollow").^[27] In early 1775, Don Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Viceroy of New Spain, authorized the establishment of two additional mission sites, one of these to be placed at a logical halfway point between Mission San Diego de Alcalá and Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. The viceroy had already selected the patron saint for the new settlement, "San Juan Capistrano."
At the proposed site, located approximately 26 ''leguas'' (Spanish Leagues) north of San Diego, 18 leagues south of San Gabriel, and half a league from the Pacific Ocean, an ''enramada'' (arbor) was constructed, two bronze bells were hung from the branch of a nearby tree, and a wooden cross was erected. The grounds were consecrated by Father Fermín Lasuén of Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on October 30, 1775 (the last day of the octave after the feast of San Juan Capistrano), near an Indian settlement named ''Sajavit''; thus, '''La Misión de San Juan Capistrano de Sajavit''' was founded. Assisting clergy Father Gregório Amúrrio of Mission San Luis Obispo arrived from San Gabriel eight days later with a supply of goods and cattle. Unfortunately, word arrived from San Diego at the same time that a group of natives attacked the mission and brutally murdered one of the missionaries (Father Luís Jayme).^[28] Since it was feared at the time that any hostile action by the natives against the few burgeoning outposts might break Spain's tenuous hold on Alta California, the fathers quickly buried the San Juan Capistrano Mission bells. Lieutenant José Francisco Ortega, military leader of the expedition, led all but a small contingent of Spanish soldiers back to El Presidio de San Diego to help quell the uprising; the priests, along with the few remaining soldiers as an escort, gathered up their belongings and fled to the safety of the Presido, where they were given further details of the disaster.^[4]

One year later Father Serra himself, along with Fathers Amúrrio and Pablo de Mugártegui, took up work on the Mission at San Juan Capistrano; the contingent, accompanied by eleven soldiers, arrived on October 30th or 31st, 1776. Upon their return to the site today known as "''Mission Vieja''," the party excavated the bells and constructed a new arbor; the original wooden cross was, to their surprise, still standing.^[31] Father Serra celebrated High Mass in thanksgiving on November 1, 1776—celebrated ever since as the official founding date. Due to an inadequate water supply the Mission site was subsequently relocated approximately three miles to the west near the Indian village of ''Acágcheme''.^[32] The new venue was strategically placed above two nearby streams, the Trabuco and the San Juan. Mission San Gabriel provided cattle and neophyte labor to assist in the development of new the Mission. Father Amúrrio performed the Mission's first baptism on December 19 of that year.^[33] The first Indian marriage was blessed by Father Mugártegui on the feast of the "Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary," January 23, 1777. Father Mugártegui also presided over the first burial ceremony on July 13 (the first burial on Mission grounds would not take place until March 9, 1781). The Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials are all intact and preserved at the Mission, as is the Confirmation Register (San Juan Capistrano is one of the few Missions to have retained this document). Father Serra visited the Mission for the first time since its founding and administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on October 22.^[34] In 1778, the first adobe ''capilla'' (chapel) was blessed. It was replaced by a larger, -long house of worship in 1782, which is regarded as the oldest standing building in California. Known proudly as the "Serra Chapel," it also has the distinction of being the only remaining church in which the padre is known to have officiated ("Mission Dolores" was still under construction at the time of Serra's visit there). Father Serra presided over the confirmations of 213 people on October 12 and 13, 1783; divine services are held there to this day. By the time of the chapel's completion, living quarters, kitchens (''pozolera''), workshops, storerooms, soldiers' barracks (''cuartels''), and a number of other ancillary buildings had also been erected, effectively forming the main ''cuadrángulo'' (quadrangle).
California's first vineyard was located on the Mission grounds, with the planting of the "Mission" or "Criollo" grape in 1779, one grown extensively throughout Spanish America at the time but with "an uncertain European origin." It was the only grape grown in the Mission system throughout the mid-1800s. The first winery in Alta California was built in San Juan Capistrano in 1783; both red and white wines (sweet and dry), brandy, and a port-like fortified wine called Angelica were all produced from the Mission grape. In 1791, the Mission's two original bells were removed from the tree branch on which they had been hanging for the previous fifteen years and placed within a permanent mounting. Over the next two decades the Mission prospered, and in 1794 over seventy adobe structures were built in order to provide permanent housing for the Mission Indians, some of which comprise the oldest residential neighborhood in California. It was decided that a larger, European-style church was required to accommodate the growing population. Hoping to construct an edifice of truly magnificent proportions, the padres retained the services of ''maestro albañil'' (master stonemason) Isídro Aguilár of Culiacán.^[35] Aguílar took charge of the church's construction and set about incorporating numerous design features not found at any other California Mission, including the use of a domed roof structure made of stone as opposed to the typical flat wood roof. His elegant roof design called for six vaulted domes (''bovedas'') to be built.

Work was begun on "The Great Stone Church" (the only chapel building in Alta California not constructed out of adobe) on February 2, 1797. It was laid out in the shape of a cross, measuring long by wide with high walls, and included a tall ''campanile'' (bell tower) located adjacent to the main entrance that could be seen for ten miles (16 km) or more; local legend has it that the bells could be heard from even farther away.^[37] The sandstone building sat on a foundation seven feet thick. Construction efforts required the participation of the entire '' population. Stones were quarried from gullies and creek beds up to six miles (10 km) away and transported in carts (''carretas'') drawn by oxen, carried by hand, and even dragged to the building site. Limestone was crushed into a powder on the Mission grounds to create a mortar that was more erosion-resistant than the actual stones. On November 22, 1800 tremors from the 6.5-magnitude San Diego Earthquake cracked the walls of the rising edifice, necessitating that repair work be performed.^[38] Unfortunately, Señor Aguilár died six years into the project; his work was carried on by the padres and their charges, who made their best attempts to emulate the existing construction. Lacking the skills of a master mason, however, led to irregular walls and necessitated the addition of a seventh roof dome. The church was finally completed in 1806, and blessed by Fray Estévan Tapís on the evening of September 7; a two-day long ''fiesta'' followed.^[39] The sanctuary floors were paved with diamond-shaped tiles, and brick-lined niches displayed the statues of various saints. It was by all accounts the most magnificent in all of California and a three-day feast was held in celebration of this monumental achievement. Tragedy struck the settlement when on December 8, 1812 (the "Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin") a series of massive earthquakes shook Southern California during the first Sunday service.^[40] The 7.0-magnitude Wrightwood Earthquake racked the doors to the church, pinning them shut. When the ground finally stopped shaking, the bulk of the nave had come crashing down, and the bell tower was completely obliterated. Forty worshippers from the local Acjachemen Nation (referred to as Juaneños by the Spaniards) who were attending mass and two boys who had been ringing the bells in the tower were buried under the rubble and lost their lives, and were subsequently interred in the Mission cemetery.^[41] This was the second major setback the outpost had suffered, and was followed by severe storms and flooding that damaged Mission buildings and ruined crops earlier in the year.

The padres immediately resumed holding services in Serra's Church. Within a year a brick ''campanario'' ("bell wall") had been erected between the ruins of the stone church and the Mission's first chapel to support the four bells salvaged from the rubble of the campanile. As the transept, sanctuary (''reredos''), and ''sacristia'' (sacristy) were all left standing, an attempt was made to rebuild the stone church in 1815 which failed due to a lack of construction expertise (the latter is the only element that is completely intact today). Consequently, all of the construction work undertaken at the Mission grounds thereafter was of a strictly utilitarian nature. Father José Barona and Father Boscana oversaw the construction of a small infirmary (hospital) building (located just outside the northwestern corner of the quadrangle) in 1814, "for the convenience of the sick." It is here that Juaneño medicine men used traditional methods to heal the sick and injured.^[42] Archaeological excavations in 1937 and 1979 unearthed what are believed to be the building's foundations.
On December 14, 1818 the French privateer Hipólito Bouchard, sailing under the flag of the "United Provinces of Rio de la Plata" (Argentina), brought his ships ''La Argentina'' and ''Santa Rosa'' to within sight of the Mission; aware that Bouchard (today known as "California's only pirate") had recently conducted raids on the settlements at Monterey and Santa Barbara, Comandante Ruíz had sent forth a party of thirty men (under the leadership of a young Spanish lieutenant named Alférez Santiago Argüello) to protect the Mission at first news of the approach on the 13th.^[43] Two members of Bouchard's contingent made contact with the garrison soldiers and made their demand for provisions, which was rebuffed, and threats of reprisals made (Lieutenant Argüello replied that if the ships did not sail away the garrison would gladly provide "''an immediate supply of shot and shell''").^[44] In response, "''Pirata Buchar''" (as he was referred to by the Californios) ordered an assault on the Mission, sending some 140 men and two or three ''violentos'' (light howitzer cannon) to take the needed supplies by force.^[45] The Mission guards engaged the attackers but were overwhelmed; the marauders looted the Mission warehouses and left minor damage to several Mission buildings in their wake, and reportedly set fire to a few of the outlying straw houses.^[46] Reinforcements from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, led by Comandante Guerra from El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara, arrived the next day to no avail as the ships had already set sail. Regarded today as one of the more colorful events in the Mission's history, an annual celebration is held to memorialize "The Day that Pirates Sacked the Mission." ^[47]

Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. The 1820s and 30s saw a gradual decline in the Mission's status. Disease thinned out the once ample cattle herds, and a sudden infestation of mustard weed made it increasingly difficult to cultivate crops. Floods and droughts took their toll as well. But the biggest threat to the Mission's stability came from the presence of Spanish settlers who sought to take over Capistrano's fertile lands. Over time the disillusioned Indian population gradually left the Mission, and without regular maintenance its physical deterioration continued at an accelerated rate. Nevertheless, there was sufficient activity along El Camino Real to justify the construction of the Las Flores Asistencia in 1823. This facility, situated halfway between San Juan Capistrano and the Mission at San Luis Rey, was intended to act primarily as a rest stop for traveling clergy. Around 1820 an ''estancia'' (station) was established a few miles north on the banks of the Santa Ana River to accommodate the Mission's sizeable cattle herd. The adobe structure built to house the mayordomo and ''vaqueros'' (cowboys) who tended the Mission herds is known today as the Diego Sepúlveda Adobe.^[48]
José María de Echeandía, the first native Mexican to be elected Governor of Alta California, issued his "Proclamation of Emancipation" (or "''Prevenciónes de Emancipacion''") on July 25, 1826.^[49] All Indians within the military districts of San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Monterey who were found qualified were freed from missionary rule and made eleigible to become Mexican citizens; those who wished to remain under mission tutelage were exempted from most forms of corporal punishment.^[50] Catholic historian Zephyrin Engelhardt referred to Echeandía as "''...an avowed enemy of the religious orders''." ^[51] Despite the fact that Echeandía's emancipation plan was met with little encouragement from the neophytes who populated the southern missions, he was nonetheless determined to test the scheme on a large scale at Mission San Juan Capistrano. To that end, he appointed a board of ''comisianados'' (commissioners) to oversee the emancipation of the Indians.^[52] Even before Mexico had gained its independence, the Mission had begun its decline.^[53] Although Governor José Figueroa (who took office in 1833) initially attempted to keep the mission system intact, the Mexican Congress nevertheless passed ''An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California'' on August 17, 1833.^[54] The Act also provided for the colonization of both Alta and Baja California, the expenses of this latter move to be borne by the proceeds gained from the sale of the mission property to private interests. Mission San Juan Capistrano was the very first to feel the effects of this legislation the following year when, on August 9, 1834 Governor Figueroa issued his "Decree of Confiscation." ^[55]

Rancho Period (1834 – 1849)

On November 22, 1834 commissioner Juan José Rocha formally acknowledged receipt of the Decree of Confiscation. The final inventory for Mission San Juan Capistrano was compiled by Father José Maria de Zalvidea and four of the commissioners, and included:


★ buildings ($7,298);

★ chapel ($1,250);

★ furnishings, tools, and implements ($14,768);

★ contents of chapel and sacristy ($15,568);

★ ranchos of San Mateo and Mission Vieja ($12,019); and

★ library holdings ($490)
for a total valuation of $54,456.^[58] Mission credits totaled $13,123 while debts equaled a mere $1,410. The Mission library included three volumes of Juan de Torquemada and twelve volumes of the ''Año Cristiano''. The names of 2,000 neophytes were carried on the Mission rolls. Mission agricultural holdings for that year consisted of:

★ 8,000 head of cattle;

★ 4,000 sheep;

★ 80 pigs;

★ 50 horses;

★ 9 mules;

★ 150 ''fanegas'' ^[59] of maize;

★ 20 ''fanegas'' of beans; and

★ 50 barrels of wine and brandy.^[60]

Thereafter, the Franciscans all but abandoned the Mission, taking with them most everything of value, after which the locals plundered many of the Mission buildings for construction materials.^[61] By 1835, little of the Mission's assets remained, though the manufacture of hides and tallow continued full-swing as described in Richard Henry Dana's classic novel ''Two Years Before the Mast''.^[62] San Juan Capistrano was officially designated as a secular Mexican ''pueblo'' on July 29 1841, at which time those few who still resided at the Mission were granted sections of land to use as their own.^[63] Four years later, the Mission property was auctioned off under questionable circumstances for $710 worth of tallow and hides (equivalent to $15,000 in 2004 dollars) to Englishman John "Don Juan" Forster (Governor Pío Pico's brother-in-law, whose family would take up residence in the Friars' quarters for the next twenty years) and his partner James McKinley.^[64] More families would subsequently take up residence in other portions of the Mission buildings. Father José Maria Zalvidea left San Juan Capistrano on or about November 25, 1842 when Mission San Luis Rey de Francia's Father Ibarra died, leaving the Mission without a resident priest for the first time (Zalvidea had been the Mission's sole priest ever since the death of Father Josef Barona in 1831).^[65] The first secular priest to take charge of the mission, Reverend José Maria Rosáles, arrived on October 8, 1843;^[66] Father Vicente Pascuál Oliva, the last resident missionary, died on January 2, 1848.^[67]

California Statehood (1850 – 1900)

Because virtually all of the artwork at the missions served either a devotional or didactic purpose, there was no underlying reason for the mission residents to record their surroundings graphically; visitors, however, found them to be objects of curiosity.^[69] During the 1850s a number of artists found gainful employment as draftsmen attached to expeditions sent to map the Pacific coastline and the border between California and Mexico (as well as plot practical railroad routes); many of the drawings were reproduced as lithographs in the expedition reports. The oldest surviving sketch of the Mission, dating back to 1850 and now in the collection of the Bancroft Library, shows that the domes above the stone church's transept, along with the main dome and ''cupola'' (lantern house) located above the sanctuary, survived the 1812 'quake.^[57] The earliest known photograph of San Juan Capistrano was taken by German-born artist Edward Vischer in 1860.^[71] Even before that time, however, the ruins at San Juan Capistrano and its stone church had been romanticized by landscape painters, writers, and historians. The ruins have been compared to those of Greece and Rome, and have at various times been referred to as the "Alhambra of America," the "American Acropolis," and the "Melrose Abbey of the West." ^[72] Also in 1860, an abortive attempt at restoring the stone church was the cause of its additional disintegration, forcing the domes over the transept and sanctuary to collapse.
A smallpox epidemic swept through the area in 1862, nearly wiping out the remaining Juaneño Indians. President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation on March 18, 1865 that restored ownership of the Mission proper to the Roman Catholic Church. The document remains on display in the Mission's barracks ''cum'' museum.^[73] Ownership of 44.40 acres was conveyed to the Church, for all practical intents being the exact area of land occupied by the original Mission buildings, cemeteries, and gardens.^[74] The Mission's sole resident from April, 1866 to April, 1886 was its pastor, Father José Mut. Father Mut made certain changes in order to accommodate his own needs, but little was accomplished to prevent further deterioration of the Mission buildings. Around 1873, some forty ''Juaneño'' were still associated with the Mission; however, many of those of mixed Spanish/Mexican and ''Juaneño'' heritage were not taken into consideration, and several native villages still existed in the interior valleys.^[75] During this same era, the Mission priests established a circuit-riding ministry to these interior villages to the south, and on the other side of the Palomar Mountain Range. A wave of migration by the Juaneño out of San Juan occurred in 1880–1900 as towns in northern Orange County started to form and needed laborers.

The 1880s saw the appearance of a number of articles on the missions in national publications and the first books on the subject; as a result, a large number of artists did one or more mission paintings, though few attempted series.^[76] By 1891 a roof collapse required that the Serra Chapel be abandoned completely. Modifications were made to the original adobe church (including the addition of a cross-topped ''espadaña'' at the south end, a feature that has been retained in the present iteration of the Mission compound) in order to render it suitable for use as a parish church. In 1894, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway constructed a new depot in the emerging "Mission Revival Style" mere blocks from the Mission. It is rumored that the stonework, bricks, and roof tiles were salvaged from the decaying buildings.^[77] The following year, a group calling itself the "Landmarks Club of Southern California" (under the direction of acclaimed American journalist, historian, and photographer Charles Fletcher Lummis) made the first real efforts in over fifty years at preserving the Mission and restoring it to its original state.^[78] Over 400 tons of debris was cleared away, holes in the walls were patched, and new shake cedar roofs were placed over a few of the derelict buildings; a mile of walkways were repaved with asphalt and gravel as well.

20th century and beyond (1901 – present)

After Father Mut's departure in 1886 the parish found itself without a permanent pastor, and the Mission languished during this period. Father St. John O'Sullivan arrived in San Juan Capistrano in 1910 to recuperate from a recent stroke, and to seek relief from chronic tuberculosis.^[79] He became fascinated by the scope of the Mission and soon set to work on rebuilding it a section at a time. Father O'Sullivan's first task was to repair the roof of the Serra Chapel (which was being employed as a granary and storeroom) using sycamore logs to match those that were used in the original work; in the process, the roof of the apse was raised to allow for the inclusion of a window so that natural light could be brought into the space. Other refurbishments were made as time and funds permitted. Arthur B. Benton, a Los Angeles architect, strengthened the chapel walls through the addition of heavy masonry buttresses. The centerpiece of the chapel is its spectacular ''retablo'' which serves as the backdrop for the altar. A masterpiece of Baroque art, the altarpiece was hand-carved of 196 individual pieces of cherry wood and overlaid in gold leaf in Barcelona and is estimated to be 400 years old. It was originally imported from Barcelona in 1806 for the Los Angeles cathedral but was never used. It was later donated by Archbishop John Joseph Cantwell of Los Angeles and installed sometime between 1922 and 1924 (the building had to be enlarged to accommodate this piece).^[39] Although the ''retablo'' had been relayered over the centuries, most of the original gilding remains underneath the modern materials (extensive restoration was begun in June, 2006).
The first of many Hollywood productions to use San Juan Capistrano as a backdrop was D.W. Griffith's 1910 film ''The Two Brothers'' (the first film ever shot in Orange County), and on January 7, 1911 the film's leading lady, silent film star Mary Pickford, secretly wed fellow actor Owen Moore in the Mission chapel.^[81] Artist Charles Percy Austin often stayed at the Mission and donated several of his works; most notable was his memorialization of the wedding ceremony, entitled ''Mary Pickford's Wedding'', which he painted after Father O'Sullivan performed the marriage rites. The third and final act of John Steven McGroarty's ''The Mission Play'' (1911) is set "''...amid the broken and deserted walls of Mission San Juan Capistrano (the Mission of the Swallow), in 1847''." "''The Mission Play''"^[82]

Severe flooding destroyed a portion of the Mission's front arcade in 1915, and heavy storms a year later washed away one end of the barracks building, which Father O'Sullivan rebuilt in 1917, incorporating minor modifications such as an ornamental archway in order to make the edifice more closely resemble a church. In 1918 the Mission was given parochial status with Father O’Sullivan as its first modern pastor. It was on April 21 of that year that the San Jacinto Earthquake caused moderate structural damage to some of the buildings. In 1919, author Johnston McCulley created the character "Zorro" and chose Mission San Juan Capistrano as the setting for the first novella, ''The Curse of Capistrano''.^[83] In 1920, the "Sacred Garden" was created in the courtyard adjacent to the stone church, and in 1925 the full restoration of the Serra Chapel was completed. Father O'Sullivan died in 1933 and was buried in the Mission cemetery. His tomb lies at the foot of a Celtic cross the Father himself erected as a memorial to the Mission's builders.
After O’Sullivan's death, Father Arthur Hutchinson (another pastor with a love of California history) assumed leadership of the Mission, and played a central role in raising needed funds to continue the Mission’s preservation work. Pastor Hutchinson made key archeological discoveries on the Mission grounds, and his work was continued by the next two pastors, Monsignors Vincent Lloyd-Russell and Paul Martin. In 1937 representatives of the U.S. National Park Service's Historic American Buildings Survey, as a part of the Historic Sites Act of 1935, surveyed and photographed the grounds and structures extensively. Their efforts laid the groundwork for future excavation and reconstruction of the west wing industrial complex. Monsignor Paul M. Martin began a comprehensive preservation effort following the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake.^[84]
The prestigious World Monuments Fund placed "The Great Stone Church" on its ''List of 100 Most Endangered Sites'' in 2002. The most recent series of seismic retrofits at the Mission were completed at a cost of $7.5 million in 2004.

Other historic designations

★ California Historical Landmark #227 — Diego Sepúlveda Adobe ''Estancia''

★ ASM International Historical Landmark (1988) — "Metalworking Furnaces"

★ World Monuments Fund ''List of 100 Most Endangered Sites'' (2002) — "The Great Stone Church"

Mission industries

The goal of the missions was, above all, to become self-sufficient in relatively short order. Farming, therefore, was the most important industry of any mission. Barley, maize, and wheat were the principal crops grown at San Juan Capistrano; cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and goats were all raised by the hundreds as well. In 1790 the Mission's herd included 7,000 sheep and goats, 2,500 cattle, and 200 mules and horses. Olives were grown, cured, and pressed under large stone wheels to extract their oil, both for use at the Mission and to trade for other goods. Grapes were also grown and fermented into wine for sacramental use and again, for trading. The specific variety, called the ''Criolla'' or "Mission grape," was first planted at the Mission in 1779; in 1783, the first wine produced in Alta California emerged from San Juan Capistrano's winery. Until about 1850, Mission grapes represented the entirety of viticulture in the state. Cereal grains were dried and ground by stone into flour. The Mission's kitchens and bakeries prepared and served thousands of meals each day. Candles, soap, grease, and ointments were all made from tallow (rendered animal fat) in large vats located just outside the west wing. Also situated in this general area were vats for dyeing wool and tanning leather, and primitive looms for weavings. Large ''bodegas'' (warehouses) provided long-term storage for preserved foodstuffs and other treated materials.

Three long ''zanjas'' (aqueducts) ran through the central courtyard and deposited the water they collected into large cisterns in the industrial area, where it was filtered for drinking and cooking, or dispensed for use in cleaning. The Mission had to fabricate all of its construction materials as well. Workers in the ''carpintería'' (carpentry shop) used crude methods to shape beams, lintels, and other structural elements; more skilled artisans carved doors, furniture, and wooden implements. For certain applications bricks (''ladrillos'') were fired in ovens (kilns) to strengthen them and make them more resistant to the elements; when ''tejas'' (roof tiles) eventually replaced the conventional ''jacal'' roofing (densely-packed reeds) they were placed in the kilns to harden them as well. Glazed ceramic pots, dishes, and canisters were also made in the Mission's kilns.
Prior to the establishment of the missions, the native peoples knew only how to utilize bone, seashells, stone, and wood for building, tool making, weapons, and so forth. The missionaries discovered that the Indians, who regarded labor as degrading to the masculine sex, had to be taught industry in order to learn how to be self-supportive. The result was the establishment of a great manual training school that comprised agriculture, the mechanical arts, and the raising and care of livestock. Everything consumed and otherwise utilized by the natives was produced at the missions under the supervision of the padres; thus, the neophytes not only supported themselves, but after 1811 sustained the entire military and civil government of California.^[86] The foundry at Mission San Juan Capistrano was the first to introduce the Indians to the Iron Age. The blacksmith used the Mission’s Catalan furnaces (California’s first) to smelt and fashion iron into everything from basic tools and hardware (such as nails) to crosses, gates, hinges, even cannon for Mission defense. Iron was one commodity in particular that the Mission relied solely on trade to acquire, as the missionaries had neither the know-how nor the technology to mine and process metal ores.

Mission bells

Bells were vitally important to daily life at any mission. The bells were rung at mealtimes, to call the Mission residents to work and to religious services, during births and funerals, to signal the approach of a ship or returning missionary, and at other times; novices were instructed in the intricate rituals associated with the ringing the mission bells. The original bells were hung from a large nearby tree for some fifteen years, until the chapel bell tower was completed in 1791. What ultimately became of the original bells is not known. New bells were cast in Chile for inclusion in the belfry of "The Great Stone Church." All four of Mission San Juan Capistrano's bells are named and all bear inscriptions as follows (from the largest to the smallest; inscriptions are translated from Latin):^[87]

★ "''Praised by Jesus, 'San Vicente'. In honor of the Reverend Fathers, Ministers (of the Mission) Fray Vicente Fustér, and Fray Juan Santiago, 1796.''"

★ "''Hail Mary most pure. Ruelas made me, and I am called 'San Juan', 1796.''"

★ "''Hail Mary most pure, 'San Antonio', 1804.''"

★ "''Hail Mary most pure, 'San Rafael', 1804.''"

In the aftermath of the 1812 earthquake, the two largest bells cracked and split open. Due to this damage neither produced clear tones. Regardless, they were hung in the campanario that went up the following year. During the Mission's heyday, a lone bell also hung at thw est end of the front corridor, next to an entrance gate which has long since eroded away.^[88] One of Father O' Sullivan's companions during his tenure at San Juan Capistrano was José de Gracia Cruz, better known as Acú, who related many stories and legends of the Mission. A descendent of the Juaneño Indians, he served as the Mission's bell ringer until his death in 1924.
On March 22, 1969 President Richard M. Nixon and First Lady Patricia Nixon visited the Mission and rang the Bell of San Rafael. A bronze plaque commemorating the event is set in the bell wall. In celebration of the new Mission church being elevated to minor basilica status in 2000, exact duplicates of the damaged bells were cast in the Netherlands, utilizing molds made from the originals. The replacement bells were placed in the bell wall and the old ones put on display within the footprint of the destroyed Mission ''campanile'' ("bell tower").

"The return of the swallows"

The Cliff Swallow (''Petrochelidon pyrrhonota'') is a migratory bird that spends its winters in Goya, Argentina but makes the trek north to the warmer climes of the American Southwest in springtime. According to legend the birds, who have visited the San Juan Capistrano area every Summer for centuries, first took refuge at the Mission when an irate innkeeper began destroying their mud nests (the birds also frequent the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo).^[89] The Mission's location near two rivers made it an ideal location for the swallows to nest, as there was a constant supply of the insects on which they feed, and the young birds are well-protected inside the ruins of the old stone church.
Father O'Sullivan made note of the birds' annual habit of nesting beneath the Mission's eaves and archways, from Spring through Fall, during his two decades in residence. One of bell ringer Acú's most colorful tales was that the swallows (or ''las golondrinas'', as he called them) flew over the Atlantic Ocean to Jerusalem each winter, carrying small twigs on which they could rest atop the water along the way. On March 13, 1939 a popular radio program was broadcast live from the Mission grounds, announcing the swallows' arrival. Composer Leon René was so inspired by the event that he penned the song ''When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano'' in tribute.^[78] During its initial release the song spent several weeks atop the ''Your Hit Parade'' charts. The song has been recorded by such musicians as The Ink Spots, Fred Waring, Guy Lombardo, and Glenn Miller. A glassed-off room in the Mission has been designated in René's honor and displays the upright piano on which he composed the tune, the reception desk from his office and several copies of the song's sheet music and other pieces of furniture, all donated by René's family.
Each year the City of San Juan Capistrano sponsors the ''Fiesta de las Golondrinas'', a week-long celebration of this auspicious event. Tradition has it that the main flock arrives on March 19 (''Saint Joseph's Day''), and flies south on ''Saint John's Day'', October 23.

California pepper tree

The largest California pepper tree (''Schinus molle'') in the United States resides at Mission San Juan Capistrano.^[91] The -tall specimen, planted in the 1870s and typical of the early California landscape, adds to the charm of the old cloisters; it is also listed in the National Register of Big Trees.

Notes

1. Saunders and Chase, p. 65
2. Leffingwell, p. 37
3. Young, p. 26
4. Engelhardt 1922, p. 6
5. Leffingwell, p. 37
6. Engelhardt 1922, p. 6
7. Engelhardt 1922, p. 13
8. Engelhardt 1920, p. v, 228: "''The military district of San Diego embraced the Missions of San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel...''"
9. Ruscin, p. 195
10. Young, p. 23
11. "Historic San Juan Mission"
12. Yenne, p. 72
13. Engelhardt 1922, p. 183
14. "Historic San Juan Mission"
15. Stern and Miller, p. 70
16. Paddison, p. 333: The first undisputable archaeological evidence of human presence in California dates back to ''circa'' 8,000 BCE.
17. After Kroeber, 1925
18. Kroeber 1925, p. 636
19. As with other Spanish names given to the indigenous tribes they encountered, the appellation ''Juaneño'' does not necessarily identify a specific ethnic or tribal group.
20. Sparkman, p. 189: Linguistically, the ''Acjachemen'' tongue is a dialect of the larger ''Luiseño'' language, which itself is derived from the ''Takic'' family, a part of the Uto-Aztecan (''Shoshone'') linguistic stock; however, the language at Capistrano and Soboba differed "''considerably from that of the remainder of the Luiseños, and by some the people of these places are not included among the Luiseños''."
21. O'Neil, pp. 68–78
22. Bean and Blackburn, pp. 109–111
23. Boscana, p. 37
24. Yenne, p. 8
25. Rawls, p. 26: Boscana deduced that the "''Indians of California may be compared to a species of monkey''" and described the native beliefs and customs as "horrible," "ludicrous," and "ridiculous."
26. Kelsey, p. 3
27. Kelsey, p. 9
28. Wright, p. 37
29. Engelhardt 1922, p. 6
30. Newcomb, p. 15
31. Saunders and Chase, p. 22
32. Kelsey, p. 10: According to a report filed in 1782 by Father Mugártegui, "''...the site was transferred to that which it occupies today, where we have the advantage of secure water...this transfer was made on October 4, 1776''."
33. Engelhardt 1922, p. 213
34. Engelhardt 1922, p. 22
35. Camphouse, p. 30
36. Ruscin, p. 72
37. O'Sullivan, p. 14
38. Engelhardt 1922, p. 39
39. Yenne, p. 75
40. Ruscin, p. 72
41. Engelhardt 1922, p. 251
42. Engelhardt 1922, p. 57
43. Bancroft, vol. ii, p. 240
44. Stern and Miller, p. 50; Yenne, p. 77
45. Jones p. 170
46. Bancroft, vol. ii, p. 241; Miller and Stern, p. 50: Sir Peter Corney, commander of the ''Santa Rosa'', later reported that, "''We found the town well-stocked with everything but money, and destroyed much wine and spirits and all the public property, set fire to the King's stores, barracks, and governor's house, and about two o'clock we marched back though not in the order that we went, many of the men being intoxicated''."
47. There is a great contrast between the legacy of Bouchard in Argentina versus his reputation in the United States. In Buenos Aires, Bouchard is honored as a brave patriot, while in California he is most often remembered as a pirate, and not a privateer. See Hippolyte de Bouchard.
48. Engelhardt 1922, p. 89
49. Engelhardt 1922, p. 80
50. Bancroft, vol. i, pp. 100-101: Bancroft postulated that the motives behind the issuance of Echeandía's premature decree had more to do with the his desire to appease "''...some prominent Californians who had already had their eyes on the mission lands...''" than they did with concerns regarding the welfare of the natives.
51. Stern and Miller, pp. 51-52
52. Bancroft, vol. iii, pp. 322; 626
53. Stern and Miller, p. 51: Alfred Robinson, who visited the settlement in 1829, wrote, "''This establishment was founded in the year 1776 and though in its early years was the largest in the country, yet it is now in a dilapidated state and the Indians are much neglected''."
54. Yenne, p. 19
55. Engelhardt 1922, p. 114
56. Stern and Miller, p. 87
57. Krell, p. 157
58. Engelhardt 1922, p. 115
59. A ''fanega'' is equal to 100 pounds
60. Engelhardt 1922, pp. 182; 185
61. Robinson, p. 42: In spite of this neglect, the Indian town at San Juan Capistrano (along with those at San Dieguito and Las Flores) continued on for some time under a provision in ''Gobernador'' Echeandía's 1826 Proclamation that allowed for the partial conversion of missions to ''pueblos''.
62. Young, p. 24
63. Engelhardt 1922, p. 144
64. Engelhardt 1922, p. 157
65. Engelhardt 1922, p. 182
66. Engelhardt 1922, p. 188
67. Engelhardt 1922, p. 227
68. Cathers, p. 45
69. Stern and Miller, p. 85
70. Krell, p. 157
71. Engelhardt, p. 220
72. Saunders and Chase, p. 65; Fradkin, p. 51
73. Engelhardt 1922, p. 169: This is one of the few documents that President Lincoln signed as "''A. Lincoln''" instead of his customary "''Abraham Lincoln''."
74. Robinson, pp. 31-32: The area shown is that stated in the ''Corrected Reports of Spanish and Mexican Grants in California Complete to February 25, 1886'' as a supplement to the Official Report of 1883-1884. Patents for each mission were issued to Archbishop J.S. Alemany based on his claim filed with the Public Land Commission on February 19, 1853 (note that the present-day Mission complex covers a mere 10 acres).
75. Ames. As late as the 1930s, some 300 Mission-descended Indians were known to be living in the Orange County area.
76. Stern and Miller, p. 92
77. Duke, p. 241
78. Leffingwell, p. 39
79. Wright, p. 39
80. Yenne, p. 75
81. Stern and Miller, p. 67
82. Fradkin, p. 51: Father O'Sullivan (who in time became an authority on the old stone church) wrote in 1912, "''The venerable crumbling walls have been studied and painted sympathetically by artists from near and far, measured with enthusiasm by architects, builders have stood in open-mouth admiration of the massive concrete work done by the padres a hundred years before it dawned on the modern builder that the same, with steel reinforcement, was the proper mode for California''."
83. Yenne, P. 79
84. Krell, p. 156
85. Engelhardt 1922, p. 86
86. Engelhardt 1922, p. 211
87. Engelhardt 1922, p. 242
88. O'Sullivan, p. 20
89. Krell, p. 162
90. Leffingwell, p. 39
91. "National Register of Big Trees"
92. Stern and Miller, p. 92
93. Engelhardt 1922, p. 167

References

★ Report of Special Agent John G. Ames in Regard to the Condition of the Mission Indians of California with recommendations, , John G., Ames, Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,

★ History of California, vols. i–vii (1542-1890), Bancroft, Hubert Howe, , , The History Company, San Francisco, CA, 1884-1890,

★ Chinigchinich: A Revised and Annotated Version of Alfred Robinson's Translation of Father Gerónimo Boscana's Historical Account of the Belief, Usages, Customs and Extravagancies of the Indians of this Mission of San Juan Capistrano Called the Acagchemen Tribe, Boscana, Gerónimo, O.F.M., , , Phil Townsend Hanna, ed. Fine Arts Press, Santa Ana, CA, 1933,

★ Native California: A Theoretical Retrospective, Bean, Lowell John and Thomas C. Blackburn (eds.), , , Ballena Press, Socorro, New Mexico, 1976,

★ Guidebook to the Missions of California, Camphouse, Marjorie, , , Anderson, Ritchie & Simon, Los Angeles, CA, 1974, ISBN 0-378-03792-7

★ Furniture of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, Cathers, David M., , , The New American Library, Inc., 1981, ISBN 0453003974

★ Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume One, Duke, Donald, , , Golden West Books, San Marino, CA, 1995, ISBN 0-87095-110-6

★ San Diego Mission, Engelhardt, Zephyrin, O.F.M., , , James H. Barry Company, San Francisco, CA, 1920,

★ San Juan Capistrano Mission, Engelhardt, Zephyrin, O.F.M., , , Standard Printing Co., Los Angeles, CA, 1922,

★ Magnitude 8: Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault, Fradkin, Philip L., , , University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA, 1999, ISBN 0-520-22119-2

★ Historic San Juan Mission

★ Mission San Juan Capistrano: A Pocket History, Kelsey, Harry, , , Interdisciplinary Research, Inc., Altadena, CA, 1993, ISBN 097858810X

★ The California Missions: A Pictorial History, Krell, Dorothy (ed.), , , Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, CA, 1979, ISBN 0-376-05172-8

★ The Religion of the Indians of California, , Alfred L., Kroeber, University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology,

★ Handbook of the Indians of California, Kroeber, Alfred L., , , Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY, 1925,

★ California from the Conquistadores to the Legends of Laguna, Jones, Roger W., , , Rockledge Enterprises, Laguna Hills, CA, 1997,

★ California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions, Leffingwell, Randy, , , Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN, 2005, ISBN 0-89658-492-5

★ ''The Mission Play'' McGroarty, John Steven

★ Mission San Juan Capistrano

★ The Franciscan Mission Architecture of Alta California, Newcomb, Rexford, , , Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY, 1973, ISBN 0-486-21740-X

★ A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush, Paddison, Joshua (ed.), , , Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA, 1999, ISBN 1-890771-13-9

★

★ Little Chapters about San Juan Capistrano, O'Sullivan, St. John, , , Unknown binding, 1912,

★ Peppertree ''Schinus molle''

★ Land in California, Robinson, W.W., , , University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA, 1948,

★ Mission Memoirs, Ruscin, Terry, , , Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA, 1999, ISBN 0-932653-30-8

★ The California Padres and Their Missions, Saunders, Charles Francis and J. Smeaton Chase, , , Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York, 1915,

★ The Culture of the Luiseño Indians, , Philip Stedman, Sparkman, University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology,

★ Romance of the Bells: The California Missions in Art, Stern, Jean and Gerald J. Miller, , , The Irvine Museum, Irvine, CA, 1995, ISBN 0-9635468-5-6

★ California's Missions, Wright, Ralph B., , , Hubert A. and Martha H. Lowman, Arroyo Grande, CA, 1950,

★ The Missions of California, Yenne, Bill, , , Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, CA, 2004, ISBN 1-59223-319-8

★ The Missions of California, Young, Stanley and Melba Levick, , , Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, CA, 1988, ISBN 0-8118-3694-0

See also

★ Spanish missions in California

★ Diego Sepúlveda Adobe

★ Las Flores Estancia

★ ''Putiidhem''

★ USNS ''Mission Capistrano'' (AO-112) — a ''Mission Buenaventura'' Class fleet oiler built during World War II.

External links

★ Official parish website

★ Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper

★ Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record

★ Virtual Reality Panorama of "The Ruined Stone Church"

★ Virtual Reality Panorama of the "Cloister Colonnade at Mission San Juan Capistrano"

★ Virtual Reality Panorama of "The Inner Courtyard"

★ Virtual Reality Panorama of "Father Serra's Chapel"

★ Daily Life at Mission San Juan Capistrano

★ Indians of the Mission

★ "Little Chapters about San Juan Capistrano" by Father St. John O'Sullivan (1912)

★ "Chinigchinich; a Historical Account of the Origin, Customs, and Traditions of the Indians at the Missionary Establishment of St. Juan Capistrano, Alta California Called The Acjachemen Nation" by The Reverend Father Friar Gerónimo Boscana (1846)

★ Official website of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation