



Produced by David Schwan







THE FAMOUS MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA


by William Henry Hudson

Lately Professor of English Literature at Stanford University,



     To

     Bonnie Burckhalter Fletcher

     With Affectionate Recollections of California Days



     London, England, 1901



Contents.



  I.    Of Junipero Serra, and the proposed settlement of Alta California.
  II.   How Father Junipero came to San Diego.
  III.  Of the founding of the Mission at San Diego.
  IV.   Of Portola's quest for the harbour of Monterey, and the founding
            of the Mission of San Carlos.
  V.    How Father Junipero established the Missions of San Antonio de
            Padua, San Gabriel, and San Louis Obispo.
  VI.   Of the tragedy at San Diego, and the founding of the Missions of
            San Juan Capistrano, San Francisco, and Santa Clara.
  VII.  Of the establishment of the Mission of San Buenaventura, and of
            the death and character of Father Junipero.
  VIII. How the Missions of Santa Barbara, La Purisima Concepcion, Santa
            Cruz, Soledad, San Jose, San Juan Bautista, San Miguel, San
            Fernando, San Luis Rey, and Santa Inez, were added to the list.
  IX.   Of the founding of the Missions of San Rafael and San Francisco
            Solano.
  X.    Of the downfall of the Missions of California.
  XI.   Of the old Missions, and life in them.
  XII.  Of the Mission system in California, and its results.




THE FAMOUS MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA.




I.



On the 1st of July, 1769--a day forever memorable in the annals of
California--a small party of men, worn out by the fatigues and hardships
of their long and perilous journey from San Fernandez de Villicata,
came in sight of the beautiful Bay of San Diego. They formed the
last division of a tripartite expedition which had for its object the
political and spiritual conquest of the great Northwest coast of the
Pacific; and among their number were Gaspar de Portola, the colonial
governor and military commander of the enterprise; and Father Junipero
Serra, with whose name and achievements the early history of California
is indissolubly bound up.

This expedition was the outcome of a determination on the part of Spain
to occupy and settle the upper of its California provinces, or Alta
California, as it was then called, and thus effectively prevent the more
than possible encroachments of the Russians and the English. Fully alive
to the necessity of immediate and decisive action, Carlos III. had sent
Jose de Galvez out to New Spain, giving him at once large powers
as visitador general of the provinces, and special instructions to
establish military posts at San Diego and Monterey. Galvez was a man of
remarkable zeal, energy, and organizing ability, and after the manner of
his age and church he regarded his undertaking as equally important from
the religious and from the political side. The twofold purpose of his
expedition was, as he himself stated it, "to establish the Catholic
faith among a numerous heathen people, submerged in the obscure darkness
of paganism, and to extend the dominion of the King, our Lord, and
protect this peninsula from the ambitious views of foreign nations."
From the first it was his intention that the Cross and the flag of Spain
should be carried side by side in the task of dominating and colonizing
the new country. Having, therefore, gathered his forces together at
Santa Ana, near La Paz, he sent thence to Loreto, inviting Junipero
Serra, the recently appointed President of the California Missions, to
visit him in his camp. Loreto was a hundred leagues distant; but this
was no obstacle to the religious enthusiast, whose lifelong dream it had
been to bear the faith far and wide among the barbarian peoples of
the Spanish world. He hastened to La Paz, and in the course of a long
interview with Galvez not only promised his hearty co-operation, but
also gave great help in the arrangement of the preliminary details of
the expedition.

In the opportunity thus offered him for the missionary labour in
hitherto unbroken fields, Father Junipero saw a special manifestation
both of the will and of the favour of God. He threw himself into the
work with characteristic ardour and determination, and Galvez quickly
realized that his own efforts were now to be ably seconded by a man who,
by reason of his devotion, courage, and personal magnetism, might well
seem to have been providentially designated for the task which had been
put into his hands.

Miguel Joseph Serra, now known only by his adopted name of Junipero,
which he took out of reverence for the chosen companion of St. Francis,
was a native of the Island of