Sources
1. Lowman, Martha H. California's Mission San Juan Bautista. Arroyo Grande, CA: Hubert A. Lowman, p. 4
2. ibid
3. K. Knight. Catholic Encylopedia: Candles. New York: Catholic Encyclopedia. 2003. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03246a.htm
4. Lowman, Martha H. California's Mission San Juan Bautista. Arroyo Grande, CA: Hubert A. Lowman, p. 16
5.The Baptist Immortalized. Old Mission San Juan Bautista. http://www.oldmissionsjb.org/history.html
Pictures From San Juan Bautista ::
The Missions at San Juan Bautista offers an opportunity to get a glimpse of Fr. Junipero Serra's dream to open missions all along the coast of California. Opened in 1797 by Fr. Fermin Lasuen, successor as Padre-Presidente after Fr. Serra's death, the mission has never closed and the church is now parish church to the town of San Juan Bautista.
It was a warm, early Spring day when my friend and I drove from San Jose to San Juan Bautista. As we drove and chatted, I thought about what I might be seeing and how to put it into context with what I had been learning in my History of California class.
As we drove through the small town of San Juan Bautista looking for the mission, and parking, I thought of all the other small towns I had driven through. My adolescence was spent in New Mexico, among the crumbling history of Spanish/Mexican rule. We lived an hour north of Santa Fe and often made the drive and always went to the plaza where Natives spread their wares on blankets before them. The Palace of Governors behind them. It seemed natural to me, but now I realize how special and how historical it was.
Although uniquely California in design, San Juan Bautista has many features that were familiar to me. The Spanish flavour felt like "home" in some ways. We strolled along the outside, admiring the archways and the doors, the campaneria (bell tower) and the statues of both Fr. Junipero Serra and the Patron Saint of the mission, John the Baptist. Then I stepped onto a platform and looked down, there before me was part of the original El Camino Real. As I pictured Spanish soldiers riding their horses and priests, mission indians and pioneers walking along this dirt road, I made the connection between that and what has become the main thoroughfare of most of California. As I turned around, I also realized I was standing right on top of the San Andreas fault as well.
We paid our admission and wandered through the gift shop to the other side of the mission. We peeked in windows looking at the displays of the dining room, kitchen, library and music room. My friend kidded me as I exclaimed about the kitchen making communion wafers. I hadn't thought about where they came from until that very moment. We took our time poking our noses against the windows of the exhibits.
Then we wandered into a room that had the priests' vestments on display. Fine French fabrics, elegantly decorated hung behind the glass. "Just think," I said, "some priest was wearing those 200 years ago as he celebrated mass here."
We found more statues and bells in the garden courtyard. Not much was in bloom but we talked about how beautiful it must look when all the roses are blooming and how sweet the air must smell.
Then, we walked into the church and sat to admire the beauty and the quiet. I had never seen a pulpit set in a wall halfway down the church before, nor had I ever seen reredoros before. We sat quietly and drank in as much as we could.
Through the side door, we went into the cemetery where over 4,000 people are buried. People who conquered or were conquered in the name of Spain and God. People who gave their lives to keep this mission and church going through earthquakes and other hardships.
Back through the church in out the other door, back through the garden to the Chapel of Guadalupe, which is where people worshiped before the church itself was completed. Through all this history we meandered and I came away with a better feeling for what the missions meant to California history.