June 13 – Founding of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia

nPostednon June 13, 2015

nBacknin the 1700s, Spaniards explored what they called “Alto California”n(and what we now call California), and every once in a while theynfounded a mission. These religious (and, honestly, military) outpostsnof the Spanish empire were meant to spread Christianity to localnNative Americans and to colonize the region for Spain.

nAtnthe missions, priests and other Spanish settlers trained Indians tongrow European fruits and vegetables, to raise cattle and horses, tontan hides and to make candles—basically to become Spanish colonialncitizens.

nItnsounds kind of nice and peaceful, if you don’t think too hard aboutnit – but of course the destruction done to Native Americannpopulations and cultures was immense. Many peoples lost theirnlanguages, their belief systems, and their traditions; many peoplenbecame sick with viruses that they had no immunity against; and ofncourse some Native Americans who resisted adopting Spanish ways werenforced to do so, anyway, or were killed. n

nCatholicnpriests called Jesuits had founded 15 missions in Baja Californian(which is now part of Mexico) in the mid-1700s, but in 1767 KingnCharles III ordered the Jesuits to be expelled from the missions andnreturned to Spain, and Catholic priests of a different order,nFranciscans, took charge of the outposts and were also in charge ofncontinuing to found new missions. They ended up starting 21 missionsnin Alta California.

n(Inwondered why the King ousted the Jesuits in favor of the Franciscans.nIt turned out it was about power and politics rather than aboutnreligious beliefs.)

nThentreatment of the Native Americans by the Spaniards varied over timenand also from settlement to settlement and mission to mission. Thenmission that was founded on this date in 1798, Mission San Luis Reynde Francia, was largely run by Fray Peyri, and he treated Indiansnmuch better than did most of the padres. n

nBecausenof that, way fewer Indians ran away, and the mission was morensuccessful.

nFastnfacts

MissionnSan Luis Rey is located in the present-day city of Oceanside,nCalifornia.

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nItnwas #18 to be founded (out of 21 in Alta California).
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nThencurrent church was built in 1811. In the 14 years between foundingnand the building of the current church, there were two other churchesnbuilt on the site. The first was small, simple – just an adobenbuilding. The second church was a larger adobe building with a tilednroof. This 1811 building was constructed during the peak of thenmission’s success, and it is one of the largest of the missions. n

nWaltnDisney filmed the first seasons of the Zorro TV series at thisnmission.

nThenfirst Peruvian Pepper Tree ever planted in California was planted atnMission San Luis Rey – and it still stands (you can see it behindnthe ruins of this arch).

n“SannLuis Rey de Francia” means “Saint Louis the King of France.” It refers to the French King Louis IX. You might wonder why a Spanish mission was named afterna French king, but:

n(1) Louis IX had some Spanish ancestors,

n(2) he wasntaught by early Franciscans, and the Franciscans were the onesnfounding and naming the missions, and

n(3) he died fighting in thenCrusades and was made a saint in 1297.

nThenmission has four bells that hang in a three-story domed bell tower.

nThenmission is the only surviving mission church laid out in a crossnshape (which is called a “cruciform plan”).

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nThenmission has a sunken garden and lavanderia (laundry) that can benreached by going down 46 steps. Two springs provided the water, whichnwas piped to come out of the mouths of sculpted gargoyles.

nAlsonon this date: