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Mission San Miguel Arcángel

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Another mission bearing the name San Miguel Arcángel is the Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera in Baja California.
Mission San Miguel Arcángel
Mission San Miguel Arcángel
The "Mission on the Highway" circa 1910.
Location775 Mission Street
San Miguel, California 93451
Coordinates35°44′41″N 120°41′53″W / 35.74472°N 120.69806°W / 35.74472; -120.69806
Name as foundedLa Misión del Gloriosísimo Príncipe Arcángel, Señor San Miguel [1]
English translationThe Mission of the Glorious Prince, Archangel Saint Michael
PatronArchangel Saint Michael[2]
Nickname(s)"Mission on the Highway" [3]
"The Unretouched Mission" [4]
Founding dateJuly 25, 1797 [5]
Founding priest(s)Father Fermín Lasuén [6]
Founding OrderSixteenth[2]
Military districtThird[7]
Native tribe(s)
Spanish name(s)		Salinan
Native place name(s)Valica [8]
Baptisms2,471[9]
Marriages764[9]
Burials1,868[9]
Secularized1834[2]
Returned to the Church1859[2]
Governing bodyRoman Catholic Diocese of Monterey
Current useParish Church (under repair)
Website
http://www.missionsanmiguel.org/

Mission San Miguel Arcángel was founded on July 25, 1797 by the Franciscan order, on a site chosen specifically due to the large number of Salinan Indians that inhabited the area. It is located at 775 Mission Street, San Miguel, California, in San Luis Obispo County.

The mission remains in use today, though is undergoing earthquake remediation efforts. Inside the church are murals by Esteban Munras[10]

Precontact

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 California, 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.[11] The cultural impacts resulting from climactic changes and other natural events during this broad expanse of time were negligible; conversely, European contact was a momentous event, which profoundly affected California's native peoples.[12]

History

Father Presidente Fermin Francisco de Lasuen founded the mission on July 25, 1797, making it the sixteenth California mission. Its location between Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission San Antonio de Padua provided a stop on the trip that had previously taken two days.[13] In 1803, the mission reported an Indian population of 908, while its lands grazed 809 cattle, 3,223 sheep, 342 horses and 29 mules. That year's harvest included about 2,186 fanegas of wheat and corn (A fanega was about 220 pounds). Most of the mission burned, while still being developed, in 1806. It was rebuilt within a year.[13]

On July 15, 1836, the Mexican government secularized mission lands, including Mission San Miguel, and Colonel Ignacio Coronel took charge.[13]

In 1846, Governor Pío Pico sold the Mission for $600 to Petronillo Rios and William Reed. Reed used the Mission as a family residence and a store. In 1848, Reed and his family were murdered,[14] leaving the Mission vacant for a period of time. The Mission was a stopping place for miners coming from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and was consequently was used as a saloon, dance hall, storeroom and living quarters.

The mission in 2008

In 1859, President Buchanan returned the Mission to the Church.[13]

In 1878, after 38 years without a resident padre, Father Philip Farrelly became the "First Pastor" of Mission San Miguel Arcángel. Through all the years the priests kept the church in condition and it is called the best-preserved church in the mission chain today. In 1928, Mission San Miguel Arcángel and Mission San Antonio de Padua were returned to the Franciscan order. Since then, the Mission has been repaired and restored, and has one of the best-preserved interiors (which gives one of the best examples of old mission life).

For many years, the Mission served the town as an active parish church of the Diocese of Monterey. Unfortunately, harmonic vibrations from the nearby Union Pacific Railroad main line has weakened the unreinforced masonry structures over the years. The San Simeon Earthquake of December 22, 2003 caused severe damage to the sanctuary at Mission San Miguel. It will be a several years before seismic retrofitting of the structure (estimated to cost some $15 million) will be completed; until then, the building is off-limits to the general public.[15]

Features

San Miguel's various-sized arches are a noted feature of this mission
  • The Mission Arcade, a series of 12 arches, is original. The variety of shapes and sizes was planned[13] and the Mission was known for this arcade.
  • The first chapel on the site was replaced within a year of its construction by a larger adobe chapel, which burned in the 1806 fire.[13]
  • The current mission church was built between 1816 and 1818. It is 144 long, 27 feet (8.2 m) wide, and 40 feet (12 m) high.[13]
  • The cemetery adjacent to the church holds the remains of 2,249 Native Americans listed in the Mission's burial records.[13]
  • The painted walls inside the church are the original artwork by artist Esteban Munras and other Salinan artists.[13]

Mission bells

Modern bells facing the freeway, with the old mission wall

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.

Notes

Mission San Miguel Arcángel chapel interior, 1934.
  1. ^ Leffingwell, p. 91
  2. ^ a b c d Krell, p. 254
  3. ^ Engelhardt
  4. ^ Ruscin, p. 129
  5. ^ Yenne, p. 140
  6. ^ Ruscin, p. 196
  7. ^ Forbes, p. 202
  8. ^ Ruscin, p. 195
  9. ^ a b c Krell, p. 315: as of December 31, 1832; information adapted from Engelhardt's Missions and Missionaries of California.
  10. ^ NPS Red Book
  11. ^ Paddison, p. 333: The first undisputable archaeological evidence of human presence in California dates back to circa 8,000 BCE.
  12. ^ Jones and Klar 2005, p. 53: "Understanding how and when humans first settled California is intimately linked to the initial colonization of the Americas."
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Mission San Miguel Arcangel park brochure". undated. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ "Weird California: Mission San Miguel". Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  15. ^ Coronado and Ignatin

References

An interior view of the capilla (chapel) at Mission San Miguel Arcángel circa 1897.
  • Coronado, Michael (June 5, 2006). "Plan would open Prop. 40 funds to missions". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 2008-03-08. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Engelhardt, Zephyrin, O.F.M. (1931). San Miguel Arcángel: The Mission on the Highway. Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Forbes, Alexander (1839). California: A History of Upper and Lower California. Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill, London.
  • Jones, Terry L. and Kathryn A. Klar (eds.) (2007). California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. Altimira Press, Landham, MD. ISBN 0-759-10872-2. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  • Krell, Dorothy (ed.) (1979). The California Missions: A Pictorial History. Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, CA. ISBN 0-376-05172-8. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  • Leffingwell, Randy (2005). California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN. ISBN 0-89658-492-5.
  • Paddison, Joshua (ed.) (1999). A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush. Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA. ISBN 1-890771-13-9. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  • Ruscin, Terry (1999). Mission Memoirs. Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA. ISBN 0-932653-30-8.
  • Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, CA. ISBN 1-59223-319-8.

See also

Mission statue
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