Wednesday was a stay in the park day for both Paulette and myself. Paulette went to her Quilting Group at the clubhouse and I just hung around the park doing as little as possible. It was another beautiful, hot, sunny day here in the desert, so it was a perfect day for relaxing after a lot of driving to San Diego and back on Tuesday.
The First Mission - Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala in San Diego, CA
Tuesday, I managed to squeeze in trips to 2 more Missions, so I think that brings my total of Missions visited up to 5 – 16 left to go. Since I didn’t do much worth writing about Wednesday, I’m going to write, as promised, about our visit to California’s 1st Mission – the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala.
The main church where martyred Father Luis Jayme is buried beneath the altar
First of a chain of 21 Missions, and California’s first church, it is known as the Mother of the Missions, and was founded on July 16, 1769 by Father Junipero Serra. It was designated as a Minor Basilica in 1976 by Pope Paul VI. The Mission today is an active Catholic Parish in the Diocese of San Diego.
Several graves mark the spot where Mission priests are buried
In 1775, just one year after the church was completed, the Mission was attacked by Indians who destroyed it by burning it to the ground. Father Luis Jayme was killed in this attack when he tried to calm the Indians. Father Jayme became the first Christian martyr in California and is buried in the Mission Sanctuary.
Father Juniper Serra – founder of the first, and many other, Missions 
Father Serra returned to the gutted site in 1776 and began reconstruction of the church and Mission buildings. This time, however, they used adobe to cover the walls and tile roofs which had the effect of making them fire resistant in the event of any future attacks.
An old Franciscan Latin prayer book
By 1780, most of the reconstruction of the Mission and its outbuildings was completed. The church and other buildings were arranged in a quadrangle around a patio. Reestablishing the mission was a long, difficult process. This mission was always one of the poorest. The land was difficult to till, the water not always plentiful.
This is the priest’s chapel in the Mission
Slowly, Mission San Diego de Alcala became more productive. By 1797, the land area encompassed 50,000 acres, harvesting corn, wheat, barley, kidney beans and chick peas; vineyards produced enough grapes for wine and gardens yielded vegetables. The mission owned 20,000 sheep, 10,000 cattle, and 1250 horses.
The Mission Bell of the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. 
During the Mexican Occupation of California, the Act of Secularization caused the Mission San Diego to be given over to Santiago Arguello. The result was it fell into a state of disrepair, and at one point, was even abandoned. In 1862, the Mission lands were restored to the Church by order of President Abraham Lincoln.
This is a replica of an Indian hut used in the 1800’s
In 1931, the Mission was rebuilt to mirror the 1813 church. It is an active Catholic parish and is visited by thousands of fourth graders from throughout the state studying California history. In fact, while we were touring the Mission, Docents were leading 2 groups of schoolchildren through the Mission.
We are looking forward to visiting more of these fascinating Missions and hopefully, one day, we will have visited all 21 in the state of California.
Have a great Thursday, and thanks again for visiting!
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