Mission La Purísima Concepción

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Other missions bearing the name La Purísima Concepción include
Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción near Yuma, Arizona,
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña in San Antonio, Texas,
Misión La Purísima Concepción de Cadegomó in Baja California Sur, and
Misión La Purísima Concepción de Caborca, in Caborca, Sonora.

**Mission La Purísima Concepción**
Location	Santa Barbara County, California
The ruins of Mission La Purísima Concepción, circa 1900.
Name as Founded	La Misión de La Purísima Concepción de Santísima Virgen María ^[1]
Translation	The Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Sainted Virgin Mary
Namesake	The Immaculate Conception of the Sainted Virgin Mary
Founding Date	December 8, 1787 ^[2]
Founding Priest(s)	Father Fermín Lasuén
Founding Order	Eleventh
Headquarters of the Alta California Mission System	1815–1819^[3]
Military District	Second
Native Tribe(s) Spanish Name(s)	Purisimeño
Owner	State of California
Current Use	Museum
National Historic Landmark	#NPS-70000147
California Historical Landmark	#340
Web Site	http://www.lapurisimamission.org

Mission La Purísima Concepción, the second mission site to bear the name, was founded on the "Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin" (December 8), 1787. The present site is located east of the City of Lompoc, California between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The City of Lompoc was so small that the Roman Catholic Church made an exception to the rule that no mission is to be established within seven miles from any city (the original site of La Purísima was only one mile from the tiny town). It was moved four miles east of the town in 1812 after the Santa Barbara Earthquake severely damaged the Mission buildings on December 21st of that year.

In 1824, there was a major Indian revolt at the Mission. Spain had stopped funding the missions after Mexico won its independence, and there were many soldiers at the Mission who were no longer being paid and took out their frustrations on the local Chumash Indians. A soldier had beat an Indian at Mission Santa Inés and a revolt spread to Mission La Purísima, where the Indians took over the Mission for one month until more soldiers arrived from Monterey; after a three-hour battle, the Indians lost. Many of the Indians left the Mission soon thereafter; those who did not fight and were hiding in the mountains during the revolt came back to the Mission, but there were not enough of them to keep the Mission going as it once had.

Following Mexican secularization in 1843, the grounds were abandoned; in 1934, only nine of the buildings remained. The Civilian Conservation Corps pledged to restore the Mission if enough land could given back to make the Mission into a historical monument. The Church and the Union Oil Company then donated enough land for the restoration. The buildings were all reinforced and reconstructed (including many small structures and the original water system) to such an extent that La Purísima is considered to be the only example in California of a "complete" mission complex. The dedication day for the newly-restored Mission La Purísima Concepción was December 7, 1941, ironically the same day the United States entered World War II.

The grounds are part of a historic park and are well cared for by the State of California Department of Parks. The Mission is no longer used as a parish church; it has a visitors center and a museum on the grounds in the old infirmary buildings.

1 Other historic designations
2 Notes
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Other historic designations

National Register of Historic Places #NPS-78000775 — original Mission La Purísima Concepción site
California Historical Landmark #350 — original Mission La Purísima Concepción site

[edit] Notes

^ Leffingwell, p. 79
^ Yenne, p. 104
^ Yenne, p. 186

[edit] References

Leffingwell, Randy (2005). California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN. ISBN 0-89658-492-5.
Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, CA. ISBN 1-59223-319-8.