Mission San Miguel Arcángel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Another mission bearing the name San Miguel Arcángel is the Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera in Baja California.
 The "Mission on the Highway" circa 1910. |
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| Location | San Miguel, California |
|---|---|
| Name as Founded | La Misión del Gloriosísimo Príncipe Arcángel, Señor San Miguel [1] |
| English Translation | The Mission of the Glorious Prince, Archangel Saint Michael |
| Patron | Archangel Saint Michael [2] |
| Nickname(s) | "Mission on the Highway" [3] "The Unretouched Mission" [4] |
| Founding Date | July 25, 1797 [5] |
| Founding Priest(s) | Father Fermín Lasuén [6] |
| Founding Order | Sixteenth [2] |
| Military District | Third [7] |
| Native Tribe(s) Spanish Name(s) |
Salinan |
| Native Place Name(s) | Valica [8] |
| Baptisms | 2,471 [9] |
| Marriages | 764 [9] |
| Burials | 1,868 [9] |
| Secularized | 1834 [2] |
| Returned to the Church | 1859 [2] |
| Governing Body | Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey |
| Current Use | Parish Church (under repair) |
| Coordinates | |
| National Historic Landmark | #NPS-71000191 |
| Date added to the NRHP | 1971 |
| California Historical Landmark | #326 |
| Web Site | 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.
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[edit] 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.[10] 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.[11]
[edit] 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.[12]
Most of the mission burned, while still being developed, in 1806. It was rebuilt within a year.[12]
On July 15, 1836, the Mexican government secularized mission lands, including Mission San Miguel, and Colonel Ignacio Coronel took charge.[12]
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[13], 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.
In 1859, President Buchanan returned the Mission to the Church.[12]
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.[14]
[edit] Features
- The Mission Arcade, a series of 12 arches, is original. The variety of shapes and sizes was planned[12] 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.[12]
- The current mission church was built between 1816 and 1818. It is 144 long, 27 feet wide, and 40 feet high. [12]
- The cemetery adjacent to the church holds the remains of 2,249 Native Americans listed in the Mission's burial records. [12]
- The painted walls inside the church are the original artwork by artist Esteban Munras and other Salinan artists.[12]
[edit] Mission bells
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.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Leffingwell, p. 91
- ^ a b c d Krell, p. 254
- ^ Engelhardt
- ^ Ruscin, p. 129
- ^ Yenne, p. 140
- ^ Ruscin, p. 196
- ^ Forbes, p. 202
- ^ Ruscin, p. 195
- ^ a b c Krell, p. 315: as of December 31, 1832; information adapted from Engelhardt's Missions and Missionaries of California.
- ^ Paddison, p. 333: The first undisputable archaeological evidence of human presence in California dates back to circa 8,000 BCE.
- ^ Jones and Klar 2005, p. 53: "Understanding how and when humans first settled California is intimately linked to the initial colonization of the Americas."
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Mission San Miguel Arcangel park brochure" (undated).
- ^ Weird California: Mission San Miguel.
- ^ Coronado and Ignatin
[edit] References
- Coronado, Michael; Heather Ignatin. "Plan would open Prop. 40 funds to missions", The Orange County Register, June 5, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
- Engelhardt, Zephyrin, O.F.M. (1931). San Miguel Arcángel: The Mission on the Highway. Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA.
- 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.
- Krell, Dorothy (ed.) (1979). The California Missions: A Pictorial History. Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, CA. ISBN 0-376-05172-8.
- 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.
- 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.
[edit] See also
- USNS Mission San Miguel (AO-129) — a Buenaventura Class fleet oiler built during World War II.
[edit] External links
- Official web site - Includes an online tour of the mission interior and some exterior
- Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper
- Virtual Reality Panorama "Inside Mission San Miguel"
- NPS description of Mission San Miguel
- Early photographs, sketches, land surveys of Mission San Miguel Arcángel, via Calisphere, California Digital Library
- Early History of the California Coast, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
| California missions |
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San Diego de Alcalá (1769) · San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (1770) · San Antonio de Padua (1771) · San Gabriel Arcángel (1771) · San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (1772) · San Francisco de Asís (1776) · San Juan Capistrano (1776) · Santa Clara de Asís (1777) · San Buenaventura (1782) · Santa Barbara (1786) · La Purísima Concepción (1787) · Santa Cruz (1791) · Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (1791) · San José (1797) · San Juan Bautista (1797) · San Miguel Arcángel (1797) · San Fernando Rey de España (1797) · San Luis Rey de Francia (1798) · Santa Inés (1804) · San Rafael Arcángel (1817) · San Francisco Solano (1823) Asistencias Estancias |
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