Mission San Juan Bautista was founded June 24, 1797 by Father Fermin Lasuén. A year later, in 1798, the first church was complete. Named after John the Baptist, Mission San Juan Bautista was located north of Salinas and ranked fifteenth in the California Mission Chain. …
Mission San Miguel Arcángel, sixteenth in the Chain of California Missions, was founded on July 25, 1797 by Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuén and named for Saint Michael the Archangel, the “Most Glorious Prince of the Celestial Militia”. The location was chosen …
Mission San Fernando Rey de España, the seventeenth mission in the chain, was founded on September 8, 1797. The location in San Fernando was a prime spot, along the main highway leading to Los Angeles. This made it a convenient resting place …
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, also known as Mission San Luis Rey or San Luis Rey Mission Church, was founded on June 13, 1798 by Father Fermin Lasuén and named for Louis IX, King of France (1215-1270). The mission …
Mission Santa Inés Virgen y Mártir, founded on September 17, 1804, by Father Estévan Tapís, was the nineteenth mission dedicated in the State of California. It completed the chain between San Francisco and San Diego. The mission’s inland location in …
Mission San Rafael Arcángel, twentieth in the California Mission Chain, was founded on December 14, 1817 by Father Vicente de Sarria and named Saint Raphael the Archangel, patron of good health. The mission was initially established as a convalescent hospital for the ailing Native Americans …
Mission San Francisco de Solano was founded in Sonoma July 4, 1823 by Father José Altimira and named for Saint Francis Solano, missionary to the Peruvian Indians. The mission was dedicated in April 1824 and in 1827 the original church was …