Originally posted by David K
Not always an easy question to answer for several reasons!
First, one must define what a "mission" was. There are specific conditions that made a place a mission. It wasn't just a church, but a community of
activities and people with multiple structures and often satellite supporting sub-missions, called 'visitas'. A mission was like a corporation in that
it was made up of people and property, and could be in more than one place during its existence. The first 17 missions had to be financed by donation,
typically from wealthy Europeans. There was much paperwork and documentation to support the mission foundations under the Jesuit Order. The
Franciscans and Dominicans who followed the Jesuits were under civil authority, so the Spanish government had to give the authorization and financing
for the missions after 1768.
Second, one must exclude counting the multiple sites that some (nearly half) of the missions occupied during their years. Missions would move if the
water supply was inadequate, or more farmlands were needed than anticipated, etc. Sometimes the new site used a different name than the original, but
it was the same ‘mission’. Los Dolores moved to a visita called La Pasión, and the visita name was more often used after the move. The same is true
for the mission at La Paz Bay when it moved to Todos Santos (which was the visita name and later became a mission called Santa Rosa de las Palmas).
The two missions there ( Santa Rosa and Pilar de la Paz) were both typically called Todos Santos.
Third, some of the books and records over the past 317 years use different names for the same mission and some missions existed only on paper and
never were established or used a different name than the ‘paper name’. Dolores del Norte is an example of a mission that existed only on paper. When
funds were available to begin that mission, the benefactor (sponsor) had requested the name to be changed. So it was, to Santa Gertrudis. Sometimes
books incorrectly called a visita a mission, perhaps because it was planned to be one or its size seemed more like a mission to the writers. San Juan
Bautista Londo was one such visita north of Loreto, and San Miguel (Comondú) was another.
Finally, the last Spanish mission would be one founded while Baja California was still part of Spain and authorized and funded by the Spanish
government. This would make Santa Catalina (1797) the last Spanish mission. Two ‘missions’ founded later were actually the actions of Dominican
priests, but were not established while Spain was in control. They are El Descanso (1810 & 1830) and Guadalupe (1834). El Descanso was first a new
location for San Miguel begun in late 1809 or early 1810 after floods destroyed the fields at San Miguel. In 1830, new buildings were erected at El
Descanso and it was then called a mission, but always part of Mission San Miguel in any documentation. This was 8 years after Mexico won its war of
independence. Guadalupe was the project of the same Dominican (Felix Caballero) that operated San Miguel and El Descanso, and in reality was just a
new location for the San Miguel mission. These last two missions are more correctly called Mexican missions or Caballero’s missions. Spain had no
input into their construction and no longer had control of Mexico.
The Jesuits founded 17 missions from Loreto, south to San José del Cabo and north to Santa María. During their over 70 years, they only closed three
missions: San Juan Buatista de Malibat (Ligüí) , Santa Rosa de las Palmas and San Jose del Cabo. Ligüí was a poor location and was often raided by
hostile Indians. Santa Rosa was replaced by the mission at La Paz which moved to it. La Paz being the senior mission, so its name remained. San José
del Cabo became a visita of Santiago for 20 years after 1748. That leaves 14 missions active when the Franciscan arrived to replace the removed
Jesuits, in 1768. That same year, shortly after the Franciscans had begun operations, the government closed the missions of Los Dolores and San Luis
Gonzaga, but had earlier re-established San José del Cabo as a mission. The final total is 13 missions at the end of 1768.
During their 5 years operation the Baja California missions, the Franciscans built visitas, adobe mission churches and founded one new mission, San
Fernando de Velicatá (1769). Total count on the peninsula was 14, until 1774, when the Dominicans arrived and began adding new missions.
The Dominicans were given the over 200 mile long region between San Fernando de Velicata and San Diego to add 5 missions along El Camino Real and 2
more missions in the mountains. Other missions were planned, as well as a corridor across the Colorado River to connect with the missions of mainland
Mexico. The mission system became obsolete before that could happen, both from the end of Spanish control and from the lack of native Indians to
instruct and civilize. The last mission in Baja California to remain operating and have a resident priest was Santo Tomás in 1849. The last two
Dominican missionaries worked in the Todos Santos and San Antonio churches until they left Baja California, from La Paz, in 1855.
The numbers: Jesuits: 17; Franciscans: 1; Dominicans: 7 = 25 Spanish Missions in Baja California. The next two might be called Mexican Missions to
give a total of 27 missions.
The telling of history never gets boring when new information and discoveries are made. Having studied and written about missions since my high school
years, 40 years ago, I am fascinated to find new details that have eluded most book authors and am happy to put them in one place for better
understanding and research.
See the details of the missions posted by Discover Baja Travel Club on their blog page: http://www.discoverbaja.com/category/missions-of-baja-califo...
Questions on the Old California Missions are welcome!
[Edited on 8-13-2014 by David K] |
