SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA
The third Mission of the series was founded in honor of San Antonio de
Padua, July 14, 1771, by Serra, accompanied by Padres Pieras and Sitjar.
One solitary Indian heard the dedicatory mass, but Serra's enthusiasm
knew no bounds. He was assured that this "first fruit of the wilderness"
would go forth and bring many of his companions to the priests.
Immediately after the mass he hastened to the Indian, lavished much
attention on him, and gave him gifts. That same day many other Indians
came and clearly indicated a desire to stay with such pleasant company.
They brought pine-nuts and acorns, and the padres gave them in exchange
strings of glass beads of various colors.
At once buildings were begun, in which work the Indians engaged with
energy, and soon church and dwellings, surrounded by a palisade, were
completed. From the first the Indians manifested confidence in the
padres, and the fifteen days that Padre Serra remained were days of
intense joy and gladness at seeing the readiness of natives to associate
with him and his brother priests. Without delay they began to learn the
language of the Indians, and when they had made sufficient progress they
devoted much time to catechising them. In two years 158 natives were
baptized and enrolled, and instead of relying upon the missionaries for
food, they brought in large quantities of acorns, pine-nuts, squirrels,
and rabbits. The Mission being located in the heart of the mountains,
where pine and oak trees grew luxuriantly, the pine-nut and acorn were
abundant. Before the end of 1773 the church and dwellings were all
built, of adobe, and three soldiers, who had married native women, were
living in separate houses.
In August of 1774 occurred the first trouble. The gentile Indians,
angered at the progress of the Mission and the gathering in of so many
of their people, attacked the Mission and wounded an Indian about to be
baptized. When the news reached Rivera at Monterey, he sent a squad of
soldiers, who captured the culprits, gave them a flogging, and
imprisoned them. Later they were flogged again, and, after a few days in
the stocks, they were released.
In 1779 an alcalde and regidore were chosen from the natives to assist
in the administration of justice. In 1800 the report shows that the
neophyte population was 1118, with 767 baptisms and 656 deaths. The
cattle and horses had decreased from 2232 of the last report to 2217,
but small stock had slightly increased. In 1787 the church was regarded
as the best in California, though it was much improved later, for in
1797 it is stated that it was of adobes with a tiled roof. In 1793 the
large adobe block, eighty varas long and one vara wide, was constructed
for friars' houses, church and storehouse, and it was doubtless this
church that was tiled four years later.
In 1805 it gained its highest population, there being 1296 Indians under
its control. The lands of the Mission were found to be barren,
necessitating frequent changes in cultivated fields and stock ranges.
In 1808 the venerable Buenaventura Sitjar, one of the founders of the
Mission, and who had toiled there continuously for thirty-seven years,
passed to his reward, and was buried in sight of the hills he had loved
so long. The following year, or in 1810, work was begun on a newer and
larger church of adobes, and this is doubtless the building whose ruins
now remain. Though we have no record of its dedication, there is no
question but that it took place prior to 1820, and in 1830 references
are made to its arched corridors, etc., built of brick. Robinson, who
visited it in this year, says the whole Mission is built of brick, but
in this he is in error. The _fachada_ is of brick, but the main part of
the building is of adobe. Robinson speaks thus of the Mission and its
friar: "Padre Pedro Cabot, the present missionary director, I found to
be a fine, noble-looking man, whose manner and whole deportment would
have led one to suppose he had been bred in the courts of Europe,
rather than in the cloister. Everything was in the most perfect order:
the Indians cleanly and well dressed, the apartments tidy, the
workshops, granaries, and storehouses comfortable and in good keeping."
[Illustration: RUINS Of MISSION SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]
[Illustration: DUTTON HOTEL, JOLON. On the old stage route between San
Francisco and Los Angeles, near Mission San Antonio de Padua.]
[Illustration: RUINED CORRIDORS AT SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA.]
In 1834 Cabot retired to give place to Padre Jesus María Vasquez del
Mercado, one of the newly arrived Franciscans from Zacatecas. In this
year the neophyte population had dwindled to 567, and five years later
Visitador Hartwell found only 270 living at the Mission and its
adjoining ranches. It is possible, however, that there were fully as
many more living at a distance of whom he gained no knowledge, as the
official report for 1840 gives 500 neophytes.
Manuel Crespo was the comisionado for secularization in 1835, and he and
Padre Mercado had no happy times together. Mercado made it so unpleasant
that six other administrators were appointed in order to please him, but
it was a vain attempt. As a consequence, the Indians felt the
disturbances and discord, and became discontented and unmanageable.
In 1843, according to Governor Micheltorena's order of March 29, the
temporal control of the Mission was restored to the padre. But, though
the order was a kindly one, and relieved the padre from the interference
of officious, meddling, inefficient, and dishonest "administrators," it
was too late to effect any real service.
As far as I can learn, Pico's plan did not affect San Antonio, and it
was not one of those sold by him in 1845-1846. In 1848 Padre Doroteo
Ambris was in charge as curate. For thirty years he remained here, true
to his calling, an entirely different kind of man from the quarrelsome,
arrogant, drinking, and gambling Mercado. He finally died at San
Antonio, and was buried in the Mission he guarded so well.
In 1904 the California Historic Landmarks League (Inc.) undertook the
preservation of San Antonio, but little has yet been accomplished. Much
more should speedily be done, if the walls are to be kept from falling.