SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
On the tragic events at San Diego that led to the delay in the founding
of San Juan Capistrano I have already fully dwelt. The Mission was
founded by Serra, November 1, 1776, and the adobe church recently
restored by the Landmarks Club is said to be the original church built
at that time.
Troubles began here early, as at San Gabriel, owing to the immorality of
the guards with the Indian women, and in one disturbance three Indians
were killed and several wounded. In 1781 the padre feared another
uprising, owing to incitements of the Colorado River Indians, who came
here across the desert and sought to arouse the local Indians to revolt.
[Illustration: FACHADA OF MISSION SAN FRANCISCO.]
[Illustration: RUINS OF MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.]
[Illustration: ARCHED CLOISTERS AT SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.]
[Illustration: ARCHED CORRIDORS AT SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.]
In 1787 Governor Fages reported that San Juan was in a thoroughly
prosperous condition; lands were fertile, ministers faithful and
zealous, and natives well disposed. In 1800 the number of neophytes was
1046, horses and cattle 8500, while it had the vast number of 17,000
sheep. Crops were 6300 bushels, and in 1797 the presidios of Santa
Barbara and San Diego owed San Juan Mission over $6000 for supplies
furnished. In 1794 two large adobe granaries with tile roofs, and forty
houses for neophytes were built. In February, 1797, work was begun on
the church, the remains of which are now to be seen. It is in the form
of a Roman cross, ninety feet wide and a hundred and eighty feet long,
and was planned by Fray Gorgonio. It was probably the finest of all the
California Mission structures. Built of quarried stone, with arched roof
of the same material and a lofty tower adorning its _fachada_, it
justifies the remark that "it could not be duplicated to-day under
$100,000."
The consecration of the beautiful new church took place, September 7,
1806. President Tapis was aided by padres from many Missions, and the
scene was made gorgeous and brilliant by the presence of Governor
Arrillaga and his staff, with many soldiers from San Diego and
Santa Barbara.
The following day another mass was said and sermon preached, and on the
9th the bones of Padre Vicente Fuster were transferred to their final
resting-place within the altar of the new church. A solemn requiem mass
was chanted, thus adding to the solemnity of the occasion.
The church itself originally had seven domes. Only two now remain. In
the earthquake of 1812, when the tower fell, one of the domes was
crushed, but the others remained fairly solid and intact until the
sixties of the last century, when, with a zeal that outran all
discretion, and that the fool-killer should have been permitted to
restrain, they were blown up with gunpowder by mistaken friends who
expected to rebuild the church with the same material, but never did so.
This earthquake of 1812 was felt almost the whole length of the Mission
chain, and it did much damage. It occurred on Sunday morning December 8.
At San Juan a number of neophytes were at morning mass; the day had
opened with intense sultriness and heaviness; the air was hot and seemed
charged with electricity. Suddenly a shock was felt. All were alarmed,
but, devoted to his high office, the padre began again the solemn words,
when, suddenly, the second shock came and sent the great tower crashing
down upon one of the domes or vaults, and in a moment the whole mass of
masonry came down upon the congregation. Thirty-nine were buried in the
next two days, and four were taken out of the ruins later. The
officiating priest escaped, as by a miracle, through the sacristy.
It was in 1814 that Padre Boscana, who had been serving at San Luis Rey,
came to reside at San Juan Capistrano, where he wrote the interesting
account of the Indians that is so often quoted. In 1812, its population
gained its greatest figure, 1361.
In November, 1833, Figueroa secularized the Mission by organizing a
"provisional pueblo" of the Indians, and claiming that the padres
voluntarily gave up the temporalities. There is no record of any
inventory, and what became of the church property is not known. Lands
were apportioned to the Indians by Captain Portilla. The following year,
most probably, all this provisional work of Figueroa's was undone, and
the Mission was secularized in the ordinary way, but in 1838 the Indians
begged for the pueblo organization again, and freedom from overseers,
whether lay or clerical. In 1840 Padre Zalvidea was instructed to
emancipate them from Mission rule as speedily as possible. Janssens was
appointed majordomo, and he reported that he zealously worked for the
benefit of the Mission, repairing broken fences and ditches, bringing
back runaway neophytes, clothing them and caring for the stock. But
orders soon began to come in for the delivery of cattle and horses,
applications rapidly came in for grants of the Mission ranches, and
about the middle of June, 1841, the lands were divided among the
ex-neophytes, about 100 in number, and some forty whites. At the end of
July regulations were published for the foundation of the pueblo, and
Don Juan Bandini soon thereafter went to supervise the work. He remained
until March, 1842, in charge of the community property, and then left
about half a dozen white families and twenty or more ex-neophytes duly
organized as a pueblo.
In 1843 San Juan was one of the Missions the temporalities of which were
to be restored to the Padres, provided they paid one-eighth of all
produce into the public treasury. In 1844 it was reported that San Juan
had no minister, and all its neophytes were scattered. In 1845 Pico's
decree was published, stating that it was to be considered a pueblo; the
church, curate's house and court-house should be reserved, and the rest
of the property sold at auction for the payment of debts and the support
of public worship. In December of that year the ex-Mission buildings and
gardens were sold to Forster and McKinley for $710, the former of whom
retained possession for many years. In 1846 the pueblo was reported as
possessing a population of 113 souls.
Twenty years ago there used to be one of the best of the Mission
libraries at San Juan. The books were all in old-style leather,
sheepskin and parchment bindings, some of them tied with leathern
thongs, and a few having heavy homemade metal clasps. They were all in
Latin or Spanish, and were well known books of divinity. The first page
of the record of marriages was written and signed by Junipero Serra.
[Illustration: CAMPANILE AND RUINS OF MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.]
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO CHAPEL.]
[Illustration: INNER COURT AND RUINED ARCHES, MISSION SAN JUAN
CAPISTRANO.]
[Illustration: BELLS OF MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.]
There are still several interesting relics; among others, two
instruments, doubtless Indian-made, used during the Easter services. One
is a board studded with handle-like irons, which, when moved rapidly
from side to side, makes a hideous noise. Another is a three-cornered
box, on which are similar irons, and in this a loose stone is rattled In
the service called "las tinieblas,"--the utter darkness,--expressive of
the darkness after the crucifixion, when the church is absolutely
without light, the appalling effect of these noises, heightened by the
clanking of chains, is indescribable. In proof of the tireless industry
of the priests and Indians of their charge, there are to be found at San
Juan many ruins of the aqueducts, or flumes, some of brick, others of
wood, supported across ravines, which conveyed the water needed to
irrigate the eighty acres of orchard, vineyard, and garden that used to
be surrounded by an adobe wall. Reservoirs, cisterns, and zanjas of
brick, stone, and cement are seen here and there, and several remnants
of the masonry aqueducts are still found in the village.