SANTA CLARA DE ASIS
Rivera delayed the founding of San Francisco and Santa Clara for reasons
of his own; and when, in September, 1776, he received a letter from
Viceroy Bucareli, in which were references clearly showing that it was
supposed by the writer that they were already established, he set to
work without further delay, and went with Padre Peña, as already
related. The Mission was duly founded January 12, 1777. A square of
seventy yards was set off and buildings at once begun. Cattle and other
Mission property were sent down from San Francisco and San Carlos, and
the guard returned. But it was not long before the Indians developed an
unholy love for contraband beef, and Moraga and his soldiers were sent
for to capture and punish the thieves. Three of them were killed, but
even then depredations occasionally continued. At the end of the year
there had been sixty-seven baptisms, including eight adults, and
twenty-five deaths.
The present is the third site occupied by Santa Clara. The Mission was
originally established some three miles away, near Alviso, at the
headwaters of the San Francisco Bay, near the river Guadalupe, on a
site called by the Indians So-co-is-u-ka (laurel wood). It was probably
located there on account of its being the chief rendezvous of the
Indians, fishing being good, the river having an abundance of salmon
trout. The Mission remained there only a short time, as the waters rose
twice in 1779, and washed it out. Then the padres removed, in 1780-1782,
and built about 150 yards southwest of the present broad-gauge (Southern
Pacific) depot, where quite recently traces were found of the old adobe
walls. They remained at this spot, deeming the location good, until an
earthquake in 1812 gave them considerable trouble. A second earthquake
in 1818 so injured their buildings that they felt compelled to move to
the present site, which has been occupied ever since. The Mission Church
and other buildings were begun in 1818, and finally dedicated in 1822.
The site was called by the Indians _Gerguensun_--the Valley of the Oaks.
On the 29th of November, 1777, the pueblo of San José was founded. The
padres protested at the time that it was too near the Mission of Santa
Clara, and for the next decade there was constant irritation, owing to
the encroachments of the white settlers upon the lands of the Indians.
Complaints were made and formally acted upon, and in July, 1801, the
boundaries were surveyed, as asked for by the padres, and landmarks
clearly marked and agreed upon so as to prevent future disputes.
In 1800 Santa Clara was the banner Mission for population, having 1247.
Live-stock had increased to about 5000 head of each (cattle and horses),
and crops were good.
In 1802, August 12, a grand high altar, which had been obtained in
Mexico, was consecrated with elaborate ceremonies.
Padre Viader, the priest in charge, was a very muscular and athletic
man; and one night, in 1814, a young gentile giant, named Marcelo, and
two companions attacked him. In the rough and tumble fight which ensued
the padre came out ahead; and after giving the culprits a severe homily
on the sin of attacking a priest, they were pardoned, Marcelo becoming
one of his best and most faithful friends thereafter. Robinson says
Viader was "a good old man, whose heart and soul were in proportion to
his immense figure."
In 1820 the neophyte population was 1357, stock 5024, horses 722, sheep
12,060. The maximum of population was reached in 1827, of 1464 souls.
After that it began rapidly to decline. The crops, too, were smaller
after 1820, without any apparent reason.
In 1837 secularization was effected by Ramon Estrada. In 1839-1840
reports show that two-thirds of the cattle and sheep had disappeared.
The downfall of the Mission was very rapid. The neophyte population in
1832 was 1125, in 1834 about 800, and at the end of the decade about
290, with 150 more scattered in the district.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE DOORS, SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.]
[Illustration: IN THE AMBULATORY AT SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.]
[Illustration: MISSION SANTA CLARA IN 1849.]
[Illustration: CHURCH OF SANTA CLARA. On the site of old Mission of
Santa Clara.]
The total of baptisms from 1777 to 1874 is 8640, of deaths 6950.
The old register of marriages records 3222 weddings from January 12,
1778, to August 15, 1863.
In 1833 Padre Viader closed his missionary service of nearly forty years
in California by leaving the country, and Padre Francisco García Diego,
the prefect of the Zacatecan friars, became his successor. Diego
afterwards became the first bishop of California.
In July, 1839, a party called Yozcolos, doubtless after their leader,
attacked the neophytes guarding the Santa Clara wheat-fields, killing
one of them. The attackers were pursued, and their leader slain, and the
placing of his head on a pole seemed to act as a deterrent of further
acts for awhile.
In December of the same year Prado Mesa made an expedition against
gentile thieves in the region of the Stanislaus River. He was surprised
by the foe, three of his men killed, and he and six others wounded,
besides losing a number of his weapons. This Indian success caused great
alarm, and a regular patrol was organized to operate between San José
and San Juan Missions for the protection of the ranches. This uprising
of the Indians was almost inevitable. Deprived of their maintenance at
the Missions, they were practically thrown on their own resources, and
in many cases this left them a prey to the evil leadership of desperate
men of their own class.
Santa Clara was one of the Missions immediately affected by the decree
of Micheltorena, of March 29, 1843, requiring that the padres reassume
the management of the temporalities. They set to work to gather up what
fragments they could find, but the flocks and herds were "lent" where
they could not be recovered, and one flock of 4000 sheep--the padre says
6000--were taken by M.J. Vallejo, "legally, in aid of the government."
Pio Pico's decree of June 5, 1845, affected Santa Clara. Andrés Pico
made a valuation of the property at $16,173. There were then 130
ex-neophytes, the live-stock had dwindled down to 430 cattle, 215
horses, and 809 sheep. The padre found it necessary to write a sharp
letter to the alcalde of San José on the grog-shops of that pueblo,
which encouraged drinking among his Indians to such extent that they
were completely demoralized.
March 19, 1851, the parish priest, who was a cultivated and learned
Jesuit, and who had prepared the way, succeeded in having the Santa
Clara College established in the old Mission buildings. On the 28th of
April, 1855, it was chartered with all the rights and privileges of a
university. In due time the college grew to large proportions, and it
was found imperative either to remove the old Mission structure
completely, or renovate it out of all recognition. This latter was done,
so that but little of the old church remains.
In restoring it in 1861-1862 the nave was allowed to remain, but in
1885 it was found necessary to remove it. Its walls were five feet
thick. The adobe bricks were thrown out upon the plaza behind the cross.
The present occupation of Santa Clara as a university as well as a
church necessitated the adaptation of the old cloisters to meet the
modern conditions. Therefore the casual visitor would scarcely notice
that the reception-room into which he is ushered is a part of the old
cloisters. The walls are about three feet thick, and are of adobe. In
the garden the beams of the cloister roofs are to be seen.
The old Mission vineyard, where the grapes used to thrive, is now
converted into a garden. A number of the old olive trees still remain.
Of the three original bells of the Mission, two still call the faithful
to worship. One was broken and had to be recast in San Francisco.
On the altar, there are angels with flambeaux in their hands, of wooden
carving. These are deemed the work of the Indians. There are also
several old statues of the saints, including San Joaquin, Santa Ana, San
Juan Capistrano, and Santa Colette. In the sodality chapel, also, there
are statues of San Francisco and San Antonio. The altar rail of the
restored Santa Clara church was made from the beams of the old Mission.
These were of redwood, secured from the Santa Cruz mountains, and, I
believe, are the earliest specimens of redwood used for lumber in
California The rich natural coloring and the beauty of the grain and
texture have improved with the years The old octagonal pulpit, though
not now used is restored and honored, standing upon a modern pedestal.
Santa Clara was noted for the longevity of some of its Indians. One of
them, Gabriel, who died in 1891 or 1892 at the hospital in Salinas,
claimed he was a grandfather when Serra came in 1767. He must have been
over 150 years old when he died. Another, Inigo, was known to be 101
years of age at his death.
In a room in the college building is gathered together an interesting
collection of articles belonging to the old Mission. Here are the chairs
of the sanctuary, processional candlesticks, pictures, and the best
bound book in the State--an old choral. It rests on a stand at the end
of the room. The lids are of wood, covered with thick leather and bound
in very heavy bronze, with bosses half an inch high. Each corner also
has bronze protuberances, half an inch long, that stand out on the
bottom, or edge of the cover, so that they raise the whole book. The
volume is of heaviest vellum and is entirely hand-written in red and
black; and though a century or more has passed since it was written it
is clear and perfect, has 139 pages. The brothers of the college have
placed this inscription over it: "Ancient choral, whose wooden cover,
leather bound and covered in bronze, came, probably, originally from
Spain, and has age of some 500 years."
In a case which extends across the room are ancient vestments, the key
of the old Mission, statuary brackets from the ancient altar, the altar
bell, crown of thorns from the Mission crucifix, altar card-frames, and
the rosary and crucifix that once belonged to Padre Magin Catalá.
Padre Catalá, the good man of Santa Clara, is deemed by the leaders of
the Catholic Church in California to be worthy the honors and elevation
of sainthood, and proceedings are now in operation before the highest
Court of the Church in Rome to see whether he is entitled to these
posthumous honors. The Franciscan historian for California, Father
Zephyrin Englehardt, has written a book entitled _The Holy Man of Santa
Clara_, in which not only the life of Padre Catalá is given, but the
whole of the procedure necessary to convince the Church tribunal of his
worth and sainthood. The matter is not yet (1913) settled.
On the walls are some of the ancient paintings, one especially
noteworthy. It is of Christ multiplying the loaves and fishes (John vi.
II). While it is not a great work of art, the benignity and sweetness of
the Christ face redeem it from crudeness. With upraised right hand he is
blessing the loaves which rest in his left hand, while the boy with the
fishes kneels reverently at his feet.
The University of Santa Clara is now rapidly erecting its new buildings,
in a modified form of Mission architecture, to meet its enlarging needs
The buildings, when completed, will present to the world a great
institution of learning--the oldest west of the Rocky Mountains--well
equipped in every department for the important labor in the education of
the Catholic youth of California and the west that it has undertaken.