SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
The second of the "filling up the links of the chain" Missions was that
of San Juan Bautista. Three days after the commandant of San Francisco
had received his orders to furnish a guard for the founders of Mission
San José, the commandant of Monterey received a like order for a guard
for the founders of San Juan Bautista. This consisted of five men and
Corporal Ballesteros. By June 17 this industrious officer had erected a
church, missionary-house, granary, and guard-house, and a week later
Lasuen, with the aid of two priests, duly founded the new Mission. The
site was a good one, and by 1800 crops to the extent of 2700 bushels
were raised. At the same time 516 neophytes were reported--not bad for
two and a half years' work.
In 1798 the gentiles from the mountains twenty-five miles east of San
Juan, the Ansayames, surrounded the Mission by night, but were prevailed
upon to retire. Later some of the neophytes ran away and joined these
hostiles, and then a force was sent to capture the runaways and
administer punishment. In the ensuing fight a chief was killed and
another wounded, and two gentiles brought in to be forcibly educated.
Other rancherías were visited, fifty fugitives arrested, and a few
floggings and many warnings given.
[Illustration: RUINED WALLS AND NEW BELL TOWER, MISSION SAN JUAN
BAUTISTA]
[Illustration: FACHADA OF MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA]
[Illustration: MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, FROM THE PLAZA]
[Illustration: THE ARCHED CORRIDOR, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA]
This did not prevent the Ansayames, however, from killing two Mutsunes
at San Benito Creek, burning a house and some wheat-fields, and
seriously threatening the Mission. Moraga was sent against them and
captured eighteen hostiles and the chiefs of the hostile rancherías.
Almost as bad as warlike Indians were the earthquakes of that year,
several in number, which cracked all the adobe walls of the buildings
and compelled everybody--friars and Indians--to sleep out of doors
for safety.
In 1803 the governor ordered the padres of San Juan to remove their
stock from La Brea rancho, which had been granted to Mariano Castro.
They refused on the grounds that the rancho properly belonged to the
Mission and should not have been granted to Castro, and on appeal the
viceroy confirmed their contention.
In June of this year the corner-stone of a new church was laid. Padre
Viader conducted the ceremonies, aided by the resident priests. Don José
de la Guerra was the sponsor, and Captain Font and Surgeon
Morelos assisted.
In June, 1809, the image of San Juan was placed on the high altar in the
sacristy, which served for purposes of worship until the completion of
the church.
By the end of the decade the population had grown to 702, though the
number of deaths was large, and it continued slowly to increase until in
1823 it reached its greatest population with 1248 souls.
The new church was completed and dedicated on June 23, 1812. In 1818 a
new altar was completed, and a painter named Chavez demanded six reals a
day for decorating. As the Mission could not afford this, a Yankee,
known as Felipe Santiago--properly Thomas Doak--undertook the work,
aided by the neophytes. In 1815 one of the ministers was Estéban Tapis,
who afterwards became the presidente.
In 1836 San Juan was the scene of the preparations for hostility begun
by José Castro and Alvarado against Governor Gutierrez. Meetings were
held at which excited speeches were made advocating revolutionary
methods, and the fife and drum were soon heard by the peaceful
inhabitants of the old Mission. Many of the whites joined in with
Alvarado and Castro, and the affair ultimated in the forced exile of the
governor; Castro took his place until Alvarado was elected by the
_diputacion_.
The regular statistics of San Juan cease in 1832, when there were 916
Indians registered. In 1835, according to the decree of secularization,
63 Indians were "emancipated." Possibly these were the heads of
families. Among these were to be distributed land valued at $5120,
live-stock, including 41 horses, $1782, implements, effects,
etc., $1467.
The summary of statistics from the founding of the Mission in 1797 to
1834 shows 4100 baptisms, 1028 marriages, 3027 deaths. The largest
number of cattle owned was 11,000 in 1820, 1598 horses in 1806, 13,000
sheep in 1816.
In 1845, when Pico's decree was issued, San Juan was considered a
pueblo, and orders given for the sale of all property except a curate's
house, the church, and a court-house. The inventory gave a value of
$8000. The population was now about 150, half of whom were whites and
the other half Indians.
It will be remembered that it was at San Juan that Castro organized his
forces to repel what he considered the invasion of Frémont in 1846. From
Gavilan heights, near by, the explorer looked down and saw the warlike
preparations directed against him, and from there wrote his declaration:
"I am making myself as strong as possible, in the intention that if we
are unjustly attacked we will fight to extremity and refuse quarter,
trusting to our country to avenge our death."
In 1846 Pico sold all that remained of San Juan Bautista--the
orchard--to O. Deleissèques for a debt, and though he did not obtain
possession at the time, the United States courts finally confirmed his
claim. This was the last act in the history of the once
prosperous Mission.
The entrance at San Juan Bautista seems more like that of a prison than
a church. The Rev Valentin Closa, of the Company of Jesus, who for many
years has had charge here, found that some visitors were so
irresponsible that thefts were of almost daily occurrence. So he had a
wooden barrier placed across the church from wall to wall, and floor to
ceiling, through which a gate affords entrance, and this gate is kept
padlocked with as constant watchfulness as is that of a prison. Passing
this barrier, the two objects that immediately catch one's eye are the
semicircular arch dividing the church from the altar and the old wooden
pulpit on the left.
Of the modern bell-tower it can only be said that it is a pity necessity
seemed to compel the erection of such an abortion. The old padres
seldom, if ever, failed in their architectural taste. However one may
criticise their lesser work, such as the decorations, he is compelled to
admire their _large_ work; they were right, powerful, and dignified in
their straightforward simplicity. And it is pathetic that in later days,
when workmen and money were scarce, the modern priests did not see some
way of overcoming obstacles that would have been more harmonious with
the old plans than is evidenced by this tower and many other similar
incongruities, such as the steel bell-tower at San Miguel.
[Illustration: DOORWAY, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.]
[Illustration: STAIRWAY LEADING TO PULPIT, MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.]
[Illustration: MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL, FROM THE SOUTH.]
[Illustration: MISSION SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL AND CORRIDORS.]
At San Juan Bautista the old reredos remains, though the altar is new.
The six figures of the saints are the original ones placed there when it
was first erected. In the center, at the top, is Our Lady of
Guadalupe; to the left, San Antonio de Padua; to the right, San Isadore
de Madrid (the patron saint of all farmers); below, in the center, is
the saint of the Mission, San Juan Bautista, on his left, St. Francis,
and on his right, San Buenaventura.
The baptistery is on the left, at the entrance. Over its old, solid,
heavy doors rises a half-circular arch. Inside are two bowls of heavy
sandstone.
In the belfry are two bells, one of which is modern, cast in San
Francisco. The other is the largest Mission bell, I believe, in
California. It bears the inscription: "Ave María Purísima S. Fernando
RVELAS me Fecit 1809."
There is a small collection of objects of interest connected with the
old Mission preserved in one room of the monastery. Among other things
are two of the chorals; pieces of rawhide used for tying the beams,
etc., in the original construction; the head of a bass-viol that used to
be played by one of the Indians; a small mortar; and quite a number of
books. Perhaps the strangest thing in the whole collection is an old
barrel-organ made by Benjamin Dobson, The Minories, London. It has
several barrels and on one of them is the following list of its tunes:
Go to the Devil; Spanish Waltz; College Hornpipe; Lady Campbell's Reel.
One can imagine with what feelings one of the sainted padres, after a
peculiarly trying day with his aboriginal children, would put in this
barrel, and while his lips said holy things, his hand instinctively
ground out with vigor the first piece on the list.