Though, as we thus see, Father Junipero had ample reason to be
encouraged over the progress of his enterprise, he still had various
difficulties to contend with. The question of supplies often assumed
formidable proportions, and the labors of the missionaries were not
always as fruitful as had been hoped. Fortunately, however, the Indians
were, as a rule, friendly, notwithstanding the fact that the behaviour
of the Spanish soldiers, especially towards their women, occasionally
aroused their distrust and resentment. At one establishment only did
serious disturbances actually threaten for a time the continuance of
the mission and its work. Junipero had lately returned from Mexico, with
undiminished zeal and all sorts of fresh designs revolving in his brain,
when a courier reached him at San Carlos bringing news of a terrible
disaster at San Diego. Important affairs detained him for a time at
Monterey, but when at length he was able to get to the scene of the
trouble, it was to find that first reports had not been exaggerated. On
the night of the 4th of November, 1775, eight hundred Indians had made
a ferocious assault upon the mission, fired the buildings, and brutally
done to death Father Jayme, one of the two priests in charge. "God
be thanked," Junipero had exclaimed, when the letter containing the
dreadful news had been read to him, "now the soil is watered, and the
conquest of the Dieguinos will soon be complete!" In the faith that
the blood of the martyrs is veritably the seed of the church, he, on
reaching San Diego, with his customary energy, set about the task of
re-establishing the mission; and the buildings which presently arose
from the ruins were a great improvement upon those which had been
destroyed.
Before these alarming events at the mother-mission broke in upon his
regular work, the president had resolved upon yet another settlement
(not included in the still uncompleted plan), for which he had selected
a point on the coast some twenty-six leagues north of San Diego, and
which was to be dedicated to San Juan Capistrano. A beginning had indeed
been made there, not by Junipero in person, but by fathers delegated by
him for the purpose; but when news of the murder of Father Jayme reached
them, they had hastily buried bells, chasubles and supplies, and hurried
south. As soon as ever he felt it wise to leave San Diego Junipero
himself now repaired to the abandoned site; and there, on the 1st of
November, 1776, the bells were dug up and hung, mass said, and
the mission established. It is curious to remember that while the
padre-presidente was thus immersed in apostolic labors on the far
Pacific coast, on the other side of the North American continent events
of a very different character were shaking the whole civilized world.
Though the establishment of San Juan Capistrano is naturally mentioned
in this place, partly because of the abortive start made there a year
before, and partly because its actual foundation constituted the next
noteworthy incident in Junipero's career, this mission is, in strict
chronological order, not the sixth, but the seventh on our list. For
some three weeks before its dedication, and without the knowledge of the
president himself, though in full accordance with his designs, the cross
had been planted at a point many leagues northward beyond San Carlos,
and destined presently to be the most important on the coast. It will be
remembered that when Portola's party made their first futile search for
the harbour of Monterey, they had by accident found their way as far as
the Bay of San Francisco. The significance of their discovery was
not appreciated at the time, either by themselves or by those at
headquarters to whom it was reported; but later explorations so clearly
established the value of the spot for settlement and fortification,
that it was determined to build a presidio there. Some years previous
to this, as we have seen, a mission on the northern bay had been part
of Junipero's ambitious scheme; and though at the time he was forced by
circumstances to hold his hand, the idea was constantly uppermost in
his thoughts. At length, when, in the summer of 1776, an expedition was
despatched from Monterey for the founding of the proposed presidio, two
missionaries were included in the party--one of these being none other
than that Father Palou, whose records have been our chief guides in
the course of this story. The buildings of the presidio--store
house, commandant's dwelling, and huts for the soldiers and their
families--were completed by the middle of September; and on the 17th
of that month--the day of St. Francis, patron of the station and
harbour--imposing ceremonies of foundation were performed. A wooden
church was then built; and on the 9th of October, in the presence of
many witnesses, Father Palou said mass, the image of St. Francis was
borne about in procession, and the mission solemnly dedicated to his
name [4].
It was at San Luis Obispo on his way back from San Diego to Monterey,
that Father Junipero learned of the foundation of the mission at San
Francisco, and though he may doubtless have felt some little regret
at not having himself been present on such an occasion, his heart
overflowed with joy. For there was a special reason why the long delay
in carrying out this portion of his plan had weighed heavily upon him.
Years before, when the visitador general had told him that the first
three missions in Alta California were to be named after San Diego,
San Carlos and San Buenaventura (for such, we recollect, had been
the original programme), he had exclaimed:--"Then is our father, St.
Francis, to have no mission?" And Galvez had made reply:--"If St.
Francis desires a mission, let him show us his port, and he shall have
one there." To Junipero it had seemed that Portola had providentially
been led beyond Monterey to the Bay of San Francisco, and the founder
of his order had thus given emphatic answer to the visitador's words.
It may well be imagined that he was ill at rest until the saint's wishes
had been carried into effect.
But this was not the only good work done in the north while Junipero was
busy elsewhere; for on the 12th of January, 1777, the Mission of Santa
Clara was established in the wonderfully fertile and beautiful valley
which is now known by that name. The customary rites were performed
by Father Tomas de la Pena, a rude chapel erected, and the work of
constructing the necessary buildings of the settlement immediately begun
[5]. It should be noted in passing that before the end of the year the
town of San Jose--or, to give it its full Spanish title, El Pueblo de
San Jose de Guadalupe--was founded near by. This has historic interest
as the first purely civil settlement in California. The fine Alameda
from the mission to the pueblo was afterwards made and laid out under
the fathers' supervision.