Mission San Miguel Arcángel

This article is about the Spanish mission in present-day California. For the Spanish mission in present-day Baja California, see Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera.
Mission San Miguel Arcángel

San Miguel's various-sized arches are a noted feature of this mission

Location of Mission San Miguel Arcángel in California#USA

Location 775 Mission Street
San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California 93451
Coordinates 35°44′41″N 120°41′53″W / 35.74472°N 120.69806°W / 35.74472; -120.69806Coordinates: 35°44′41″N 120°41′53″W / 35.74472°N 120.69806°W / 35.74472; -120.69806
Name as founded La Misión del Gloriosísimo Príncipe Arcángel, Señor San Miguel [1]
English translation The Mission of the Very Glorious Archangel Prince, Sir Saint Michael
Patron Saint Michael the Archangel[2]
Nickname(s) "Mission on the Highway" ...  [3]
"The Unretouched Mission" [4]
Founding date July 25, 1797 [5]
Founding priest(s) Father Fermín Lasuén [6]
Area 0.4 acres (0.16 ha)
Built 1821
Architectural style(s) Queen Anne
Founding Order Sixteenth[2]
Military district Third[7]
Native tribe(s)
Spanish name(s)		 Salinan
Native place name(s) Valica [8]
Baptisms 2,471[9]
Marriages 764[9]
Burials 1,868[9]
Secularized 1834[2]
Returned to the Church 1859[2]
Governing body Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey
Current use Parish Church
Designated July 14, 1971
Reference no. 71000191[10]
Designated March 20, 2006[11]
Reference no. #326
Website
http://www.missionsanmiguel.org/
Mission San Miguel Arcangel around 1906

Mission San Miguel Arcángel is a Spanish mission in San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California. It was established on July 25, 1797 by the Franciscan order, on a site chosen specifically due to the large number of Salinan Indians that inhabited the area, whom the Spanish priests wanted to evangelize.

The mission remains in use as a parish church of the Diocese of Monterey. After being closed to the public for six years due to the 2003 San Simeon earthquake, the church reopened on September 29, 2009. Inside the church are murals designed by Esteban Munras.[12]

The mission was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971[10] and was named to a National Historic Landmark in 2006.[11]

Features

Mission bells

Bells were vitally important to daily life at any mission. The bells were rung at mealtimes, to call the Mission residents to work and to religious services, during births and funerals, to signal the approach of a ship or returning missionary, and at other times; novices were instructed in the intricate rituals associated with the ringing the mission bells.

History

In 1797 , who spoke the native dialect fluently, had a wooden church built and some with living quarters The site was picked as it was close to a Salinan Indian village called Vahca. In 1798 the small chapel was replaced. In 1816 to 1818 a new church was constructed with a tile roof and courtyard.

Mission San Miguel Arcángel land sold off after the Mexican secularization act of 1833. The William Reed family lived in the buildings until 1848. Then the mission was closed and decay started. In 1841 the last Franciscan left San Miguel.[14][15]

In 1859 the Mission was returned to the Catholic Church. But with the buildings all in ruins, no priests were assigned to the return mission. Parts were rented to a some small businesses. In 1878 the Church reactivated the mission and priest were again living at the mission. [16]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Leffingwell, p. 91
  2. 1 2 3 4 Krell, p. 254
  3. ↑ Engelhardt
  4. ↑ Ruscin, p. 129
  5. ↑ Yenne, p. 140
  6. ↑ Ruscin, p. 196
  7. ↑ Forbes, p. 202
  8. ↑ Ruscin, p. 195
  9. 1 2 3 Krell, p. 315: as of December 31, 1832; information adapted from Engelhardt's Missions and Missionaries of California.
  10. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  11. 1 2 "Mission San Miguel Arcangel". National Historic Landmark Quicklinks. National Park Service. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Grimes, Theresa (May 19, 2005). "Mission San Miguel Arcángel" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places – Inventory Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mission San Miguel Arcangel The park brochure". n.d.
  14. ↑ "Mission San Miguel Property and Padres". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  15. ↑ missionsanmiguel.com Mission San Miguel Reed family History
  16. ↑ "California Missions". Retrieved 26 August 2016.

References

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