Mission San Francisco de Asís

The next day was our last day of missions.  Of all the missions, I worried about this visit the most.  I really was unsure about the location (I hate driving on those San Francisco hills!).  I also worried about parking, which did prove to be a problem.  The funny thing was that the reason we could not park is because the road was scheduled for the street sweeper!  All that worry for nothing...it turned out to be an easy park at the school that was closed for the holiday and we only drove on the edge of all the hills.  There was a little confusion with one way streets but nothing to write home to tell.

We thought we were standing in front of the mission,
we had no idea about the Basilica next door!

We had left so early that the mission was not even open.  However, there was a Mass being offered.  It was a good day to attend Mass (Aren't all days good for worshiping God?), as it was the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  More on what we saw in the interior of the church below the history.

Mission San Francisco was the sixth of the missions and it seems late in coming to me.  After all, the big push of the military and the missionaries was to make it to San Francisco.  However, this mission was not completed until 1776.  The original location was a short distance away.  The current mission building was built in 1782.  The building was built so well it weathered the 1906 earthquake and is considered to be the oldest intact building in San Francisco.

It was also interesting to learn that this mission did not prosper as the others in the system until the 1850s.  The lure to the other side of the bay caused many of the natives to run away to the northern locations.  However, during the time of the famous Gold Rush, many settlers arrived and were in need of assistance.  Unfortunately, only a portion of the church was still occupied by the clergy.  The buildings had been sold off (by the Mexican government) during the secularization period and were being used for the typical boom town activities (saloons, brawl houses and even a race track among other things).  Much of the original artwork was covered with whitewash.  It would later be easily removed and the vibrant artwork is now seen today.

While at Mass, these murals that covered the entire wall to each side kept the children quiet as they viewed the details.  I suppose it kept me interested as well, although I truly appreciated the message of life given by the priest.  When I returned home and read about the mission, I found out that is actually a false front that is placed in front of the main altar during Lent.  This is the same idea as covering the statues with cloth in modern churches today.  I am not sure if it has been used in recent years, as it seemed to be secured to the wall albeit in pieces.

The ceiling was also quite mesmerizing.  Seeing it for the first time definitely has a WOW-factor, but I am not sure if I could look at it for a long time.

One feature on the exterior (no picture) is the exterior balcony which is unique to this mission.  The bells are also within the tower instead of prominently viewed as the other missions.

This mission is only used as a chapel to the larger more modern Gothic-style parish church next door, Mission Dolores Basilica (built in 1918).  In fact, we were privileged to go to Mass in the mission as most are now celebrated next door.  We walked through the small passage way in between the two church buildings and found a few more statues and a wall mosaic of the mission history.

We entered into the Bascilica and were in awe once again.  This building is just as historical as the mission considering it will be celebrating 100 years in just a couple of years.  It has been through earthquakes, fires and transformations over the years but it still stands.  Both of these historic buildings were also visited by Pope St. John Paul II in 1987.

Mission Dolores has large stain glass windows that represent each of the 21 missions and their patron saints.  There were niches throughout the church to place statues, mosaics, stain glass windows, and paintings.

A relic of Fr. Serra was on display at the main altar because of his recent canonization.

There was a small museum behind the mission.  The children were most fascinated by the reed woven duck decoy.  However, I found this message (I think this was written by the museum director.) explaining one way to view the controversy often associated with Fr. Serra in regard to the treatment of the natives.  This is only a small portion of the text (a full reading can be found here toward the bottom of the page):

"There is absolutely no documentary evidence to indicate that Serra ever mistreated anyone, either personally or indirectly. On the contrary, he was harshest on himself, seeking to transcend his perceived faults through privation and self-mortification. The California missions and missionaries have always had their detractors, and probably always will. Fueled by emotion rather than persuaded by fact, the allegations tend to generalize and blame Serra for every excess and abuse that occurred during the entire 1769-1834 mission period. The mission system’s greatest “sin” was not individual shortcoming, but inculpable eighteenth-century ignorance."  

We left here to view the garden cemetery behind the mission.  Here we found the Serra statue and a very old cemetery.  If you did not know...I love cemeteries.  There is so much history and memories found in cemeteries.  Even the trees had grave markers embedded in them.  The oldest graves individually marked had burials in 1804 and 1807 (a couple buried side by side).  

Zaira and Brendan found a little hut fascinating.  It was found in the middle of the cemetery near the graves of the natives.  The opening into the hut was just their size.

I also love the picture I was able to take of the juxtaposition of the eras found in the architecture.  An amazing visit to start our last day on the mission trail.