Mission Santa Barbara

The next day Michael and I were hoping to surprise everyone and take them on a 3-hour cruise around the Channel Islands.  However, the wind was now increasing to a point that was not safe for travel in small ships.  We were very disappointed; however, I believe all things work out for a reason and we began our northern travels to missions at an earlier time.  This allowed us to slow down in our perusal of the mission museums and we moved one of our missions scheduled for the next day forward, which allowed an easier trip.

Santa Barbara Mission, known as the "Queen of the Missions," was quite pleasing to the eye.  It was founded in 1786 (10th in order) by Fr. Lasuen.  It is the only mission with two towers. Parts of the water system for the mission are still in use today by the city of Santa Barbara.

The Spanish, as part of their colonization of California, established a chain of four military forts along the coast. The Santa Barbara Royal Presidio was the last in this chain (others were at San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco).

Saint Junípero Serra was present at the establishment of the Presidio and blessed the site. Thinking a mission would follow he also started a record book for the site; but, while he wanted to establish a mission he found he could not at the time due to political issues.  He died before that dream would come to pass four years later.  In a sad irony, California’s new Governor Pedro Fages told Saint Serra he had permission to build the mission just one month before Saint Serra’s death.  Fr. Lasuen would continue his legacy.

When a large earthquake struck the Santa Barbara area, the church was largely destroyed along with portions of the other Mission structures. The earthquake was so bad that “the waters receded from the Santa Rosa Island several hundred yards.” This caused the Indians living on the island to leave. Many resettled at the various missions. The church was patched up and used until a new church could be completed in 1815.

A Moorish-style fountain was built in front of the mission. Overflow from the fountain fed a lavadero where clothes were washed. You can still see this area in front of the mission.  We had the joy of a live nativity in this area as well.  The children pet the animals for several minutes before we moved into the church and museum.

SIDE NOTE:  Our Mary and Joseph dolls were separated at this mission.  We lost Joseph in a stump where we were setting up a photo.  How were we to know that the hole would lead to the center of the earth!  LOL  Well...the journey would need to continue with just Mary and the donkey.  For those of you who have heard of the custom of burying a St. Joseph statue to sell a home...you can imagine our dismay and worry that the mission will be sold...we will be watching this closely over the next year! Maybe the Poor Clare nuns that reside close by have had their eyes on the mission!  We never know God's plan and how we can be a part of it!

The church building is an interesting mixture of Moorish and Roman architecture.   We learned that the round windows were a Moorish design and the columns are obviously of the Roman style.  However, we only found out at this mission that the Romans also like the triangular design and this is seen in the placement of the statues on the front of the mission.

While learning about the mission's history in the museum, we found out that the first bishop of California spent several years at this mission.  He would also be buried at this mission.  Another person of interest buried in this cemetery was Juana Maria (the Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island) who is known as the main character in the classic The Island of the Blue Dolphin.  I think we might need to reread this book for a school project this year.

The museum did a great job of trying to represent how every day life was at the mission.  There was even a "working" kitchen with original adobe shown.

We now entered the main church building.  We learned that the design of this building was heavily influenced by a Neoclassical architecture book from the first century by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio.  It just shows how different each of the missions are as they draw from the experience of the people who guided the building of them.  For this church built in honor of St. Barbara, a third century Roman martyr, it seemed fitting.

Thankfully, we had a helpful guide to show that the influence was so great that even the artwork on the walls was directly taken from this book.  The painting on the walls was full of bright colors and a marbled look on all the altars.  The original altar was located in one of the side altars of the church until recently and is the only original altar piece from any of the missions.  However, it had to be moved to a more secure location within the museum because items were being stolen from the historic church.