Mission San José (California)

Coordinates: 37°31′58″N 121°55′10″W / 37.53278°N 121.91944°W / 37.53278; -121.91944
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Mission San José.
Not to be confused with el
Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe
in present-day San Jose, California.
Mission San José
Fermín Lasuén[3]
Founding OrderFourteenth[4]
Headquarters of the Alta California Mission System1824–1827; 1830–1833[5]
Military districtFourth [6]
Native tribe(s)
Spanish name(s)
Native place name(s)Oroysom[7]
Baptisms6,673 [8]
Marriages1,990 [8]
Burials4,800 [8]
Secularized1834 [4]
Returned to the Church1858 [4]
Governing bodyRoman Catholic Diocese of Oakland
Current useChapel / Museum
Designated1971
Reference no.71000131
Reference no.
  1. 334[9]
Website
http://www.missionsanjose.org/

Mission San José is a

Franciscan order and was the fourteenth Spanish mission established in California. The mission is the namesake of the Mission San José district of Fremont, which was an independent town subsumed
into the city when it was incorporated in 1957. The Mission entered a long period of gradual decline after Mexican secularization act of 1833. After suffering decline, neglect and earthquakes most of the mission was in ruins. Restoration efforts in the intervening periods have reconstructed many of the original structures. The old mission church remains in use as a chapel of Saint Joseph Catholic Church, a parish of the Diocese of Oakland. The museum also features a visitor center, museum, and slide show telling the history of the mission.

History

The original site considered by Juan Crespí in 1772 for what was to become Mission San José was in what is today known as the San Ramon Valley. However, the Native Americans living in that area were very hostile towards the Spanish, so it was decided to locate the Mission further south, in an area that is now part of Fremont, California.[10]

Padre José González Rubio served briefly as administrator of the mission.

Work on the site of Mission San Jose commenced in May 1797, many years after Crespí's death, by Native American people from Mission Santa Clara, 13 miles to the south, under the direction of Franciscan missionaries and secular Hispanic overseers. The location, on slopes overlooking the Fremont plain on the

east side of San Francisco Bay, had been inhabited for countless generations by Indians who spoke the San Francisco Bay Ohlone language. The Ohlone lived a hunting and wild-plant harvesting lifestyle. Their food included seeds, roots, berries, the flour from acorns, small game, deer, fish, and shellfish. In 1797 most of the Indians, from the immediate vicinity of the mission site had already been baptized at Mission Santa Clara during the 1780s and early 1790s. It was these people who returned home to form the founding population of the new community.[11]
Mission San José's walls were 5  ft thick. The church is 126 feet long, 30 feet wide, 24 feet high; made of adobe and redwood, the floor and the wall are made of tiles.

By the end of 1800, the neophyte population had risen to 277, including both Ohlone and Bay Miwok speakers. By the end of 1805, all Indians of the East Bay south of

Plains Miwok, moved to the mission from the north side of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. By the time Mission San Jose was closed as an agricultural commune in the mid-1830s, Plains Miwok was the predominant native language among its neophyte Indian people.[11]
Father Narciso Durán became the pastor of the mission in 1806 and remained until he was replaced by Father José González Rubio in February 1833 as part of a post-independence policy requiring the replacement of Spanish-born clerics with those born in Mexico. Durán trained the neophytes in music, organizing both a choir and a 30 piece orchestra that became famous throughout California. While at San José, Father Durán twice served as Father-Presidente of the Franciscan missions.[12]

The main façade of the mission Capilla (chapel) in 2004

The Mission's first permanent

metric tons
) of wheat and much produce, including grapes, olives, and figs.

In 1832, the Mission's 12,000 cattle, 13,000 horses, and 12,000 sheep roamed Mission lands from present-day

Mexican Congress passed An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California
.

Rancho period (1836–1853)

During the transition to full secularization, Father José González Rubio remained at the Mission as chief administrator for the church, while José de Jesús Vallejo (brother of General

Peralta, and Alviso
, were closely linked to the Mission.

California statehood (1850–1980)

Historical map of the mission and surroundings

The Rancho period ended with the succession of California to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, and the establishment of California as a state in 1850. Some of the original exterior adobe buttresses were removed on orders of the parish priest. On March 18, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln restored the California missions to the Catholic Church.

On October 21, 1868, a magnitude 6.3–6.7 earthquake on the Hayward Fault which runs through the grounds of the Mission shattered the walls of the Mission church and broke open the roof. Other Mission buildings, including the Tienda, the Priest's Quarters, and the Mission itself were also damaged by the earthquake.

The site was cleared and a wood-framed, Gothic-style church was erected directly over the original red-tiled Mission floor. In 1890, a Victorian-style rectory was built over the site of a portion of the adobe wing which housed the Padres and served as the administration building during the Mission Era.

The 20th century and beyond (1900–present)

Mission San José c. 1910

The original mission complex consisted of over 100 adobe buildings. Restoration efforts by the

Anglican
church group. After extensive archaeological excavations and planning, construction began in 1982 on a replica of the 1809 adobe church. Work was completed and the facility rededicated on June 11, 1985. The walls vary in thickness from 4 to 5 feet (1.5 m). Old timbers and rawhide thongs demonstrate the practicality of the Padres who, having no iron nails for building, substituted the leather laces. Consequently, the lumber used in the reconstruction has been given a hand-hewn appearance.

With its "simple and forthright" exterior, the Mission church stands as a tribute to those whose efforts made this dream come true. The richly decorated interior follows the descriptions in the historic inventories of the 1830s. The crystal chandeliers are copies of period pieces similar to ones listed in the old church inventories. Two of the original statues have been placed on the two side altars. Ecce Homo, a figure of

Saint Bonaventure
was carved from wood and then painted. The original baptismal font of hammered copper on a turned wood base has been returned to the church, as has the bell wheel used by the Ohlones during the sacred parts of the Mass.

The chapel interior
Robert Livermore's grave marker restored in the mission floor, with his date of death given as 14 March 1858

The reredos behind the main altar features a painting of Christ, a statue of Saint Joseph, and two carved figures: a dove represents the Holy Spirit, and at the top sits God the Father with detailed golden rays surrounding him. The altar and choir railings were copied from an original piece found in the museum during the reconstruction. The Mission cemetery (camp Santo), where a great number of Mission pioneers are buried, is situated to the side of the church. During the dig, the marble grave marker of Robert Livermore was located in the original tile floor of the church. It was carefully repaired and replaced in the reconstructed church. Many prominent Spaniards are buried in the floor of the Mission church, but only Livermore's grave is marked. Thousands of Ohlones are resting in the Ohlone cemetery located almost a mile away from the mission down Washington Boulevard. Three of the original Mission bells were transferred from the destroyed adobe church to the wooden church of 1869, where they hung until the 1970s. The fourth bell had been given to a church in Oakland and recast, but was returned to the Mission during the reconstruction of the bell tower. Now all four bells are hung, ready to ring on special occasions.

In 1985, the restoration of the church was completed by the Committee for the Restoration of the Mission San Jose and the Catholic Diocese of Oakland. It is considered to be a near-perfect replica of the original church, though it incorporates a concealed structural steel frame which provides earthquake resistance. Further reconstruction of the missing part of the Padres' living quarters and a restoration of the surviving adobe wing are part of the overall plans for the Mission. Today, the Mission is administered by St. Joseph's parish, which includes the Mission building and the surrounding areas, an ordinary church building used to fulfill the daily needs of the parish, and a school serving students in grades 1–8.

California historical marker

See also

Notes

Mission San José c. 1910
  1. ^ Leffingwell, p. 143
  2. ^ Yenne, p. 124
  3. ^ Ruscin, p. 196
  4. ^ a b c Krell, p. 231
  5. ^ Yenne, p. 186
  6. ^ Forbes, p. 202
  7. ^ Ruscin, p. 195
  8. ^ a b c Krell p. 315: as of December 31, 1832; information adapted from Engelhardt's Missions and Missionaries of California.
  9. ^ "Mission San Jose". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  10. ^ "Mission San Ramon?". San Ramon Patch. 2010-08-09. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  11. ^ a b (Milliken 2008)
  12. About.com. Archived from the original
    on 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2007-04-11.

References

External links

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