Mission San Juan Capistrano Courtyard Archway Photo Print

"Mission San Juan Capistrano Courtyard Archway" by Catherine Sherman. An archway draped with magenta bougainvillea leads to a courtyard at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, a Spanish mission in Southern California, located in present-day San Juan Capistrano. It was founded on All Saints' Day November 1, 1776, by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order. Named for Giovanni da Capistrano, a 15th-century theologian and "warrior priest" who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy, San Juan Capistrano has the distinction of being home to the oldest building in California still in use, a chapel built in 1782. Known alternately as "Serra's Chapel" and "Father Serra's Church," it is the only extant structure where it has been documented that the Padre Junipero Serra celebrated mass. One of the best known of the Alta California missions (and one of the few missions to have actually been founded twice -- others being Mission San Gabriel Archangel and Mission La Purisima Concepcion). The site was originally consecrated on October 30, 1775, by Father Fermin Lasuen, but was quickly abandoned due to unrest among the indigenous population in San Diego.