Mission Santa Clara de Asís

Mission Santa Clara de Asís

Mission Santa Clara de Asís as it appeared in 2005.
Location	Santa Clara, California
Name as Founded	La Misión Santa Clara de Asís [1]
Translation	The Mission of Saint Clare of Assisi
Patron	Saint Clare of Assisi
Founding Date	January 12 1777 [2]
Founding Priest(s)	Father Presidente Junípero Serra [3]
Founding Order	Eighth
Military District	Third
Native Tribe(s) Spanish Name(s)	Bay Miwok, Tamyen, Yokuts Costeño
Native Place Name(s)	Socoisuka [4]
Current Owner	Santa Clara University
Current Use	University chapel
Coordinates	37°20′57.37″N, 121°56′29.76″W
California Historical Landmark	#338
Web Site	http://www.scu.edu/visitors/mission

Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded on January 12, 1777 and named for Clare of Assisi, the founder of the order of the Poor Clares, making it the first California mission to be named for a woman. The Mission in its heyday boasted the largest Native American population of any in California.

History

The first mission to be built, Mission Santa Clara de Thamien (California Historical Landmark #338), was established at the Indian village of So-co-is-u-ka on the Guadalupe River, by Franciscan Padres Tomás de la Peña and Joseph Antonio Marguia on January 17, 1777. There they erected a cross and shelter for worship to bring Christianity to the Ohlone/Costanoan people. Floods and earthquakes damaged many of the early structures and forced relocation to higher ground. The second site is known as Mission Santa Clara de Asís. The current site, home to the first college in Alta California, dates back to 1828.^[3] Initially, there was tension between the people of the Mission and those in the nearby Pueblo de San Jose over disputed ownership rights of land and water. The tension was relieved when a road, the Alameda, was built by two hundred Indians to link the communities together. On Sundays, people from San Jose would come to the Mission for services, until the building of St. Joseph's Church in 1803. In 1850, California became a state and priest of the Jesuit Order took over the Mission Santa Clara de Asís. Father John Nobili, S.J., was put in charge of the Mission. He began a college on the Mission site in 1851, which grew into Santa Clara University; it is the only mission to become part of a university, and it is also the oldest university in California. Throughout the history of the Mission, the bells have rung faithfully every evening, a promise made to King Charles III of Spain when he sent the original bells to the Mission in 1777. He asked that the bells be rung each evening at 8:30 in memory of those who had died. Mission Santa Clara de Asís sits on the campus of the Santa Clara University. After a 1925 fire destroyed the 1828 mission structure, the church's parochial functions were transferred to St. Clare Parish Church, on Lexington Street west of the campus. A rebuilt and restored Mission Santa Clara was consecrated in 1929, when it assumed its primary modern function as chapel and centerpiece of the university campus. It is open to visitors every day; the Mission museum is located in the university's De Saisset Museum. In addition to hosting daily and Sunday liturgies, Mission Santa Clara is a favorite wedding location for the university's alumni.

Other historic designations

• California Historical Landmark #250 — Old sites of Mission Santa Clara de Thamien and the Old Spanish Bridge
• California Historical Landmark #338 — Mission Santa Clara de Asís

Notes

1. ^ Leffingwell, p. 137
2. ^ Yenne, p. 80
3. ^ ^{a b} Ruscin, p. 196
4. ^ Ruscin, p. 195

References

Mission Santa Clara de Asís circa 1910.

• Leffingwell, Randy (2005). California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN. ISBN 0-89658-492-5. 
• Levy, Richard. (1978). in William C. Sturtevant, and Robert F. Heizer: Handbook of North American Indians. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. ISBN 0-16-004578-9 / 0160045754, page 486. 
• Milliken, Randall (1995). A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1910. Ballena Press Publication, Menlo Park, CA. ISBN 0-87919-132-5. 
• Ruscin, Terry (1999). Mission Memoirs. Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA. ISBN 0-932653-30-8. 
• Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. Advantage Publshers Group, San Diego, CA. ISBN 1-59223-319-8. 

See also

• Spanish missions in California
• USNS Mission Santa Clara (AO-132) — a Buenaventura Class fleet oiler built during World War II.

External links

• Official parish website
• Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper

A view toward the altar of the exquisitely-ornate Mission Santa Clara de Asís chapel, circa 1897.

A view of the high altar of the modern Mission Santa Clara de Asís church in 2000.