Western Trips

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Santa Clara de Asis / California Spanish Missions

Western Trips takes a road trip to the beautiful and historic Mission Santa Clara. The Santa Clara Mission is located on the scenic campus of Santa Clara University in the South Bay city of Santa Clara California. Santa Clara is located about 45 miles south of San Francisco and only about 4 miles west of San Jose. There's quite a lot of historic significance of this site.


santa clara mission
Mission Santa Clara
The Mission Santa Clara de Asis was one of the twenty-one missions built in California. The English translation of the mission is Mission of Saint Clare of Assisi. This particular mission was built by the Franciscans in 1777 and that same year it's bells were sent to it by King Charles III of Spain. Today, the mission serves as a Catholic church within the diocese of San Jose and also serves as a chapel for the university.

The story of the California Spanish missions started with the founding in 1769 of the very first mission in San Diego, Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. That first mission was founded by Father Junipero Serra. The second mission in the string that would eventually total twenty-one was the mission at Monterey California which soon after was relocated to Carmel California and named Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo. It's also referred to often as the Carmel Mission and is located along the Carmel River. The last mission constructed and the northernmost is Mission San Francisco de Solano located in the town of Sonoma.

Mission Santa Clara de Asis cross
Mission Santa Clara Cross
As was the case with all of the Spanish missions, the goal ws to reach out to and Christianize the Native population. The missions worked hand in hand with the Spanish military. The Spaniards adopted the theory of pacifying the local Indian population by their conversion to Christianity. The mission work would also introduce new subjects to the Spanish colony. For the most part, the Spanish mission in California served as both a religious and military outpost. By the year 1803, the mission had an Indian population of over 1,200. At that year it was estimated that thousands of cattle, sheep and horses grazed on the adjacent land along with significant agriculture operations.

Mission Santa Clara de Asis was the eighth Spanish mission built in Alta California. Santa Clara University where the mission is currently located has the distinction of being the first college in Alta California. The Santa Clara Mission college was established in 1828. When the Spaniards were driven out of Alta California in the 1820's due to the Mexican Revolution, the missions were secularized and went through a period of decline both in missionary work as well as upkeep of the structures. When the United States took possession of Alta California as a result of the Mexican American War, the missions found new life. The new American presence in California left a lot of questions to be answered, most notably was the question of who owned what since so many land grants had been given out by the Mexican government. In 1851 the church petitioned the U.S. government to return original mission holdings, much of which had been ceased by the Mexicans. As a result, the U.S. did return a bit over 1,000 acres to the church.

Mission Santa Clara de Asis
Mission grounds
The Mission Santa Clara was placed under the supervision of John Nobili SJ representing the Jesuits. The Jesuits had previously been expelled from Baja California by Spain and replaced by the Dominicans. This was well before the first mission in Alta California was built in 1769. The task of building those missions starting with the one in San Diego were handed over to the Franciscans.

An interesting fact about Mission Santa Clara was that the mission was ruined and rebuilt six times. This was due to a series of fires and earthquakes. Even though there were so many of these disruptions the mission was never abandoned. The current location is actually the fifth home for the mission which originally was built on the banks of the Guadalupe River near today’s intersection of U.S.Highway 101 and the Mineta International Airport runway. Eventually the church was built on higher ground where it resides today. The last fire that destroyed the mission occurred in 1925 and destroyed the church that was built in 1828. The present mission was rebuilt in 1929 and was consecrated the same year. A college on the site was reestablished in 1851, just one year after California gained statehood and that institution grew into today's Santa Clara University.

Mission Santa Clara de Asis is today at the very heart of Santa Clara University. This private non-profit Jesuit institution of higher learning has over 150 years of history. Actually, two colleges appeared on the scene shortly after the gold rush and statehood. Today's Santa Clara University is one and the other established in 1851 was California Wesleyan College. The latter received the first state charter and Santa Clara University soon afterward. In 1912, the name Santa Clara College was changed to Santa Clara University. The school was an all male institution until 1961.

130 year old wisteria vine at santa clara mission
130 year old wisteria vine at Santa Clara Mission
Visiting the Santa Clara Mission and the campus of Santa Clara University is an historic, scenic and fun side trip to any vacation or visit to the San Francisco Bay Area. The other two missions relatively close by are Mission San Jose which is located in Fremont California and Mission Dolores in San Francisco proper.

Another interesting site you'll see while exploring the Santa Clara University campus is the Ricard Observatory. The first telescope was in operation in 1890 and today the existing observatory was built between 1924-1928. The observatory is named for Jerome Sixtus Ricard, S.J.. Father Ricard was famous for making a connection between sunspot activity and terrestrial weather.

Two additional articles we've published on Western Trips which you'll find interesting are Mission San Juan Batista and the Sonoma Mission in Sonoma California.

Two excellent books on the Spanish missions are The Spanish Missions of California by author Megan Gendell and The California Missions: A Complete Pictorial History and Visitor's Guide by the Editors of Sunset Books.

(Photos from author's private collection)