AT Padre Serra’s death Fermin Francisco Lasuen was chosen to be
his successor as padre-presidente. At the time of his appointment
he was the priest in charge at San Diego. He was elected by the
directorate of the Franciscan College of San Fernando, in the City
of Mexico, February 6, 1785, and on March 13, 1787, the Sacred
Congregation at Rome confirmed his appointment, according to him
the same right of confirmation which Serra had exercised. In five
years this Father confirmed no less than ten thousand, one hundred
thirty-nine persons.
Santa Barbara was the next Mission to be founded. For awhile it
seemed that it would be located at Montecito, now the beautiful and
picturesque suburb of its larger sister; but President Lasuen
doubtless chose the site the Mission now occupies. Well up on the
foothills of the Sierra Santa Inés, it has a commanding view
of valley, ocean and islands beyond. Indeed, for outlook, it is
doubtful if any other Mission equals it. It was formally dedicated
on December 4, 1786.
Various obstacles to the establishment of Santa Barbara had been
placed in the way of the priests. Governor Fages wished to curtail
their authority, and sought to make innovations which the padres
regarded as detrimental in the highest degree to the Indians, as
well as annoying and humiliating to themselves. This was the reason
of the long delay in founding Santa Barbara. It was the same with
the following Mission. It had long been decided upon. Its site was
selected. The natives called it Algsacupi. It was to be
dedicated “to the most pure and sacred mystery of the Immaculate
Conception of the most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Queen of
Heaven, Queen of Angels, and Our Lady,” a name usually, however,
shortened in Spanish parlance to “La Purísima
Concepción.” On December 8, 1787, Lasuen blessed the site,
raised the cross, said mass and preached a sermon; but it was not
until March, 1788, that work on the buildings was begun. An adobe
structure, roofed with tiles, was completed in 1802, and, ten years
later, destroyed by earthquake.
The next Mission founded by Lasuen was that of Santa Cruz. On
crossing the coast range from Santa Clara, he thus wrote: “I found
in the site the most excellent fitness which had been reported to
me. I found, beside, a stream of water, very near, copious, and
important. On August 28, the day of Saint Augustine, I said mass,
and raised a cross on the spot where the establishment is to be.
Many gentiles came, old and young, of both sexes, and showed that
they would gladly enlist under the Sacred Standard. Thanks be to
God!”
On Sunday, September 25, Sugert, an Indian chief of the
neighborhood, assured by the priests and soldiers that no harm
should come to him or his people by the noise of exploding
gunpowder, came to the formal founding. Mass was said, a Te
Deum chanted, and Don Hermenegildo Sol, Commandant of San
Francisco, took possession of the place, thus completing the
foundation. To-day nothing but a memory remains of the Mission of
the Holy Cross, it having fallen into ruins and totally
disappeared.
Lasuen’s fourth Mission was founded in this same year, 1791. He
had chosen a site, called by the Indians Chuttusgelis, and
always known to the Spaniards as Soledad, since their first
occupation of the country. Here, on October 9, Lasuen, accompanied
by Padres Sitjar and Garcia, in the presence of Lieutenant
José Argüello, the guard, and a few natives, raised the
cross, blessed the site, said mass, and formally established the
Mission of “Nuestra Senyora de la Soledad.”
One interesting entry in the Mission books is worthy of mention.
In September, 1787, two vessels belonging to the newly founded
United States sailed from Boston. The smaller of these was the
“Lady Washington,” under command of Captain Gray. In the Soledad
Mission register of baptisms, it is written that on May 19, 1793,
there was baptized a Nootka Indian, twenty years of age, “Inquina,
son of a gentile father, named Taguasmiki, who in the year 1789 was
killed by the American Gert [undoubtedly Gray], Captain of the
vessel called ‘Washington,’ belonging to the Congress of
Boston.”
For six years no new Missions were founded: then, in 1797, four
were established, and one in 1798. These, long contemplated, were
delayed for a variety of reasons. It was the purpose of the Fathers
to have the new Missions farther inland than those already
established, that they might reach more of the natives: those who
lived in the valleys and on the slopes of the foothills. Besides
this, it had always been the intent of the Spanish government that
further explorations of the interior country should take place, so
that, as the Missions became strong enough to support themselves,
the Indians there might be brought under the influence of the
Church. Governor Neve’s regulations say:
“It is made imperative to increase the number of Reductions
(stations for converting the Indians) in proportion to the vastness
of the country occupied, and although this must be carried out in
the succession and order aforesaid, as fast as the older
establishments shall be fully secure, etc.,” and earlier, “while
the breadth of the country is unknown (it) is presumed to be as
great as the length, or greater (200 leagues), since its greatest
breadth is counted by thousands of leagues.”
Various investigations were made by the nearest priests in order
to select the best locations for the proposed Missions, and, in
1796, Lasuen reported the results to the new governor, Borica, who
in turn communicated them to the Viceroy in Mexico. Approval was
given and orders issued for the establishment of the five new
Missions.
On June 9, 1797, Lasuen left San Francisco for the founding of
the Mission San José, then called the Alameda. The following
day, a brush church was erected, and, on the morrow, the usual
foundation ceremonies occurred. The natives named the site
Oroysom. Beautifully situated on the foothills, with a
prominent peak near by, it offers an extensive view over the
southern portion of the San Francisco Bay region. At first, a
wooden structure with a grass roof served as a church; but later a
brick structure was erected, which Von Langsdorff visited in
1806.
It seems singular to us at this date that although the easiest
means of communication between the Missions of Santa Clara, San
José and San Francisco was by water on the Bay of San
Francisco, the padre and soldiers at San Francisco had no boat or
vessel of any kind. Langsdorff says of this: “Perhaps the
missionaries are afraid lest if there were boats, they might
facilitate the escape of the Indians, who never wholly lose their
love of freedom and their attachment to their native habits; they
therefore consider it better to confine their communication with
one another to the means afforded by the land. The Spaniards, as
well as their nurslings, the Indians, are very seldom under the
necessity of trusting themselves to the waves, and if such a
necessity occur, they make a kind of boat for the occasion, of
straw, reeds, and rushes, bound together so closely as to be
water-tight. In this way they contrive to go very easily from one
shore to the other. Boats of this kind are called walza by
the Spanish. The oars consist of a thin, long pole somewhat broader
at each end, with which the occupants row sometimes on one side,
sometimes on the other.”
For the next Mission two sites were suggested; but, as early as
June 17, Corporal Ballesteros erected a church, missionary-house,
granary, and guard-house at the point called by the natives
Popeloutchom, and by the Spaniards, San Benito. Eight days
later, Lasuen, aided by Padres Catala and Martiarena, founded the
Mission dedicated to the saint of that day, San Juan Bautista.
Next in order, between the two Missions of San Antonio de Padua
and San Luis Obispo, was that of “the most glorious prince of the
heavenly militia,” San Miguel. Lasuen, aided by Sitjar, in the
presence of a large number of Indians, performed the ceremony in
the usual form, on July 25, 1797. This Mission eventually grew to
large proportions and its interior remains to-day almost exactly as
decorated by the hands of the original priests.
San Fernando Rey was next established, on September 8, by
Lasuen, aided by Padre Dumetz.
After extended correspondence between Lasuen and Governor
Borica, a site, called by the natives Tacayme, was finally
chosen for locating the next Mission, which was to bear the name of
San Luis, Rey de Francia. Thus it became necessary to distinguish
between the two saints of the same name: San Luis, Bishop (Obispo),
and San Luis, King; but modern American parlance has eliminated the
comma, and they are respectively San Luis Obispo and San Luis Rey.
Lasuen, with the honored Padre Peyri and Padre Santiago, conducted
the ceremonies on June 13, and the hearts of all concerned were
made glad by the subsequent baptism of fifty-four children.
It was as an adjunct to this Mission that Padre Peyri, in 1816,
founded the chapel of San Antonio de Pala, twenty miles east from
San Luis Rey: to which place were removed the Palatingwas, or Agua
Calientes, evicted a few years ago from Warner’s Ranch. This chapel
has the picturesque campanile, or small detached belfry, the
pictures of which are known throughout the world.
With the founding of San Luis Rey this branch of the work of
President Lasuen terminated. Bancroft regards him as a greater man
than Serra, and one whose life and work entitle him to the highest
praise. He died at San Carlos on June 26, 1803, and was buried by
the side of Serra.
