Mission San Gabriel Arcángel (originally La Misión del Santo Príncipe El Arcángel, San Gabriel de Los Temblores), the "Pride of the Missions," was founded on September 8 (the Feast of the Birth of Mary), 1771 in present day Montebello by Padres Pedro Benito Cambón, Junípero Serra, Angel Fernández de la Somera. This fourth mission (named for the Gabriel, Holy Prince of Archangels) was situated in the First Military District, and was designed by Father Antonio Cruzado (who hailed from Córdoba, Spain, which accounts for the Mission's strong Moorish influence).

The original Mission site (today referred to as "Mission Vieja" or "Old Mission") was a fertile plain located directly alongside the Rio de los Temblores (or "River of Earthquakes," today known as the San Gabriel River). In 1776 a flash flood destroyed much of the crops and ruined the Mission complex, which was subsequently relocated five miles closer to the mountains in present day San Gabriel. Mission San Gabriel is located near what became the City of Los Angeles, California in 1850. On December 8, 1812 (the "Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin") a series of massive earthquakes shook Southern California. The 1812 Wrightwood Earthquake caused the three-bell campanario, located adjacent to the chapel's east façade, to collapse. A larger, six-bell structure was subsequently constructed at the far end of the capilla. While no pictorial record exists to document what the original structure looked like, architectural historian Rexford Newcomb deduced the design and published a depiction in his 1916 work The Franciscan Mission Architecture of Alta California.

Legend has it that the founding expedition was confronted by a large group of native Shoshone peoples whose intention was to drive the strangers away. One of the padres laid a painting of "Our Lady of Sorrows" on the ground for all to see, whereupon the Indians (known to the settlers as the Gabrieliños) immediately made peace with the missionaries, so moved were they by the painting's beauty. Today the 300-year-old piece hangs in the Mission's reredos (sanctuary). A large stone cross stands in the center of the campo santo (cemetery), first consecrated in 1778 and then again on January 29, 1939 by Los Angeles Archbishop John Cantwell. It serves as the final resting place for some 6,000 "neophytes" Indians; a small stone marker denotes the gravesite of José de Los Santos, the last Indian to be buried on the grounds at the age of 101 in February, 1921. Also interred at the Mission are the bodies of numerous Franciscan Fathers who died during their time of service, as well as the remains of Reverend Raymond Catalan, C.M.F., who undertook the restoration of the Mission's gardens. Entombed at the foot of the altar are the remains of eight Franciscan priests (listed in order of interment): Father Miguel Sánchez, Father Antonio Cruzado, Father Francisco Dumetz, Father Roman Ulibarri, Father Joaquin P. Nuez, Father Gerónimo Boscana, Father José Bernardo Sánchez, and Father Blas Ordaz. Buried among the padres is Eulalia Perez de Guillén Mariné, the centanarian "keeper of the keys" under Spanish rule; her grave is marked by a bench in her memory.

Well over 25,000 baptisms were conducted at San Gabriel between 1771 and 1834, making it the most prolific in the mission chain. In its heyday it furnished food and supplies to settlements and other missions throughout California. A majority of the Mission structures fell into ruins after it was secularized in November 1834.

The Mission's chapel functioned as a parish church for the City of San Gabriel from 1862 until 1908, when the Claretian Missionary Fathers came to San Gabriel and began the job of rebuilding and restoring the Mission. On October 1, 1987 the Whittier Narrows Earthquake further damaged the property. A significant portion of the original complex has since been restored.

Historic designations

• National Register of Historic Places #NPS–71000158
• California Historical Landmark #158
• California Historical Landmark #161 — site of "Mission Vieja"
• Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award (1994) — "Seismic retrofit and restoration of The oldest building in Los Angeles County"
• Daughters of the American Revolution (1968) — "The Oldest Building in Southern California of Brick, Stone and Mortar"

References

See also

• Spanish missions in California
• Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles
• San Bernardino Asistencia
• USNS Mission San Gabriel (AO-124) — a ''Buenaventura Class fleet oiler built during World War II.
• San Gabriel Mission High School
• Eulalia Perez de Guillén Mariné

External links

• Official mission website
• Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper
• Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record
• Virtual Reality Panorama of "The Camino Real Door at Mission San Gabriel"
• Official website of the Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council of San Gabriel
• The Mission Play synopsis.
• San Gabriel Mission High

  1771 establishments | Archdiocese of Los Angeles | California Historical Landmarks | California missions | History of Los Angeles | Landmarks in Los Angeles | Registered Historic Places in California | Tourism in California