Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo (English: The Mission of Saint Charles Borromeo of the Carmel River), first built in 1797, is one of the most authentically restored Catholic mission churches in California. Located at the mouth of Carmel Valley, California, it is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.

From 1797 until 1833, Carmel Mission was the headquarters of all Alta California missions. It was headed by Saint Junípero Serra from 1770 until his death in 1784. It was also the seat of the second missions presidente, Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, who was in charge of completing nine more mission churches.

In 1833, the mission buildings and lands were secularized by the Mexican government. By the mid-19th century, the Carmel Mission structures had fallen into disrepair. The chapel was saved from total destruction when the roof was rebuilt in 1884. Two years later, ownership of the mission was transferred from a group of Franciscans to the Diocese of Monterey. Ever since, Carmel Mission has been a parish within that diocese.

Beginning in 1931, Harry Downie began restoring the mission and worked continuously on the project for the next 50 years. It is the only Spanish mission in California that has its original bell and bell tower. Carmel Mission contains the state's first library.

History

Mission Carmel ( The Carmel Mission) was the second mission built by Franciscan missionaries in Upper California. It was first established as Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Monterey, California near the native village of Tamo on June 3, 1770, by Father Junípero Serra. It was named for Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, Italy, and was the site of the first Christian confirmation in Alta California. Fages regarded the Spanish installations in California as military institutions first, and religious outposts second. The soldiers raped the Indian women and kept them as concubines.) runs into Carmel Bay, was better suited for farming. In May 1771, Spain's viceroy approved Serra's petition to relocate the mission. The mission was established in the new location on August 1, 1771; the first mass was celebrated on August 24, and Serra officially took up residence in the newly constructed buildings on December 24.

The name of the relocated mission was extended to Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo. It was within a short distance of the Rumsen Ohlone villages of Tucutnut and Achasta. The latter village may have been founded after Mission San Carlos was relocated to Carmel Valley. The mission was about from the nearest Esselen territory, Excelen. and, because it was close to Monterey, the capital of Alta California, he chose it as his headquarters. When Serra died on August 28, 1784, he was interred beneath the chapel floor. After Serra's death, Father Fermín Lasuén replaced the adobe structure with one built of stone quarried from the nearby Santa Lucia Mountains.

Native Californians

Baptisms

After the Carmel mission was moved to the mouth of Carmel Valley, the Franciscans began to baptize some natives. about 10 leagues (about ) southeast of the mission, in an area now named Cachagua, a close approximation of the Esselen name. By 1812, the missions priests identified Native Californians from seven different nations.

Labor

The Esselen and Ohlone Indians who lived near the mission were baptized and then moved to the mission and became laborers. Over the years about 900 Esselen were baptized and brought to missions in Carmel Valley at, Soledad, and San Antonio, that surrounding their native land. The neophytes were taught to be farmers, shepherds, cowboys, blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers, furniture makers, tanners, weavers and candle makers. Disease, starvation, overwork, and torture decimated these tribes. The number of natives who died at the missions were high. Deaths exceeded births and the population at Mission San Carlos peaked in 1795, The priests could not maintain the missions without the Indians' forced labor and the mission and lands were soon abandoned. The Indians were forced from the mission by the new landowners. Some attempted to return to their native ways, and others found work as ranch hands or servants on farms and ranches.

Restoration

thumb|left|Mission Carmel damaged circa 1860, [[Historic American Buildings Survey|HABS archive]]

left|thumb|The mission abandoned, 1880

thumb|left|upright|Interior view of the church building and its fallen roof tiles in 1880 prior to restoration

When Mexico ceded California to the United States following the Mexican–American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored, but required that the owners provide legal proof of their title. As required by the Land Act of 1851, Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany filed a claim on February 19, 1853, on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church. He sought return of all former mission lands in the State. The state agreed to return the original mission buildings, cemeteries, and gardens to the church.

When the Roman Catholic Church gained full control of the buildings on October 19, 1859, the mission was in ruins. In 1941, he oversaw restoration of the former soldiers' quarters on the east side of the quadrangle. In 1943 he began restoration of a building that had been on the south side of the quadrangle, although nothing was left but the eroded adobe foundation and a few ruined walls. The building was originally a segregated, locked dormitory for girls called the monjero (nunnery). They were separated from their families at age 8. The boys and unmarried men also had their own dormitory, though it was less confining.

The building was reconstructed and made into classrooms for Junipero Serra Elementary School. In 1946, the ruin on the east side of the quadrangle that had been the original padre's kitchen and a blacksmith shop was rebuilt. It is used today as a chapel. Downie also consulted on the restoration of the missions that are considered the most authentic, including San Luis Obispo, San Juan Bautista, and San Buenaventura. He also helped the Native Daughters of the Golden West to reconstruct Mission Soledad.

The original bell nicknamed Ave Maria was made in Mexico City in 1807. It was placed at the Mission in 1820. When the mission was secularized in 1834, the bell was removed and held onto by local Native Americans for safekeeping. It was finally lost, but relocated once again, during restoration. It was re-installed in the mission bell tower in 1925.

Modern use

thumb|left|Modern retablo inside basilica

As a result of Downie's dedicated efforts to restore the buildings, the Carmel mission church is one of the most authentically restored of all the mission churches in California. Mission Carmel has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. It is an active parish church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey. and the Convento Museum, which holds the cell Serra lived and died in, as well as interpretive exhibits. At one end of the museum is a special chapel room containing some of the vestments used by Serra.

The mission grounds were also the location of the Junípero Serra School, a private Catholic school for kindergarteners through 8th grade operated by the Diocese of Monterey. The school opened in 1943 and closed at the end of the 2019–2020 school year.

Modern restoration

Between 2000 and 2007, private funding provided funds to hire Fine Art Conservation Laboratories to conserve the major original Spanish Colonial oil paintings in the nave. The company had previously been responsible for the preservation and restoration of Spanish colonial art from the Mission Inn, Riverside, California, the Santa Barbara Mission, The Institute of Iberian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and from the Permanent Art Collection of Brigham Young University. The most important artwork conserved during their initial work was the Deposition, a painting commissioned by Father Serra prior to his death. It now hangs in the vicinity of his tomb in the apse of the Carmel Mission.

In 2008, the non-profit Friends of Historic Carmel Mission was formed, independent of the Diocese of Monterey. The organization's goal was to assist the parish and diocese in restoring and preserving the historic landmark. After restoring nine mission bells and many artifacts, the Foundation became the sole funder for the restoration and changed its name to the Carmel Mission Foundation.

In 2016, the Foundation funded the restoration of the central courtyard at a cost of $2.2 million. The unsafe, cracked concrete surface was removed and new water and fire lines, drains, sewer, electrical, and communications lines were installed before a more durable concrete surface was poured to match that of the original aggregate poured in the late 1960s.

The foundation worked with the Mission Docent Association to conserve the Our Lady of Bethlehem statue, believed to be one of the oldest statues in California. In 2020, the front perimeter wall deteriorated. The foundation paid for emergency removal of the long perimeter wall and construction of a temporary wall until a permanent one can be designed and built.

In late 2020, The Carmel Mission Foundation began a $4 million project to restore and seismically strengthen the century old Downie Museum in time to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Carmel Mission. The restoration removed restrooms from the rear of the building, doubling the museum's interior space. Paint covering the stone installed in 1920 surrounding the fireplace was removed.

The foundation is seeking additional funding to pay for seismic retrofits, infrastructure improvements, and restoration of the Mora Museum, Convento Museum, Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and the historic Orchard House Property.

Vandalism

On September 27, 2015, in response to Serra's canonization, the San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission was vandalized. The statue of Serra was toppled and splattered with paint, and the cemetery, the mission doors, a fountain, and a crucifix were as well. The message "Saint of Genocide" was painted on the ground, and similar messages were painted elsewhere in the mission courtyard.

Notable interments

thumb|right|100px|St. Junípero Serra's grave inside the church

Several notable people are buried in the church and churchyard, in the Carmel Mission Cemetery, also known as Mission Carmel Cemetery, and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Cemetery.

Juan Crespí (1721–1782), Spanish missionary and explorer
Fermín Lasuén (1736–1803), Spanish missionary and explorer
José Antonio Roméu, (1742? – 1792) Spanish governor of California
Junípero Serra (1713–1784), founder of the Spanish missions in California and Saint

References

Bibliography

External links

Official Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo website
Native American life at Mission San Carlos Borromeo
Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper
Photographs of the mission and courtyard