Mission Santa Clara de Asís

Mission Santa Clara de Asís () is a Spanish mission in the city of Santa Clara, California. The mission, which was the eighth in California, was founded on January 12, 1777, by the Franciscans. Named for Saint Clare of Assisi, who founded the order of the Poor Clares and was an early companion of St. Francis of Assisi, this was the first California mission to be named in honor of a woman.

It is the namesake of both the city and county of Santa Clara, as well as of Santa Clara University, which was built around the mission. This is the only mission located on the grounds of a university campus. Although ruined and rebuilt six times, the settlement was never abandoned, and today it functions as the university chapel for Santa Clara University.

History

thumb|left|240px|Painting of Mission Santa Clara, 1849.

The outpost was originally established as La Misión Santa Clara de Thamien (or Mission Santa Clara de Thamien, a reference to the Tamien people) at the Native American village of So-co-is-u-ka (meaning "Laurelwood", located on the Guadalupe River) on January 12, 1777. There the Franciscan brothers erected a cross and shelter for worship to bring Christianity to the Ohlone people. When Spanish entered into Santa Clara it was Fray Tomás de la Pena who enlisted Junipero Serra to spread christianity to the Ohlone people. This played a very big role for the future of Santa Clara changing their tradition once Junipero Serra arrived in Santa Clara. The Ohlone people started attending masses and began receiving supplies from the missions.Floods, fires, 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. A subsequent site of the mission dating from 1784 to 1819 is located several hundred yards west of the De La Cruz overpass of the Caltrain track; moreover, several Native American burial sites have been discovered near this subsequent site. The current site, home to the first college in Alta California, dates back to 1825.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ The Six Churches of Santa Clara de Asís

! Construction Number !! Dates of Use !! Date of Abandonment !! Cause !! Materials !! Cemetery

| 1|| 1777–1779 || 1779 || flooding || wood || yes

| 2|| 1779–1784 || 1784 || abandoned || wood || yes

| 3|| 1784–1818 || 1818–1825 || earthquake, water || adobe || yes

| 4|| 1818–1825 || 1867 || demolition || adobe || no

| 5|| 1825–1926 || 1926 || fire || adobe || yes (in use from 1825–1851)

| 6<br>(same site as 5)|| 1928–present || || || masonry || no

The six churches were built from 1777- present. Each one has been created and destroyed by different causes. Each church has been built with different materials and with different foundations. All showing how each church was unique.

The second mission was used as a staging point for the construction of the third mission also called the Murguia Mission. The cornerstone for this adobe was built on November 19, 1781. In 1812 and 1818 there were earthquakes at the mission which caused the mission to be shaken and damaged. Before being torn down in 1777, the first complex was built en palisada. A palisada is a wooden post construction with earthen roofs covered with tule reed thatching. Once moved, Junípero Serra dedicated the church on May 16, 1784.She said it was the best and largest of all the missions. On Sundays, people from San Jose would come to the mission for services, until the building of St. Joseph's Church in 1803. In that year, the mission of Santa Clara reported a Native American population of 1,271. In the same tabular report, its resident priest estimated that 10,000 cattle, 9,500 sheep, 730 horses, 35 mules, and 55 swine were on mission lands, while about 3,000 fanegas of grain (some each of wheat, barley or corn) had been harvested. Most of the buildings continued to be used as a parish church, unlike the other missions in California.. The local land near the mission had drastically changed in the 60 years of mission operation under the Spanish and many of the native plants needed for Native American survival were gone. Also this was Detrimental since the Native Americans relied on plants not only as a food supplement but also for medicine. There were 265 species of medicinal plants used by the people. After the missions period there was these were all altered after the missions. Requiring a change from the former lifestyle for many Native Americans. 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, although the actual bells have since been replaced by a recording. The bell tower has three bells; one was donated by King Carlos IV but subsequently destroyed in a fire. King Alphonso XIII donated a replacement bell, which is on display in the de Saisset Museum (in the mission).

In 1861, a new wooden façade with two bell towers was attached over the old adobe front of the building. The interior was widened in 1885 to increase the seating capacity by removing the original adobe nave walls. A fire in 1925 destroyed the structure, including the surrounding wall. The church's parochial functions were transferred to the Saint Clare Parish 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 daily; the mission museum is located in the university's De Saisset Museum.

The original mission cemetery, still in use, is located on nearby Lincoln Street.

Santa Clara Mission Cemetery

Santa Clara Mission Cemetery, also known as Santa Clara Catholic Cemetery, was founded in 1777, alongside the mission by the same Franciscans. In 1851, when Santa Clara College was founded, the cemetery near the mission was running out of space, so they moved the location a few minutes walk from the mission near the adobe home of Fernando Berryessa, son of Maria Zacharias Bernal y Berryessa.

In the 1930s, this cemetery completed its first indoor mausoleum. In part due to the popularity of mausoleum burial, in 2015, they began building the St. Ignatius Outdoor Mausoleum Complex.

The Native groups had their own formal ceremonies and have strong beliefs. When the indigenous people were putting the people in their graves, they would put them in a different position then what we usually do today. Many of the deceased were laid in a flexed position but there were others who were laid to rest in an extended position, or they had the people's remains redeposited. They used many things in burial ceremonies like shell beads, glass beads, boot-spur parts, and bone awl. Archaeologist found four humans remain at the site.

Marv Owen (1906–1991), baseball player for the Detroit Tigers (1931–37), Chicago White Sox (1938–39) and Boston Red Sox (1940) and a baseball coach.
Bernard D. Murphy (1841–1911) Canadian-born American politician, businessman and banker
Daniel Martin Murphy (1826–1882) Canadian-born American settler and rancher in California
Martin Murphy Jr. (1807–1884) Irish-born American settler, farmer, rancher, and founder of Sunnyvale, California
Martin Murphy Sr. (1785–1865) Irish-born American settler, farmer, and founder of San Martin, California
Patrick W. Murphy (1837–1901) Canadian-born American politician, rancher
Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei (1901–2000), Catholic Bishop of Shanghai, China, from 1950 until his death in 2000.
Elizabeth Murphy Taaffe (1844–1875) American settler, rancher, and founder of Los Altos Hills, California
Archbishop Dominic Tang (1908–1995), Chinese Jesuit priest and Bishop in 1951 and later archbishop of Canton.
Tiburcio Vásquez (1835–1875), Californio bandido who was active in California from 1854 to 1874.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Early photographs, sketches of Mission Santa Clara de Asís, via Calisphere, California Digital Library