Central Courtyard of Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776 by Padre Junípero Serra; Orange County, California, USA.

Central Courtyard. Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in 1776 by Padre Junípero Serra and can visited today in Orange County, California, USA. Sited next to the native village of Acjacheme, Mission San Juan Capistrano was the seventh in the chain of 21 religious outposts established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the state of California. The missions were established by Catholic priests of the Franciscan order to evangelize indigenous peoples, backed by the military force of the Spanish Empire — part of expansion and settlement within the Alta California province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Mission was named for Saint John of Capistrano (1386–1456) — a friar, Catholic priest, preacher, theologian, inquisitor, and "Soldier Saint" from the Italian town of Capestrano, Abruzzo. The Mission was secularized by the Mexican government in 1833, then returned to the Catholic church in 1865 by proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln. Restoration efforts date from around 1910. Today, the mission compound serves as a museum. Within the compound, Serra's Chapel built in 1782 is the oldest building in California still in use, serving as a chapel for the mission parish — Father Junipero Serra celebrated Mass here. The adjacent Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano was completed in 1986, designed after the Great Stone Church which was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1812 and left ruins visible today on the Historic Mission grounds.

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Filename: 23.12CA-0242.jpg
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Contained in galleries: California: southern coast, San Diego Zoo, 2023 Dec: CA: Castle Crags, Bidwell, San Diego, Anza-Borrego

Central Courtyard. Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in 1776 by Padre Junípero Serra and can visited today in Orange County, California, USA. Sited next to the native village of Acjacheme, Mission San Juan Capistrano was the seventh in the chain of 21 religious outposts established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the state of California. The missions were established by Catholic priests of the Franciscan order to evangelize indigenous peoples, backed by the military force of the Spanish Empire — part of expansion and settlement within the Alta California province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Mission was named for Saint John of Capistrano (1386–1456) — a friar, Catholic priest, preacher, theologian, inquisitor, and "Soldier Saint" from the Italian town of Capestrano, Abruzzo. The Mission was secularized by the Mexican government in 1833, then returned to the Catholic church in 1865 by proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln. Restoration efforts date from around 1910. Today, the mission compound serves as a museum. Within the compound, Serra's Chapel built in 1782 is the oldest building in California still in use, serving as a chapel for the mission parish — Father Junipero Serra celebrated Mass here. The adjacent Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano was completed in 1986, designed after the Great Stone Church which was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1812 and left ruins visible today on the Historic Mission grounds.