Today Mission Santa Clara continues to serve as a spiritual hub and the student chapel for the community here at Santa Clara University.
The site chosen for the mission was at a midway point between Mission Santa Barbara and Mission La Purísima Concepción. Its purpose was to relieve overcrowding at those two missions and to serve the Indians living east of the Coast Range. Construction on Mission Santa Inés began in 1804 with one row of buildings.
Although ruined and rebuilt six times, the settlement was never abandoned, and today it functions as the university chapel for Santa Clara University.
Santa Clara de Asís Mission. Santa Clara de Asís was founded on January 12, 1777 and was the first mission in California to honor a female saint, Saint Claire of Assisi, a 13th century Italian nun.
Origin: The Spanish named a California Mission Santa Clara de Asís after Saint Clare of Assisi in the late 18th century. Eventually the name was extended by linguists to mean the native Tamyen people gathered at the mission and their primary language.
Santa Clara (/ˌsænt?ˈklær?/) is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 116,468 as of the 2010 United States Census, making it the ninth-most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area. Levi's Stadium, the home of the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers, is located in the city.
Mission Santa Clara de Asis. Nickname: The Laurelwood mission, built January 12th, 1777, 8th Mission.
History of Mission Santa Clara de Asís
It is here that Father Serra broke tradition, choosing the first woman to serve as patron saint, St. Clare of Assisi, who founded the Poor Clares order of nuns. An interim site was used with a more permanent third location blessed by Father Serra on November 19, 1781.It was completed 2 1/2 years later, in May 1784. Unlike the two previous temporary churches, which were built of wood, the permanent church was an imposing adobe structure 100 feet long, 22 feet wide and 20 feet high.
Sadly, the renovated mission church that had been upgraded over the years, burned in a fire in 1926. The rebuilding was a testament to its style in 1825. It was reopened in 1928 as the University chapel. The address of this eighth in the line of California missions is 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara.
At lunch, people would generally eat boiled wheat, corn, peas, beans and vegetables, as well as seasonal fruit. At dinner they would have the same type of meal as at breakfast. Cattle were slaughtered regularly, so mission members also ate a great deal of beef throughout the year.
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa had a successful economy. The crops they grew were wheat, barley, corn, peas, and lentils. They also grew olives and grapes to make olive oil and wine. Their livestock included sheep and cattle.
Life at our Mission
- The tribes worked on the farm to grow crops and helped herd cattle.
- Barley, corn, beans, peas, garbanzo beans, and habos were all grown on.
- The Tribes were treated unfairly because they did not like the people who were getting there in the way of their hunting.
Crops Grown at the Mission: Many crops were grown at the mission. Some were wheat, barley, corn, beans, peas, lentils, and garbanzo beans.
Wheat,
corn, and other grains were grown on the mission lands from seeds brought by the padres. The wheat was pounded into a coarse meal or flour with a stone mortar and pestle.
CHAMPURRADO.
| 6 teaspoons cocoa | 2 tablespoons cornstarch |
|---|
| 1 cup hot water | 2 teaspoons vanilla |
| 5 cups scalded milk | dash of cinnamon |
The major field crops at the missions were wheat, barley, corn, beans, and peas. These crops had to be watered, so irrigation systems were devised by the padres. They brought water to the fields through stone troughs or adobe clay pipes.
The 21 California Missions
- San Diego De Alcala. Location: San Diego. Founded Order: 1st.
- San Luis Rey De Francia. Location: Oceanside. Founded Order: 18th.
- San Juan Capistrano. Location: San Juan Capistrano. Founded Order: 7th.
Santa Clara County is one of the safest counties in the United States and most cities enjoy very low crime rates. However, crime is somewhat higher around downtown San Jose and in some of the poorer neighborhoods to the east and south. Be careful to check for ticks [4] after hiking in fields in the bay area.
In the sports world, Santa Clara is famous for its world-class swim center and swim club. Today, Santa Clara is synonymous with Silicon Valley. But like many Valley towns, it was once known for its fruit production. The ground now teaming with apartments and expressways was once filled with plum-prune orchards.
Between 1834 and 1836, the Mexican government confiscated California mission properties and exiled the Franciscan friars. The missions were secularized--broken up and their property sold or given away to private citizens. Secularization was supposed to return the land to the Indians.
