Eighth of the Franciscan missions in California, Santa Clara de Asis was founded by Father Tomas de la Peña on January 12, 1777, who named the new settlement for St. Clare of Assisi, the first Abbess of San
Mission San Buenaventura, the last of the California missions founded personally by Franciscan priest Father Junipero Serra, formed the basis in 1782 for what later became a town. Following the great earthquake of 1812, the mission
The priest who is credited with creating California’s missions was born Miguel Jose Serra, on the island of Majorca off the coast of Spain. Entering the Franciscan Order at sixteen when he took the baptismal name of Junipero, he was soon
During the 300-plus years Spain claimed ownership of California by right of conquest, Spain’s official religion took a part in setting the state’s first southern boundary. Imperial Spain’s Nueva Espana (New Spain) was far-flung: it included the Caribbean, Mexico, and parts of