MISSION BASILICA SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA - PART 1

 This is from an old post several years ago.  We were on a road trip and stopped at the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala, California's first mission founded by Friar Junipero Serra on July 16th, 1769.

Friar Junipero Serra was a priest in the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church, and a driving force in the Spanish conquest and colonization of what is now the state of California.  He was born into a humble family on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Ocean.  His parents sent him to a nearby Franciscan school, and his intellectual abilities soon caught the attention of his teachers.  At the age of fifteen he enrolled in a prominent Franciscan school in the nearby city of Palma.  The next year he became a novice in the Franciscan order, and shortly thereafter was ordained a priest.pero Serra.  I found the information above from his biography at this website, where there is a lot more information on his life.

You can read a full history of the Mission if you go here and an article written here.

A nearby marker told us about the façade. It read: "As a result of the Indian attack of 1775, Padre Serra returned during the summer of 1776 to initiate the reconstruction of Mission San Diego. The church and buildings were rebuilt and the Mission flourished for a number of years.

Earthquakes of the early 1800's destroyed most of the adobe buildings and church. The structures were rebuilt and the buttress wings were added in 1812 to strengthen the façade of the church. By the early 1920's, portions of the walls adjoining the buttresses, the campanario (bell tower) and the baptistry were the only walls that remained standing.

The doors are replicas made of redwood and the carvings are taken from actual designs that were on the original doors. The emblem over the door is the papal insignia and signifies that Mission San Diego is a minor basilica. This honor was bestowed on the Mission by Pope Paul VI in 1976.

The statues in the niches along the corridor (a few of those saints are shown in a mosaic further along the post) represent the nine missions founded by Padre Serra, in chronological order. 

Each statue represents the saint for whom that mission was named."

Inside I was struck by its beauty. As you can see we are looking towards the Altar....

and in the following photo we are looking in the opposite direction which shows where we entered.

Added note 10-11-20: I had a couple of comments from blogging friends asking about these photos of the Virgin Mary.  The first comment was from Sandi who asked about the head at the bottom of her feet.  The second comment came from Great-Granny Grandma. Their questions peaked my interest and I found this page online with more information.  I thought I should add it to my post.   Thank you to both Sandi and Great-Granny Grandma for sowing that seed for me to learn more.

What I learned was the head at her feet was actually an angel supporting her. You can read about the symbolism in the following link, which is a repeat of the one above.

http://www.olgaustin.org/symbolism.shtml

I also found a paragraph that reads:

"The angel supporting the Lady testifies to her royalty. To the Meso-American Indians only kings, queens and other dignitaries would be carried on the shoulders of someone. The angel is transporting the Lady to the people as a sign that a new age has come."

In my next post I will share the garden.