Mission statement
Nov. 1, 2026, is the 250th anniversary of the founding of Mission San Juan Capistrano and we have a look at its history and where it fits in as the seventh of the 21 Spanish missions to be established in California.
Mission San Juan Capistrano was first founded by Father Lasuen, on October 30th. But just a few weeks after the party of friars and soldiers arrived, they left to help quash a revolt to the south in San Diego. The 1775 Kumeyaay Revolt was a coordinated uprising by more than 600 warriors from over 15 local villages against the Spanish colonial presence at Mission San Diego de Alcalá.
Once things had settled in San Diego, Father Junípero Serra led a party to refound Mission San Juan Capistrano on All Saint’s Day, Nov. 1, 1776. Construction on the stone church began in 1796 and was completed in 1806. It was destroyed when an earthquake hit the area on Dec. 8, 1812. Forty people, all Native Americans were killed while attending Mass. The original native inhabitants of San Juan Capistrano are the Acjachemen Nation (ah-hawsh-eh-men), also historically referred to as the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians by the Spanish when they became baptized.
It is estimated that about 65,000 Native Americans lived in coastal zone of California in 1770 and by 1830 only 17,000 remained living, a decline of 74%.
Still standing
The Serra Chapel, which dates back to the 1780s is California’s only chapel still standing where Saint Serra celebrated Mass. Junípero Serra, a Franciscan missionary born and raised in Mallorca, Spain, was appointed the Father President of the Alta California Missions in 1769. He established nine missions before dying in 1784 at age 70. It is not well documented how many times he visited San Juan Capistrano.
After 1812
Life at the mission and around San Juan Capistrano was difficult after the earthquake, disease and native population decline. By 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain, which made Alta California a territory of Mexico with little interest Spanish missions.
In 1845, Alta California Gov. Pio Pico sold the Mission at auction to John Forster, his brother-in-law. For the next 20 years, the Mission was a private ranch property of the Forster family.
After California became a state in 1850, California’s Catholic bishop, Joseph Alemany, petitioned the U.S. government to have mission buildings and lands returned to the Catholic Church. In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln returned the Mission to the Catholic Church. The plush gardens and ponds seen at the mission today were not there until renovations began in the 1910s.
Swallow’s tradition
The town of San Juan Capistrano welcomes visitors to celebrate the return of the swallows in March every year, a tradition that has been celebrated since the early 1930s. The annual parade continues but the celebrated swallows numbers have vastly dropped over the years.
The California chain of missions
The original Franciscan purpose of the California missions (and those in Baja Mexico) was to educate the Native Americans in Christianity and to lead them to become Spanish citizens. That never came to be after Mexico’s war with Spain, 1810-1821 and its Independence in 1821.
A few notable dates
1813: Spanish law specifies that the missions and the land are to revert, at some point, into Indian hands.
1826: The Mexican government allows some mission Indians their freedom.
1833: The Mexican Congress passes a law calling for the missions to be transferred from Franciscan missions into parish churches.
1834: Further laws are passed detailing how this will happen.
Despite the original intent, most mission lands ended up in the hands of wealthy local residents. The Native Americans, to a large extent, were removed from the former mission properties or left to fend for themselves.
Sources: California Missions Resource Center, MissionsOfCalifornia.org, sjchistoricalsociety.com, Mission San Juan Capistrano Former Focus Page editor Charles Apple contributed to this report