A Historic Mission to Times Past

Mission San Luis Rey, among the most important historic sites in California, is undertaking a multimillion-dollar building and preservation project that includes a major archeological exploration.

Founded in 1798, the “king” of Father Junipero Serra’s chain of frontier missions will have its first new building in 40 years, a $3.5-million church to ease crowding in the original mission church, where Christianized Indians once squatted on the floor during Mass.

Meanwhile, the Franciscans who own the national landmark in Oceanside’s San Luis Rey River Valley are seeking to re-create a long-ago-destroyed length of the mission’s front colonnade, make the old adobe church earthquake safe, build new quarters for the friars, and perhaps enlarge the cemetery.

Meanwhile, archeologists hope that digs associated with the preservation project will yield a bonanza of artifacts and buildings.

“We’re going to find some buried structures,” said Nicholas Magalousis, an archeologist and director of the museum at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

San Luis Rey is considered a choice archeological site because it is an early mission; is the largest in Serra’s mission system; is in comparatively good condition, and has been explored only minimally.

A just-completed three-volume report on the mission says: “One of the most important historical-archeological sites in California, it has not attracted a great deal of scholarly interest,” according to Harry Kelsey, a fellow at the Huntington Library and former curator of the Los Angeles County Art Museum.

“There has never been a thorough and painstaking investigation of the mission site,” Kelsey added. He and Magalousis were hired by the Diocese of San Diego and the Franciscans to conduct the study.

Magalousis believes items such as pottery and tools will show how two cultures commingled nearly 200 years ago, revealing clues to everything from trade routes to health and nutrition.

The Franciscans are paying for the archeological exploration, which Magalousis envisions lasting at least 20 years and being assisted by local colleges and universities.

He said structural remains found long ago at the mission will be “re-excavated and their information reinterpreted by modern-day archeologists to bring out additional meanings.”

Even as clues to early mission life are unearthed, the San Diego Diocese is looking to the future. A new church is needed, officials say, not only to solve overcrowding, but also to serve a fast-growing parish of 8,000 Catholics who now include Anglos, Latinos, Samoans, Hawaiians, Filipinos and Vietnamese.

Twenty years ago, the mission had about 1,200 parishioners.

The church will double as a community center to house a variety of classes and counseling programs.

“We’re trying to bring the Franciscans’ philosophy into the 21st Century and deal with social ills. It’s a real challenge,” said Bob Whelan, head of development for the parish.

It has been a long evolution since the early days, when a contingent of Spaniards, including Father Juan Crespi, arrived in the green San Luis Rey River Valley three miles inland from the ocean and met a village of American Indians.

According to an old Indian account, the welcome by the village captain went like this: “What are you looking for here? Get out of our country.”

The priest gave them gifts, and so began an association, in the name of Spain’s interest in expansionism and bringing Christianity to natives of the New World.

Under the guidance of Father Antonio Peyri, the mission was the largest among Father Junipero Serra’s chain of 21 missions, and included 15 square miles of farm and pastureland. Mission San Luis Rey itself covered six acres, and by 1826 was the center of a thriving community that included nearly 3,000 baptized Indians, many of them now buried in the mission cemetery.

The mission’s halcyon days ended in 1834, when Mexico broke away from Spain and took control of the missions, effectively removing them from religious use.

The mission was decimated as cattle were slaughtered, Indians were robbed of their land, and building materials were poached. Tiles, timbers and bricks were hauled away over the decades.

In 1865, a month before he was assassinated, President Abraham Lincoln returned what little remained of the mission and its 53 acres to the church. Restoration didn’t begin for nearly 30 years.

A Franciscan missionary college was added in 1890 and now houses the mission’s dozen friars. The most recent construction was completed in 1950, when then-Gov. Edwin Knight dedicated the north and east wings, which now mostly contain conference rooms.

Now, the mission is entering a new era of preservation, exploration and expansion.

While the Franciscans are pressing ahead with a preservation plan for the existing mission, the Diocese of San Diego has approved building the new church on land east of the dark and narrow old church, with its Byzantine-style altar. Archeological digging is expected to take place in the courtyard outside the old church.

Groundbreaking is planned for June on the new church and its multipurpose rooms that reflect the parish’s need to offer a wider range of social services than the church historically has provided.

“The church is trying to serve the total community, including various ethnic groups,” said Msgr. Brent Eagen, pastor of Mission San Diego de Alcala and former chancellor of the diocese. “Parishes are more complicated than they used to be.”

The new church is expected to remedy chronic overcrowding as the original church’s seating for 425 people is so inadequate that Mass is celebrated in three places at the mission: the church, a chapel and at outdoor tennis courts. Ten Masses are held each weekend.

“We have this beautiful old mission that many people are drawn to and love so much that it’s become a problem,” Whelan said.

When completed, the new church is expected to have seating for 1,900. Three Masses will be held to better conserve the historic church.

The future church will also serve as a community facility as each day about 1,000 people, including illegal immigrants dumped off by smugglers, come to the mission seeking food and clothing.

In addition, senior citizens, abused children, and troubled families participate in activities and receive counseling at the mission.

But tantalizing historians and archeologists alike is the preservation effort led by the Franciscans; the mission custodian, Father Evan Howard; and the pastor, Father Michel Gagnon.

Whelan said San Luis Rey is in better condition--largely because of late 19th-Century restoration--than many other early missions and thus better able to give insight into the past.

“Early California was a magnificent time. (But) many of the missions were allowed to deteriorate and crumble. We’re probably closer to the original state of many of the missions,” Whelan said.

Howard, who wears the Franciscans’ traditional hooded brown robe, has been a priest for 35 years, including 24 years of retreat ministry, and arrived at Mission San Luis Rey nearly two years ago.

He recalled how the preservation fervor hit not long after he arrived, when repairmen informed him the mission was showing its age.

“All this dreaming started when the roof leaked,” Howard said. “We began to see the potential.”

As he and Gagnon took stock, they realized the Franciscans needed more space, among other things, to house friars in semi-retirement. They also got a hankering to replace a 150-foot-long, missing link of arched colonnade that once fronted the mission but was lost during the years of decline.

Adding the colonnade and a structure alongside it could make room for an expanded gift shop, a coffee shop for mission visitors, and space for other facilities.

There is also discussion of enlarging the mission’s nearly 200-year-old cemetery, which contains Indians, pioneers and early ranchers. Howard believes expanding the cemetery, which was reactivated in 1984, by one acre could be a source of revenue for the mission.

While the Franciscans are funding the archeological digs, they must rely on money they hope to raise from grants and donations to pay for the actual preservation and mission expansion. So far, there is no estimate of what the project might cost.

Archeologist Magalousis said it’s vital to complete a mission master plan--a document to detail archeological resources there and to guide preservation activities.

Without such a plan, “it’s hard to maximize the historic value and modern use of the site,” he said.

Preservation would include strengthening the adobe buildings against possible earthquakes and other forces of nature. An earthquake in 1812 damaged the church tower, and heavy rains in 1926 caused the adobe to expand and forced a wall outward.

Whelan hopes to place any found artifacts in an expanded mission museum, although no decision has been made.

Consideration is already being given to making sure archeological digs don’t disturb sensitive areas, especially where there might be Indian bones left from the villages that once surrounded the mission.

Whelan is aware that Indian groups often resist archeological efforts for fear of disturbing sacred ground. Generally, Whelan said, “they would prefer to leave everything alone.”

So far, Native Americans appear to have no objection to the mission’s plans.

“At this point, I feel very comfortable, I have no reason to doubt they’ll proceed in a way so all parties are satisfied,” said Lusano Indian elder Henry Rodriguez, who will be the Native American observer of archeological activity at the mission.

“We’re working with them,” Rodriguez said. “If for some reason they get out of line, we’ll be on their backs.”

Magalousis said, “We welcome Native American involvement” in the mission project.

Whelan keeps vividly in mind what happened last year, when work on a proposed parish meeting hall at Mission San Diego de Alcala disturbed Indian remains, infuriating Native Americans, including Rodriguez.

“It caused us delay and disappointment and controversy and some money,” recalled Msgr. Eagen.

Whelan believes there’s greater likelihood of encountering bones the closer construction gets to the mission compound, and he noted that archeologists are gingerly conducting preliminary digs and mapping vulnerable areas.

“Everything we’re doing here, we’re proceeding with very cautiously,” he said.

MISSION SAN LUIS REY

A combination of new buildings, preservation of old buildings and a major new archeological expedition are planned for Mission San Luis Rey. A. New $3.5-million church planned. B. Re-creation and extension of colonnade planned. C. Possible expansion of old cemetery. D. Archeological dig in the old church courtyard. E. Archeological dig at ruins of soldiers’ barracks. F. Archeological dig in area of old gardens. G. The old adobe church to be made earthquake-safe.