Keeping Faith in Return of Swallows

At top is Mission San Juan Capistrano as it appeared in 1921, modest, sleepy, about to change into a major tourist attraction.

That year, recalled mission priest John O’Sullivan in his memoirs, an old Indian remarked to him that the swallows had not yet returned “and tomorrow is the day.” Tomorrow was March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, and usually by then at least some of the birds were in their mud nests under the mission’s eaves.

In the 1930s, O’Sullivan began recounting the tale in his lectures and radio broadcasts, eventually dropping the distinction that the swallows were due by, not on, March 19. Newspapers picked up and pumped up the heartwarming yarn of swallows returning, en masse and on time, in honor of a saint.

NBC broadcast a live account of the return in 1936.

The 1939 broadcast inspired Leon Rene to compose “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano,” which sold 3 million records and cemented the myth to history as firmly as a barnacle.

Witnessing the swallows’ return was more an act of faith than observation. Conceded Mayor Roy L. Byrnes in 1974: “If it’s the 19th of March and it flies, it’s a swallow.”

But the charm of the tale and the setting keep the tourists coming, 8,000 to 10,000 strong on the big day, according to mission records.

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O.C. Then and Now calls: (714) 966-5973; e-mail: OCthenand now@latimes.com.