San Buenaventura Mission

The San Buenaventura Mission is located in downtown Ventura.  This was the 9th of the 21 missions to be built in California and the last one founded by Father Junipero Serro in 1792,  and completed in 1809.  It is still a very active parish.  Like most of the missions there is a lovely garden and a small museum on the adjacent grounds.

I was especially thrilled to read a historical narrative of the vestments on display.  There has always been a disconnect in my mind between the hardships endured by the mission dwellers and the luxurious fabrics found in the museums.  Statues portray these priests in plain brown cotton robes.  Yet, the museums are filled with silk, damask and brocade.  Where did these robes come from and were they really worn?

There were 23 robes in the museum dating from the earliest days of the mission.  They were fashioned from flowered-silk purchased in China and brought to California on the Manila galleons.  These Spanish trading ships sailed once or twice a year between the Philippines and San Blas, Mexico.  They began sailing to the New World as early as 1565 and finally stopped in 1815 when the Mexican War of Independence put a stop to trading.

History is complex.  Mission history begins in Baja in the 1600's when the Jesuits obtained permission from the Viceroy to go to California for the purpose of converting the inhabitants.  The land would be taken on behalf of the King of Spain.  Converting the natives proved to be a difficult task and history is divided as to whether the locals were enslaved or enlightened.  The Catholic rituals and ornate symbols were part of a calculated strategy to strike the so-called savages with awe.

In The History of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, I read that the San Buenaventura Mission had frequent trouble with the "Indians".   Many of these tribes, especially those on the Mupu and Piru Creeks, were particularly warlike and dangerous.  The soldiers stationed at the mission often decided not to pursue them when they made a raid on the stock.  In 1825 the mission owned 37,000 head of cattle, 600 horses, 30,000 sheep, $35,000 worth of foreign goods, $25,000 in silver and gold coins and $61,000 in church ornaments and clothing.  That earlier disconnect is starting to make sense.  Not only did the Manila galleons take silver back to Spain with them, but I suspect, provisions from the missions as well. 

The acres of land that surrounded the early mission is now built up with stores, restaurants and houses.  Now, it is an enclave of peace and serenity within a bustling city.  When I was there, an older man and woman were praying the rosary together.   The woman was weeping, and I felt like a cad taking pictures when they were obviously seeking comfort.  I waited until they finished.  Yes, we pad our history with idealism. Even in the brochure I was given, it claimed Fray Junipero Serra  "prayed that he might be permitted to forsake his comfortable circumstances to take up the Lord's work among the aborigines in the New World."  Nearly 250 years later, his presence is still felt.