The Uniqueness Of The King Of Missions

Posted by dawson12 on October 8th, 2014

All the Spanish Missions were very useful. One of these Missions in California is especially important and famous – San Luis Rey, even named the King of Missions. It was the only one adorned with a wooden dome that is also unique to the site. There is the Madonna Chapel as well. The Chapel served as a mortuary chapel. Among the 21 mission, San Luis Rey really stands out because it is one of the largest missions. The architecture is really beautiful and the materials they used were all around them, so it was very practical.  

The Native Americans were very skillful and they had vast knowledge about utilized stone, wood, clay, bone, hides, reeds and grasses, and seashells for making tools, garments, sophisticated baskets and pottery, weapons, ceremonial religious items, and in building shelters and community structures, which greatly helped with the Mission development. They used everything that they could in order to produce a good construction that will sustain for a long time. They produced mud bricks from earth and water, chaff, straw and manure, making even brick molds to produce more at once. The adobe from California was easy to make and handle and importantly light weighted, so the carrying was easy.

The main reason why Spain established these Missions in California is the control they wanted to have over the expanding holdings in the New World. They wanted to educate people and covert them to Christianity. They established these missions with these goals in mind and they it was the cooperation between the government and church.  The goal was to make citizens who would pay taxes and would be productive members of the society.

If you visit a Mission Museum you will see lots of interesting thing, such as the letter written by Father Lasuen. It says that fifty-four Indians were baptized June 13, 1798, the day that the Mission was established. In July a thousand adobe bricks were ready for the first permanent structure. The church was made of adobe, faced with burnt brick, 30 feet by 189 feet, roofed with "tile of clay." The mortuary chapel was unique among the early churches. Although painted over through the years, the decorative designs are original. The church is recognized as the most unique and one of the most beautiful in the mission chain.

For almost half a century there were no services held at the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia. The permission was given in 1892 by two Mexican Fathers for restoring the mission as a monastery. Father Joseph O'Keefe was assigned to the mission as an interpreter for the monks. He was the one who started restoring the mission in 1895. The quadrangle and church were completed in 1905. California Missions were self-sustainable and the main industries were ranching and farming. Everything consumed and utilized by the Spanish and Luiseño living at the mission was predominantly produced there by those native people under the control of padres and soldiers.

Visit Old Mission Museum and find all interesting facts about Oceanside mission history. More at this link http://www.sanluisrey.org/museum/