San Diego Mission

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá, the first of the twenty-one great California Missions, marks the birthplace of Christianity in the west coast of the United States and is only one of four Basilicas in California. The Mission was founded in 1769 at the Presidio near Old Town and moved to it’s current location (10818 San Diego Mission Road, San Diego, CA) in August 1774.

To say that life was difficult for the founders of San Diego as well as the local American Indians would be an understatement. “From 1769 to 1774, only 116 Indians had been baptized. Father Jayme and the other Franciscan Missionaries had great rapport with the Kumeyaay, baptizing 315 Indians during the summer of 1775. Unfortunately, two of the mission or Diegueno Indians became dissatisfied with the regulations and conditions established by the Spanish authorities, and they incited hundreds of Indians in remote villages to riot. According to Father Francisco Palou's report of the incidence, eight hundred American Indians stormed onto the grounds about midnight on November 4, 1775. They pillaged the mission, burned it to the ground and massacred a blacksmith, a carpenter (mortally wounded), and Father Jayme, who became California's first Catholic Martyr. He is buried next to the altar in the present church. Survivors of the night long attack were one corporal and three Leather Jacket soldiers, one blacksmith, two children who were the son and nephew of the Presidio commandant, and Associate Pastor Father Vicente Fuster.”

There are five bells in the bell tower at the Mission. The lower left bell is the only surviving original bell. The lower right bell was made from the other original bells and is rung twice a day at noon and 6pm and before every mass on Sunday.

To read more about the California Mission Trail, check out El Camino Real de California: A Hiker's Guide to the California Mission Trail: Mission San Diego to Mission Santa Barbara