Mission San Miguel Arcangel

Mission San Miguel Arcangel was the sixteenth Spanish mission built in California, founded July 25, 1797, by Father Fermin Lasuen. The name San Miguel comes from Saint Michael, Captain of the Armies of God.

Interesting Facts

Mission San Miguel is the only one with unretouched original paintings. It was the last to be secularized.

The mission's cemetery contains some very interesting markers, for people from all over the world who were buried at San Miguel in the late 1800s.

The mission's bells can be seen from the cemetery, atop a long wall section behind the main church.

The structure they hang in wasn't part of the original mission but was built in the mid-1930s by Jess Crettoll, a stonemason from Switzerland. The largest bell is said to weigh 2,000 pounds and was made in 1888 by melting and re-casting six cracked and broken bells from other missions.

1797

On July 24, 1797, Father Fermin Lasuen founded his third mission of the year. It was next to a large Salinan Indian Village called Cholam or Cholami. Halfway between San Luis Obispo and San Antonio, it made a convenient place to stop along the El Camino Real.

Salinan Indians heard about the Catholic Fathers before they came and were anxious to join them. At the founding, 25 children were baptized.

Father Buenaventura Sitjar was the first administrator. Father Juan Martin took his place. By the end of the first year, Fathers and Indians had built a 71-foot-long brush fence, an adobe chapel, and a house.

1800 - 1830's

More than 1,000 neophytes were at the mission by 1803. By 1805, there were 47 Indian houses.

Despite poor soil and hot climate, San Miguel Mission succeeded. Indians came to live and work. Some worked in fields and vineyards or were herdsmen. Others learned to be carpenters, stone masons, blacksmiths, weavers, soap makers, and leather workers. They were good at making roof tiles and made 36,000 of them between 1808 and 1809.

In 1806, a fire destroyed most of San Miguel's buildings and supplies. Other missions helped them recover. By 1810, San Miguel had 10,558 cattle; 8,282 sheep and 1,597 horses.

Father Martin died in 1824. His assistant Father Juan Cabot took over. In 1827, Father Cabot reported San Miguel owned several ranchos covering an area18 miles north and south, 66 miles east and 35 miles west. He also reported it had an adobe house on the coast at San Simeon.

At a hot spring south of the mission, Father Cabot had a shelter built where the Indians could soak and get relief from arthritis, a common ailment.

Secularization

San Miguel Mission was the last to be secularized, on July 14, 1836. Three years later, most of the natives were gone. Father Abella, the last Franciscan Father there, died in 1841.

In 1846, Mexican Governor Pio Pico sold the land and buildings. The new owner lived in it and had a store there. After the Gold Rush, it was a stopping place for miners traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It was also used for a saloon.

In 1878, the Catholic church returned. Father Philip Farrelly became the first pastor.

In 1928, the Franciscan Fathers returned. After earthquake damage in 2003, the old mission has now been repaired.

cemetery entrance

bell tower

old adobe wall