A couple of years ago, during our first family visit to San Diego, we had to decide where to attend Sunday Mass. Given that this might be our only trip to the southernmost city in southern California, we thought it would be good to receive Communion in one of the region’s historic missions. But which one? There are so many to choose from.

We settled on the very oldest: Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Founded and blessed by Blessed Junípero Serra, it could be called the very soil in which the Golden State was planted.

Blessed Junípero was 35 when he left Spain for the Americas. He made his way to Mexico and Texas before arriving in California, then thought of as “the last corner of the earth.”

Situated in San Diego’s Mission Valley, a few miles east of its original location, Mission San Diego quickly impressed us as everything we’d hoped it would be. Not only would it be a wonderful place to attend the holy sacrifice of the Mass, but it also displayed a variety of statues, gardens and archaeological findings sure to hold the interest of our five children.

When we arrived at the basilica, for that’s what the church here is, a parishioner was pealing one of the mission’s five companas (bells). What timing. Mass was about to begin.

The mission church is constructed in the traditional Spanish architectural style. With its whitewashed adobe walls and tile flooring, it offered us a cool respite from the afternoon heat.

The mission, we learned later, draws its name from St. Didacus of Alcalá. To Spaniards, he’s San Diego de Alcalá de Henares — the man for whom the city of San Diego was named by Captain Sebastian Viscaino (Vizcaino) upon his arrival in November 1602.

It was customary for European explorers to name their major discoveries in honor of a saint whose feast day was near. The feast of St. Didacus is Nov. 13.

If Walls Could Talk

Franciscan Father Serra founded the mission on Presidio Hill on July 16, 1769. Seeking better access to potable water and arable land, not to mention more contact with the local Indian villages, the Franciscans relocated the operation to its present site in 1774.

Just one year after the first church’s completion, on Nov. 4, 1775, tribesmen attacked the mission. All buildings were burned and Franciscan Father Luis Jayme was killed. He became the first Christian martyr in California.

“Thanks be to God,” replied Father Serra when he learned the news on Dec. 13. “Now that the terrain has been watered by blood, the conversion of the San Diego Indians will take place.” It’s said that he then fell to his knees, saying “Sanguis martyrum, semen christianorum” (The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians).

Father Serra returned to the site in 1776 and began to rebuild. This time the priests covered the walls and roofs in adobe (sun-dried brick made of clay and straw) to make the buildings fire-resistant. Most of the re-construction was complete by 1780.

By 1797, the mission had become California’s largest. The number of Indian converts numbered 1,405. The second church was damaged by an earthquake in 1803. The present building was completed in 1813.

During the Mexican occupation of California, the Act of Secularization compelled the friars to hand over the mission to revenue officer Santiago Arguello.

Then came the Mexican-American War. From 1846 to 1862, the mission was occupied by the U.S. Cavalry. In 1862, the mission lands were given back to the Church by order of President Abraham Lincoln.

The present church went up between 1915 and 1931. It has been used as a parish church since 1941. It was named a basilica by Pope Paul VI in its (and the country’s) bicentennial year, 1976.

Mass and More

We thoroughly enjoyed attending a parish Mass in a mission church. It was unlike anything we have experienced back home in Minnesota.

With its narrow dimensions, red floor, timbered ceiling, bright pastel and terra cotta colors, and its unique décor, the church helped our children hold still throughout Mass.

Afterwards, our family exited into the basilica’s quaint garden, where the Holy Name Coffee Bar was serving coffee and rolls to benefit the school. We spent a good deal of time touring the grounds, which include a museum, pietà garden, small chapel, gift shop, stations of the cross and historical ruins.

We took our time in the Padre Luis Jayme Museum. It tells the story of this and California’s other missions, using Indian artifacts, early Church decorations and other interesting items to bring history alive.

Of great interest to our children were the archaeological excavations taking place on the site. Among the digs is Casa del Padre Serra, California’s first rectory.

We were moved to view Father Serra’s living quarters, which hold a bed, a kneeler and a simple chair. Standing in the cool room, we found it easy to imagine the pioneering Franciscan spending his free time here in relaxation and prayer.

The priest certainly earned his quiet time alone with God. Father Serra gave up everything and everyone he loved back in Spain to cross the ocean with the good news about Jesus. At one point he wrote that, if he could convey the joy in his heart to his parents, “surely they would always encourage me to go forward and never to turn back.”

And that’s just what Blessed Junípero did, establishing missions up and down California’s coast and bringing Christ to all who had ears to hear the Gospel.

Mission San Diego remains an inspiring testament to the courage and faith of Blessed Serra and the missionary priests of America’s west coast. The Drake family is much the richer for having visited.

Senior writer Tim Drake is based in St. Joseph, Minnesota.

Planning Your Visit

Don’t miss the Blessed Junípero Serra Museum on nearby Presidio Hill, site of the original mission. For more information, visit the website of the San Diego Historical Society (sandiegohistory.org).

Getting There

From downtown San Diego, take Interstate 8 east to the Mission Gorge Road exit. Go left at the signal on to Mission Gorge, then left onto Twain Avenue. Twain becomes San Diego Mission Road. The mission is on the right. For directions from other starting points, along with more information on the mission and the parish, go to missionsandiego.com or call (619) 281-8449.