Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission San Juan Capistrano is a former Spanish mission founded in 1776 in colonial Las Californias by Spanish Catholic missionaries of the Franciscan Order. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, the Spanish Colonial Baroque style church was located in the Alta California province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Today, it is located at 26801 Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California. The Mission was secularized by the Mexican government in 1833, and returned to the Roman Catholic Church by the American government in 1865. The mission was damaged over the years by a number of natural disasters, but restoration and renovation efforts date from around 1910.

The mission was founded in 1776, by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, a 14th-century theologian and "warrior priest" who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy, San Juan Capistrano has the distinction of being home to the oldest building in California still in use, a chapel built in 1782. "Father Serra's Church", also known as "Serra's Chapel", is the only extant structure where it has been documented that Junipero Serra celebrated Mass. The mission is one of the best known in Alta California, and one of the few to have actually been founded twice – the others being Mission San Gabriel Arcángel and Mission La Purísima Concepción. The site was originally consecrated on October 30, 1775, by Fermín Lasuén, but was quickly abandoned due to unrest among the indigenous population in San Diego.

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