Mission Santa Clara de Asís
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Mission Santa Clara de Asís circa 1910. |
Mission Santa Clara de Asís (originally
La Misión Santa Clara de Asís) was founded on
January 12,
1777 by Father
Junípero Serra, the
eighth in the
California mission chain. It was named for
Saint Clare of Assisi, the founder of the order of the
Poor Clares, making it the first California mission to be named for a woman. It is located in the City of
Santa Clara, California, on the campus of
Santa Clara University, (within what was the
Third Military District). The Mission in its heyday boasted the largest
Indian population of any in California.
A secondary mission site,
Mission Santa Clara de Thamien, was established at the Indian village of
So-co-is-u-ka by
Franciscan Padres
Tomás de la Peña and
Joseph Antonio Marguia on
January 17,
1777. There they erected a cross and shelter for worship to bring Christianity to the
Costanoan tribe. Floods and earthquakes damaged many of the early structures and forced relocation to higher ground. The current site dates to 1828.
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Mission Santa Clara de Asís as it appeared in 2005. |
Initially, there was tension between the people of the Mission and those in the nearby
Pueblo de San Jose over disputed ownership rights of land and water. The tension was relieved when a road,
the Alameda, was built by two hundred Indians to link the communities together. On Sundays, people from San Jose would come to the Mission for services, until the building of
St. Joseph's Church in 1803.
In 1850, California became a
U.S. state, and the
Jesuit order of priests took over the Mission Santa Clara de Asís. Father
John Nobili, S.J., was put in charge of the Mission. He began a college on the Mission site in 1851, which grew into
Santa Clara University. It is the only mission to become part of a
university, and it is also the oldest university in California. Throughout the history of the Mission, the bells have rung faithfully every evening, a promise made to King
Charles IV of Spain when he sent the original bells to the Mission in 1777. He asked that the bells be rung each evening at 8:30 in memory of those who had died.
Mission Santa Clara de Asís sits on the campus of the
Santa Clara University. After a 1925 fire destroyed the 1828 mission structure, the church's parochial functions were transferred to St. Clare Parish Church, on Lexington Street west of the campus. A rebuilt and restored Mission Santa Clara was consecrated in 1929, when it assumed its primary modern function as chapel and centerpiece of the university campus. It is open to visitors every day; the mission museum is located in the university's
De Saisset Museum. Besides daily and Sunday liturgies, Mission Santa Clara is a favorite wedding location for the university's alumni. Neighboring St. Clare Church continues to serve as an active
parish in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose, and as the home of the Diocese's
Chinese Catholic Community and also serves congregations that worship in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
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California Historical Landmark #250 — Old sites of Mission Santa Clara de Asís and the Old Spanish Bridge
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California Historical Landmark #338
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Spanish missions in California*
USNS Mission Santa Clara (AO-132) — a
Buenaventura Class
fleet oiler built during
World War II.
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Official mission website*
Official parish website*
Elevation & Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper |
Looking toward the altar of the exquisitely-ornate Mission Santa Clara de Asís chapel, circa 1897. |
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Looking toward the high altar of the modern Mission Santa Clara de Asís church in 2000. |
