Page "Mission San Juan Capistrano" Paragraph 12

A plan view of the Mission San Juan Capistrano complex ( including the footprint of the " Great Stone Church ") prepared by architectural historian Rexford Newcomb in 1916.

One year later Father Serra himself, along with Fathers Amúrrio and Pablo de Mugártegui, took up work on the Mission at San Juan Capistrano ; the contingent, accompanied by eleven soldiers, arrived on October 30 or 31, 1776.

Upon their return to the site today known as " Mission Vieja ," the party excavated the bells and constructed a new arbor ; the original wooden cross was, to their surprise, still standing.

Father Serra celebrated High Mass in thanksgiving on November 1, 1776 — celebrated ever since as the official founding date.

Due to an inadequate water supply the Mission site was subsequently relocated approximately three miles to the west near the Indian village of Acágcheme.

The new venue was strategically placed above two nearby streams, the Trabuco and the San Juan.

Mission San Gabriel provided cattle and neophyte labor to assist in the development of new the Mission.

Father Amúrrio performed the Mission's first baptism on December 19 of that year ( a total of 4, 639 souls were converted at the Mission between 1776 and 1847.

) The first Indian marriage was blessed by Father Mugártegui on the feast of the " Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary ," January 23, 1777.

Father Mugártegui also presided over the first burial ceremony on July 13 ( the first burial on Mission grounds would not take place until March 9, 1781 ).

The Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials are all intact and preserved at the Mission, as is the Confirmation Register ( San Juan Capistrano is one of the few Missions to have retained this document ).

Father Serra visited the Mission for the first time since its founding and administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on October 22.

In 1778, the first adobe capilla ( chapel ) was blessed.

It was replaced by a larger, long house of worship in 1782, which is regarded as the oldest standing building in California.

Known proudly as the " Serra Chapel ," it also has the distinction of being the only remaining church in which the padre is known to have officiated (" Mission Dolores " was still under construction at the time of Serra's visit there ).

Father Serra presided over the confirmations of 213 people on October 12 and 13, 1783 ; divine services are held there to this day.

By the time of the chapel's completion, living quarters, kitchens ( pozolera ), workshops, storerooms, soldiers ' barracks ( cuartels ), and a number of other ancillary buildings had also been erected, effectively forming the main cuadrángulo ( quadrangle ).