Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
A view of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in April 2005. The open stairway at the far right leads to the choir loft, and to the left is the six-bell campanario ("bell wall") that was built after the original bell structure, located at the far end of the church, toppled during the 1812 San Juan Capistrano earthquake. | |
| Location | 428 South Mission Dr. San Gabriel, California 91776-1299 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°05′48″N 118°06′24″W / 34.09667°N 118.10667°W |
| Name as founded | La Misión del Santo Príncipe el Arcángel, San Gabriel de los Temblores |
| English translation | The Mission of the Saintly Prince The Archangel, St. Gabriel of the Tremblors |
| Patron | Gabriel, Holy Prince of Archangels |
| Nickname(s) | "Pride of the Alta California Missions" "Mother of Agriculture in California" |
| Founding date | September 8, 1771 |
| Founding priest(s) | Pedro Benito Cambón and Ángel de la Somera (1st); Father Presidente Junípero Serra (2nd) |
| Founding Order | Fourth |
| Military district | First |
| Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s) | Tongva Gabrieleño |
| Native place name(s) | 'Iisanchanga, Shevaanga |
| Baptisms | 7,825 |
| Marriages | 1,916 |
| Burials | 5,670 |
| Secularized | 1834 |
| Returned to the Church | 1859 |
| Governing body | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles |
| Current use | Chapel / Museum |
| Designated | 1971 |
| Reference no. | #71000158 |
| Reference no. | #158 |
| Website | |
| http://www.sangabrielmission.org | |
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel (Spanish: Misión de San Gabriel Arcángel) is a Californian mission and historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. It was founded by the Spanish Empire on the Nativity of Mary September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become twenty-one Spanish missions in California. San Gabriel Arcángel was named after the Archangel Gabriel and often referred to as the "Godmother of the Pueblo of Los Angeles."
The mission was designed by Antonio Cruzado, who gave the building its capped buttresses and the tall narrow windows, which are unique among the missions of the California chain. It was completed in 1805. A large stone cross stands in the center of the Campo Santo (cemetery), first consecrated in 1778 and then again on January 29, 1939. It serves as the final resting place for some 6,000 neophytes.
According to Spanish legend, the founding expedition was confronted by a large group of native Tongva peoples whose intention was to drive the strangers away. One of the priests laid a painting of "Our Lady of Sorrows" on the ground for all to see, whereupon the natives, designated by the settlers as the Gabrieleños, immediately made peace with the missionaries, because they were so moved by the painting's beauty. Today the 300-year-old work hangs in front of and slightly to the left of the old high altar and reredos in the Mission's sanctuary. Resistance to the mission by the Tongva was recorded and how much the neophytes embraced Catholicism remains a subject of debate among scholars.