San Buenaventura Mission
An exterior view of the restored chapel at Mission San Buenaventura in July, 2005.
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| Location | 211 East Main Street Ventura, CA 93001 |
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| Coordinates | 34°16′52″N 119°17′53″W / 34.28111°N 119.29806°WCoordinates: 34°16′52″N 119°17′53″W / 34.28111°N 119.29806°W |
| Name as founded | La Misión San Buenaventura |
| English translation | The Mission of Saint Bonaventure |
| Patron | Saint Bonaventure |
| Nickname(s) | "Mission by the Sea" |
| Founding date | March 31, 1782 |
| Founding priest(s) | Junípero Serra |
| Founding Order | Ninth |
| Military district | Second |
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Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s) |
Chumash Ventureño |
| Native place name(s) | Mitsqanaqa'n |
| Baptisms | 3,875 |
| Marriages | 1,097 |
| Burials | 3,150 |
| Secularized | 1836 |
| Returned to the Church | 1862 |
| Governing body | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles |
| Current use | Parish Church / Museum |
| Official name: Mission San Buenaventura and Mission Compound Site | |
| Designated | 1975 |
| Reference no. | #75000496 |
| Reference no. | #310 |
| Website | |
| http://www.sanbuenaventuramission.org | |
Mission San Buenaventura is a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscans in present-day Ventura, California. Founded on March 31, 1782, it was the ninth Spanish mission established in California and the last to be established by Father Junípero Serra. The mission was named after Saint Bonaventure, a 13th century Franciscan saint and Doctor of the Church. The mission is located in the historic downtown of Ventura.
Mission San Buenaventura was planned to be founded in 1770, but the founding was delayed because of the low availability of the military escorts needed to establish the mission. In 1793, the first church burned down. Today, only a small section of the entire mission complex still stands; the cemetery to the left of the church is covered by a school. It took the 16 years to build the new church, which still functions as a parish church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The founding of the San Buenaventura Mission traces to the decision on Palm Sunday, March 30, 1749 by the Franciscan priest Junipero Serra to journey to the New World as a missionary to the native peoples.
Thirty-three years and one day later he raised the Cross at "la playa de la canal de Santa Barbara" (the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel) on Easter Morning, March 31, 1782. Assisted by Pedro Benito Cambon, he celebrated a High Mass, preached on the Resurrection, and dedicated a Mission to San Buenaventura (St. Bonaventure). It had been planned as the third in the chain of twenty-one Missions founded by Serra but was destined to be the ninth and last founded during his lifetime, and one of six he personally dedicated.
Under the direction of Cambon, whom Serra left in charge of the new Mission, a system of aqueducts were built by the Chumash between 1805–1815 to meet the needs of the Mission population and consisted of both ditches and elevated stone masonry. The watercourse ran from a point on the Ventura River about ½ mile north of the remaining ruins and carried the water to holding tanks behind the San Buenaventura Mission, a total of about 7 miles (11 km). With plentiful water the Mission was able to maintain flourishing orchards and gardens, which were described by English navigator George Vancouver as the finest he had seen. The water distribution system was damaged by floods and abandoned in 1862.
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