Santa Ysabel Asistencia
The Church of Saint John the Baptist, erected on the site of the original Santa Ysabél Asistencia in 1924.
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 Location of Santa Ysabel Asistencia in California
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| Location | Santa Ysabel, California |
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| Coordinates | 33°7′49″N 116°40′41″W / 33.13028°N 116.67806°WCoordinates: 33°7′49″N 116°40′41″W / 33.13028°N 116.67806°W |
| Name as founded | Asistencia de la Misión San Diego de Alcalá |
| English translation | Sub-Mission of the Mission San Diego de Alcalá |
| Patron | Saint Elizabeth (Isabel), Queen of Portugal |
| Nickname(s) | "Church of the Desert" |
| Founding date | September 20, 1818 |
| Founding priest(s) | Father Fernando Martín |
| Military district | First |
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Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s) |
Kumeyaay (Ipai), Payomkowishum Diegueño, Luiseño |
| Native place name(s) | Elcuanan |
| Governing body | Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego |
| Current use | Chapel / Museum |
| Reference no. | #369 |
The Santa Ysabel Asistencia was founded on September 20, 1818 at Cañada de Santa Ysabel in the mountains east of San Diego (near the village of Elcuanan), as a "sub-mission" to Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and to serve as a rest stop for those travelling between San Diego and Sonora. The native population of approximately 450 neophytes consisted of both Luiseño and Diegueño peoples. Based on historical records, Santa Ysabel enjoyed a higher-than-average conversion rate when compared to the other California missions. Given its remote location, the facility was visited infrequently by the padres after secularization of the missions in the 1830s.
Father Juan Mariner first visited the site in 1795. In 1816, mission fathers in San Diego formally requested permission from the Spanish Governor to establish the asistencia. Fray Martin presided over the inaugural mass on the last day of September 1818. By 1821, a chapel, granary, several adobe houses, and a cemetery had all been constructed on the site. In September of that same year Father Mariano Payeras, "Comisario Prefecto" of the California Missions, visited the area as part of a plan to establish an entire chain of inland missions, with Santa Ysabel as the "mother" mission. The plan never came to fruition, however.
The missions were secularized in 1834, and Jose Joaquin Ortega and Edward Stokes received the Rancho Santa Ysabel Mexican land grant in 1844. A wagon road to Warner's Ranch from San Diego passed through the site from this time. In 1846, General Stephen W. Kearny and the "Army of the West" made camp on the rancho on their way to the Battle of San Pasqual following this road.
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Sacagawea, camped at the Mission in 1847 after guiding the Mormon Battalion from New Mexico to San Diego. In 1849, U.S. Army Lieutenant A.W. Whipple visited the site during the course of the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey and documented the Mission's condition as being "in ruins."
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