Калифорниядағы 19 ғасырдағы испан миссиясы: Пала миссиясының тарихы

19th century Spanish asistencia in California

The San Antonio de Pala Asistencia, or the "Pala Mission", was founded on June 13, 1816, as an asistencia or "sub mission" to Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, some twenty miles inland upstream from the latter mission on the San Luis Rey River. Pala Mission was part of the Spanish missions, asistencias, and estancias system in Las Californias—Alta California. Today it is located in the Pala Indian Reservation located in northern San Diego County, with the official name of Mission San Antonio de Pala. It is the only historic mission facility still serving a Mission Indian tribe. Pala (a derivation of the native term Pale, meaning water) was essentially a small rancho surrounded by large fields and herds. The Pala site had been noted by Father Juan Mariner and Captain Juan Pablo Grijalva on an exploratory trip in 1795, when they went up the San Diego River, and then through Sycamore Canyon to the Santa Maria Valley (or Pamó Valley) and into what they named El Valle de San José, now known as Warner Springs. Once Mission San Luis Rey began to prosper, it attracted the attention of numerous mountain Native Americans in the area, who were called the Luiseño by the Spanish.

The Franciscan fathers chose this site for the Pala Mission because it was a traditional gathering place and village for the Native American residents. Father Peyrí oversaw the addition of a chapel and housing to the granary complex, which was constructed at the spot in 1810. Pala is unique among all of the Franciscan missions in that it boasts the only completely freestanding campanile, or "bell tower," in all of Alta California. By 1820, some 1,300 baptisms had been performed at the outpost. Folk tales about the mission include mention of a prickly pear cactus, which became a local symbol of Christian victory, that grew up at the foot of the cross.

After the nation achieved independence from Spain, the Mexican Congress passed An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California on August 17, 1833 (the act was ratified in 1834). Father Buenaventura Fortuna surrendered Mission San Luis Rey and all its holdings, including Las Flores Estancia and the Pala Asistencia, to government comisianados (commissioners) Pío Pico and Pablo de la Portillà on August 22, 1835; the assessed value of "Rancho de Pala" was $15,363.25. More than a decade later, fearful of the impending conquest of Alta California by the United States as a result of the Mexican–American War, Pico sold off all of the holdings (including Pala) to Antonio J. Cot and José A. Pico on May 18, 1846, for $2,000 in silver and $437.50 in wheat (the sale was later declared invalid by the U. S. Government).]]

On Christmas Day 1899, the San Jacinto earthquake shook the Pala Valley, causing the roof over the church sanctuary to collapse. In 1902, a group named the "Landmarks Club of Southern California", under the direction of American journalist, historian, and photographer Charles Fletcher Lummis, purchased Pala Mission. The following year, the Club returned ownership to the Catholic Church and "saved the Chapel and a few rooms from complete ruin with a timely work of partial restoration." Pala is the only California mission to have ministered without interruption to the Mission Indians for whom it was originally built. On August 9, 1942 MGM motion picture actress Ruth Hussey was wed at Pala Mission. In 1948 the Verona Fathers (Sons of the Sacred Heart) succeeded the Franciscans in the care of the Mission. Six years later, the fathers undertook a complete restoration of the Mission. In May 1991, administration of the Mission reverted to the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego; since June 1996 the Barnabite Fathers have held charge over the Mission's affairs. Since 1996, Pala has hosted the Vivian Banks charter school (Kindergarten 5th grade).