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1. Historical outline of mission development in the Californias.

Article Excerpt
According to the Dominican Fr. Luis Sales, San Francisco Borja was founded by the Jesuit Fr. George Retz in 1757, when "they built a small church and poor habitations." (53) It was established with financial aid from Dona Mariana de Borja, duchess of Gandia. Bolton recorded the tradition that the patroness, wishing to fund three missions "in the most outlandish place in the world," consulted the Jesuits, who responded, "The most outlandish place in all the world is California." (54) Those who have visited Borja would likely agree, because it is set in the midst of a boojum forest--certainly the most outlandish of trees--that it looks like no other place on earth.

Located at the Cochimi village of Adac, San Francisco began as a visita of Mission Santa Gertrudis. Elsewhere it is recorded that Fr. Retz began construction on a stone irrigation system and put up an adobe chapel in August of 1759. (55) Improvements were made in 1762 in anticipation of the arrival of Fr. Wenceslao Linck as resident minister. A small church and house for the father, residences for the soldiers of the escort, a storehouse, and an infirmary were erected by the time Fr. Linck took charge of the new mission, which he formally dedicated on September 1. (56) Although corn, wheat, barley, garbanzos, and grapevines were cultivated at the mission, it never became self-sustaining and had to be partly supplied by sea. (57)

During the Franciscan occupation, Fr. Palou recorded of the mission in 1771, "It has a church and cloistered dwelling of adobe with a new roof of tules which Fr. Lasuen has just finished." (58) Fr. Lasuen's church was described in detail when the mission was transferred to the Dominicans in 1772. It measured 33 varas (ca. 91 feet) in length, 8 (ca. 22 feet) in width, and 5 1/2 (ca. 15 feet) in height, while the walls were 2 varas (ca. 5 feet) thick. Five windows, with arched, carved wooden fanlights, provided illumination. The arches of the portal and the lintels of the baptistery and sacristy doors were carved stone. Jambs were constructed of willow; roof beams of palm trunks covered with rules. The double doors of the portal, about 3 3/4 varas (ca. 10 feet) tall and 2 3/4 (ca. 7 feet) wide, had a postigo (hinged panel). The sacristy was equipped with two new doors (one with a lock and key), altars, a gilt tabernacle, and other ornaments. The sacristy and living quarters adjoining the church formed a "perfect square." The mission was also provided with a granary, a saddle shed, and a "large, new adobe wine cellar with a good flat roof." (59) A census made in 1774 noted that twenty individuals from the mission accompanied the Franciscans to Monterey. (60)

A report made of San Francisco Borja on June 15, 1774, two years after the Dominicans took control, refers to the new church and granaries. Considerable improvements in the mission's water procurement system had also been effected: a stone-and-mud reservoir, a stone-lined irrigation ditch, and two fountains of stone and mortar were noted as recent constructions. So, too, were some offices and a large "corral" where women worked, a stone campanario, and new fields enclosed by stone walls. (61)

The Franciscan-built church of adobe (which, with its Roman-arched portal, still stands, albeit in ruinous condition) continued in use long after the arrival of the Dominicans. The year in which the Preaching Friars began construction of the new stone church is unknown, but an 1801 report stated that it was nearly finished (figure 1.24). The missionary in charge at the time was probably Fr. Juan Maria Salgado, who was there at least as late as 1799. (62) The mission was abandoned in 1818 due to a severe decline in its...

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