The Story Of… Mission Santa Clara de Asís

By Karen Beishuizen
Photos courtesy of Mission Santa Clara de Asís

Mission Santa Clara is the 8th mission in the chain of 21 California missions founded by Fr. Junipero Serra. It was founded in 1777 to secure the south San Francisco Bay Area for the Spanish Empire. When the 8th California Mission needed a name, the Franciscan padres chose “St. Clare of Assisi” as their patron due to her close association with St. Francis and for her strong faith. Thus, Mission Santa Clara became the first mission to be named for a woman. King Charles III commissioned a specially-cast bell for Mission Santa Clara to be rung daily at 8:30pm remembering his deceased family members. To this day, the “de profundis” bell toll continues to ring from the Mission bell tower. Visiting the mission, one gets two attractions: a vibrant academic community with an historic, idealized Mission Santa Clara at its heart with a rich heritage and story. There is also have a notable de Saisset Museum situated just yards away from Mission Santa Clara….

KB: Describe to the RSR readers how Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded and by who?

Mission Santa Clara is the 8th mission in the chain of 21 California missions founded by Fr. Junipero Serra. It was founded in 1777 to secure the south San Francisco Bay Area for the Spanish Empire. The King of Spain worried about the likely encroachment of Russian and English colonization on his territorial claims so he employed Spanish Franciscan missionaries–backed by Spanish soldiers—in an effort to convert and acculturate the local indigenous peoples hoping to turn them into loyal, productive Spanish citizens.

The site for Mission Santa Clara—in what we now call the Santa Clara Valley –was chosen for its incredible fertility, easy access to water, and the large number of indigenous villages and tribes in the region, namely: the Tamien, the Muwekma, the Sagan, the Matalan, the Chochenyo, the Matsun, and many others (now referred to collectively as the “Ohlone”). The Ohlone had been here for thousands of years and developed similar but distinct tribal identities. The Franciscans’ mandate for conversion and acculturation also included a 10 year time limit: that after 10 years, the mission lands and buildings were meant to revert back to Ohlone ownership—a transition they called “secularization”.

Initially Mission Santa attracted many locals and seemed to prosper in terms of food production, processing of hides, making tallow, etc. Yet, as more Ohlone moved into the mission compound, European diseases: small pox and measles ravaged their population. Another setback occurred when Mexico seceded from the Spanish Empire in 1822 cutting off vital support for mission operations. The death knell for the mission system began in 1848, with the striking of gold in the Sierra Nevada Mountains ushering in a flood of Anglo settlers. The settlers quickly over-threw Mexico’s claim to the region and established the State of California in 1850.

KB: Who was Clare of Assisi?

St. Clare was a 12th century woman born in Assisi, Italy at the time of St. Francis of Assisi. Clare was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and became smitten by St. Francis’ preaching of living a pure, simple life, venerating God’s creation and caring for the poor. Much to her family’s displeasure, she became a disciple of St. Francis—his first—and later founded a similar religious order for women called the “Poor Clares”.

When the 8th California Mission needed a name, the Franciscan padres chose “St. Clare” as their patron due to her close association with St. Francis and for her strong faith. Thus, Mission Santa Clara became the first mission to be named for a woman.

KB: What is the connection with Santa Clara University?

As stated earlier, the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, led quickly to the establishment of the State of California. By this time, Mission Santa Clara had fallen into hard times and looking quite shabby–no longer a dominate force in the region. Most of its lands had been whittled away by swindlers and homesteaders with the church building serving as a humble parish. Local Catholics became fearful that the Protestant Anglos might displace the Catholic population so they asked their local Bishop to establish a Catholic school on the remaining mission site. Two Jesuit priests from Oregon were brought in to take ownership of the property from the Franciscans to turn it into a school of higher learning. Thus, in 1851, the College of Santa Clara was born: becoming the “first institution of higher learning in California”. With the addition of the colleges of Law and Engineering in 1912, the college became Santa Clara University with Mission Santa Clara as its student chapel.

KB: What is the connection with Native American people?

Regarding the founding of Mission Santa Clara and the colonialism and paternalism of its day, we can all now agree that both “Colonialism” and “Paternalism” are “bad things”. It’s hard to imagine now-a-days (given our modern value system) that the early Spanish–and later the Anglo settlers–felt justified in claiming (or literally taking) other people’s lands and forcibly imposing their culture and religion on them–something we would certainly no longer condone.

Fortunately, in our time, SCU is actively working with our local Muwekma-Ohlone representatives to address their grievances by providing indigenous young people with student scholarships, hosting their local annual Pow Wow on campus, partnering with the “Ohlone Initiatives Conduit Group” which advises on campus iconography and giving equal time to the Ohlone experience in our telling of Mission history, the regular recitation of the Ohlone “Land Acknowledgement” for SCU events, plus supporting the revival of the Muwekma-Ohlone cultural & religious identity and heritage.

KB: Has the Mission appeared in movies or series?

Not to my knowledge.

KB: The church bells were sent from Spain by King Charles III of Spain?

The Kings of Spain took a keen, personal interest in their 21 California missions. Not only did they subsidize the padre’s expenses from the royal purse, they provided the missions with special furnishings: including bells. In their day, bells were an impressive and effective way of calling people to Mass. They served too as triggers to pray at appointed times of day. King Charles III commissioned a specially-cast bell for Mission Santa Clara to be rung daily at 8:30pm remembering his deceased family members. To this day, the “de profundis” bell toll continues to ring from the Mission bell tower.

KB: Describe for the RSR readers what they would see on a visit to Mission Santa Clara de Asís.

Entering the Mission Church, one first makes their way to our Visitor’s Alcove–at the right (north) end of the Entry Foyer. There one finds informative, hanging banners addressing visitor’s most frequently asked questions, plus there’s a slide presentation featuring “the Ohlone experience”, as well as a free “Self-Guided Walking Tour” pamphlet for guiding visitors through the Mission’s interior and exterior.

A first impression of our Mission may be one of surprise—that instead of an old, worn, structure, one sees a clean, expansive and polished structure—looking like new. A devastating fire in 1926 literally erased the original old, adobe structure, so that our current Mission is a 1930’s reconstruction–a romanticized, idealized version of the 1822 building previously existing on this site. This means one will see richer ornamentation and higher quality relief work on the façade and in the interiors, plus beautiful, manicured gardens surrounding the Mission and cemetery.

KB: Why should people visit the mission?

Mission Santa Clara sits at the center of the Santa Clara University campus. As stated earlier, SCU is an esteemed, private, Jesuit university–the first institution of higher learning in the State of California. Therefore, in visiting here, one gets two attractions: a vibrant academic community with an historic, idealized Mission Santa Clara at its heart with a rich heritage and story. We also have a notable de Saisset Museum situated just yards away from Mission Santa Clara….

Being a student chapel, Mission Satna Clara is a regular place of worship and hosts a large number of concerts and cultural events as well. Our visiting hours are from 7am-7pm daily…

For more information check out the Mission’s website: HERE

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