April 20, 2014

  • San Gabriel, Part III: The Mission Church

    On this Easter, 2014, let me share the final segment of my March 23, 2014 visit to San Gabriel, CA:  The church itself.

    Here, en route to Mission Church, is the Mission Elementary School.

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    Here is the Campanario, or Bell Assembly, on a wall separate from the Mission Church itself.

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    The Mission Church’s main entrance features this decorative door.

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    A statue of Father Junipero Serra greets all who approach the Mission

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    Inside, it is the Holy Spirit Who hosts one and all.

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    The deacon has his own loft.

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    So, too, does the choir.

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    The adjacent museum features one of the original decorative columns on the outside.

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    Glimpses into the lives of the monks also continue here, as they did in the Garden.  The Abbot’s bedroom was small, yet looked comfortable enough.

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    Here is one more look at the Mission Church, as the congregants prepared for a mid-Lenten after-Mass gathering.

     

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    The Pride of the Missions certainly lived up to its sobriquet on that sunny and happy day.

    NEXT:  Last, but not least, on my latest California jaunt, was Redlands.

     

     

Comments (4)

  • I love the mission churches. This is really a lovely one! I visited the St. Xavier mission on the Indian Reservation on vacation several years ago - it was amazing that the missionary brothers were able to construct such elaborate churches in the middle of nowhere!

  • San Xavier was in the news this morning. it seems there is a lot of needed renovation going on, so there are nets or tarps to catch falling debris. I hope they get the work done quickly and safely.

  • I've heard good and bad things about him so I'm not sure which is true.
    We could see the mountains from grandma's

  • Father Serra was a man of his time, so he can only be judged on those criteria, not by the criteria of today, which would pretty much make all figures of the past seem evil.

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