THE MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST
                         
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit 
or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations 
desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain 
the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of 
the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to 
their own work.

			CHAPTER X

		  SAN CARLOS BORREMEO

ON June 3, 1770, the second Mission according to sierra’s plan, San Carlos 
Borremeo, was founded at Monterey. Sierra himself was present and celebrated 
mass, at the conclusion of which Governor Portola proclaimed possession of the 
bay of Monterey in the names of God and the King of Spain. The celebration of 
mass, the burning of incense, the ringing of bells (from this case hanging from 
branches of a tree), the chanting of “ Veni Creator”, and the blessing of the 
adjacent waters and land, with the formal proclamation of proprietorship in the 
names of God and the King, constituted the usual ceremony incident to the 
founding of the Mission. The chimes of bells were ever an important feature with 
the Padres in the founding and life of a Mission. These bells were brought from 
Spain, and were of the best Castile metal and workmanship. Their tones called 
the Indians to assemble at the Mission, and marked the hours for labor. By the 
melodies which they chimed the padres and their Indian followers chanted hymns 
of praise and songs of thanksgiving. Sierra often said that he would have their 
ringing sound heard from the mountains to the sea, as it was God’s invitation to 
the souls of the heathen men and women to flee to Him and escape the wrath to 
come. These bells were of silver and bronze and other metallic mixtures, to give 
variety to their tones. San Carlos was the home Mission of Sierra. For seventeen 
years he labored among the Missions, founding, advising, and encouraging; and 
when he at last returned, worn out with advancing years and care, he came but to 
die.         
[38]
His end came peacefully on the twenty-eighth of August, 1784, and he was buried 
with becoming honors, at San Carlos, by the side of his long time friend, Padre 
Crespi. His was a fine nature and noble soul, and he had devoted his life 
unselfishly and exhausted his energies for the well-being of his fellow-man. 
When the decree of secularization was issued in 1845, San Carlos was already 
considered an abandoned Mission. The priest in charge resided at Monterey, and 
though a sale of the property was ordered, there remained but little of value to 
dispose of in this manner. From this time until 1882 San Carlos remained an 
untenanted ruin; but in that year the work of restoration was begun, and two 
years later the Mission was rededicated. Both of the church buildings- the one 
in Monterey and the one on the site of the old Mission in the Carmel 
Valley-represent the finest type of Mission architecture.
[39]