--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Porter, Elizabeth Cannon collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 31 number: 6 published: 1928-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Elizabeth Cannon Porter, “Santa Barbara Mission Rises From the Ashes,” *Improvement Era* 31, no. 6 (April 1928): 481–487." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3106unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3106unse start_page: 481 end_page: 487 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1928-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3106unse publication_year: 1928 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1928, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Santa Barbara Mission Rises From the Ashes Santa Barbara Mission Rises From the Ashes Elizabeth Cannon Porter (QJ EE Naples and die, but come to Santa Barbara to live," says the *^ witty Irish priest who shows visitors through the Santa Barbara mission. (One suspects that he answers to the name of Father Michael.) The town, which has been re-built since the earthquake of the summer of 1925, has the charm of Mexico, the beauty of Spain, but it is all as new as paint. Early Spanish navigators said that the air was dehsioso and remarked on the wealth of wild roses. Today the place is smothered in orange blossoms. The homes gleam like white Greek temples amid the foliage. In the spring, when the prune orchards of the Santa Clara valley surge into billows of white foam, the inhabitants celebrate the "Feast of Blossoms." The Mission Building Since it was founded, in 1786, the Santa Barbara mission has been continuously occupied. It is the only one of the 21 Franciscan missions in California that has. The "Sacred Flame" has never been extinguished from its altar, although, after two serious earthquakes, services were held in the garden. The present structure is the fourth to occupy the site. Its walls, six feet thick, were put up by the Indian converts. The walls are of yellow stucco, with fluted colonnades of pink, and lovely arched cloisters edged with palms. Training the Indians Like the Latter-day Saints under Brigham Young in Utah, the padres treated the Indians kindly. The missions claimed the con- version of 97,000 Indians. While they were saving their souls, the Spanish priests did much to improve their convert's physical condition. They brought water in an aqueduct. A large fountain and trough served as a laundry for the Indian women. Horses, cattle and sheep were raised near the mission. Vineyards were planted; grain harvested. Indian converts made roof tile, tanned leather for sandals and saddles, made cabinets. The women learned to weave and sew. Spanish, not Irish, stew was served from an immense iron kettle. A steel oven was used for the baking of bread. Cultural Elements The museum, a couple of rooms in the cloisters, discloses a 482 IMPROVEMENT ERA Steinway piano brought around Cape Horn, the purse and records of Father Junipero Serra, the little hard bed on which Father Sal- vatierra, of Ramona fame, slept for 42 years. One padre taught the Indians to sing by making the notes different colors. This ante- dates the montessori system by 150 years. Other objects of interest are Indian sculpture, Italian mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, costly embroidered vestments, priceless lace, and a basket of the last in- habitant of San Nicolas island. There is a telescope and surveyor's instruments presented by the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. The Church Itself On the ceiling of the long, narrow church are Indian wooden replicas of Thor's Thunder bird. On the walls hang large paintings brought from palaces of Spain. Over the altar is a lovely statue of Santa Barbara, the seventeen-year-old virgin martyr for whom the mission is named and on whose birthday it was founded. The name Santa Barbara was given, in 1602, to channel, mainland and islands by a Carmelite Friar who accompanied Vizcaino, the second Spanish explorer to visit the coast. Santa Barbara was a Roman maiden of rank, born in the third century in Nicomedia, northern Asia Minor. She embraced Chris- tianity and interceded with her father, a Roman general, in behalf of the Christians persecuted by the Emperor Maximinus. Her father slew her. Thereafter she was proclaimed a martyr and was venerated as patroness against thunder, lightning, firearms, and sudden death. Art Work Uncovered by Earthquake That earthquakes, like clouds, may have a silver lining was proved, when, in the earthquake of three years ago, wooden wains- coting broken down disclosed rarely beautiful, painted dadoes, in pink and blue and all their pristine coloring. Also heavy planking on the floor protected tiles of rare workmanship. Those in charge did not know that they were there, so long ago had they been covered- — probably when the mission was going through an Indian insurrection, or secularization. Although dedicated to peace, the flags of four nations have floated over the mission: that of Spain, Mexico, the Bear Flag Republic and (after the gold rush) the stars and stripes of Old Glory. In a Monastery Garden "If any of you ladies wish to enter the Sacred Garden, you will have to become the wife of a president of the United States," smiled our guide in the brown Franciscan robe. Only reigning queens and wives of presidents may enter its portals. Being forbidden, SANTA BARBARA MISSION RISES PROM THE ASHES 483 Left: The restored front of the mission. Right: The patio of the Museum, where relics of the Santa Barbara Indians are kept. it immediately becomes infinitely desirable. I believe that Pres- ident Polk's wife was the only woman who took advantage of her privilege. Mrs. Roosevelt did not avail herself of the opportunity, and Mrs. Harding was indisposed when her illustrious husband visited the mission. The Cemetery The bodies of 4000 Indians are buried in trenches in the cemetery garden east of the church. Here is the tomb of Captain Dan L. Hill, the first to sail around the Horn. There is also a vault for the repose of the Franciscans who die at the mission. Transplanted Floriculture Most wonderful are the trees which have been brought from over all the world and assembled in this salubrious spot. Oldest are California's Sequoias, named for a Cherokee chief. They are the oldest living things in the world today, for these "big trees" are six thousand years old. Latest addition to the garden is an olive tree planted by the Crown Prince of Belgium when he toured this country with his parents after the world war. It has just come 484 IMPROVEMENT ERA into bearing. Next in interest is a weeping willow brought as a slip from the tomb of Lafayette. The first pepper tree hails from Peru and the navel orange is also an import from South America, its habitat being Brazil. The strange, bark-shedding Eucalyptus comes from Australia; Valencias from Spain; lemons from Italy; grapes from France; dates from Persia; and flowering shrubs from Mexico. Cabrillo, Discoverer of California Seventy-eight years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, a Portuguese navigator, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, flying the Spanish flag, and in the employ of Cortez, sailed into the harbor of San Diego. Cortez, who, in the vicissitudes of the Retreat of the Dismal Night and the enmity of Guatemoc, nephew of Montezuma, had lost much of the Aztec gold, was looking for new fields of treasure. Cabrillo also sailed into San Pedro harbor, the Santa Barbara channel, and the bay of Monterey. In fact, he sailed into and out of every harbor he came across and discovered most of the islands off the California coast. All this when Columbus was scarcely cold in his grave. Encountering severe storms at Monterey, he sailed back to Santa Barbara to spend the winter. Here, on the island of San Miguel, he kept his tryst with death. He is buried there and he never returned from the Empire of the Sun he had discovered. A falling mast broke his shoulder and he did not recover from the injury. Other Explorations Followed Sir Francis Drake, the English gentleman adventurer who made friends with the Indians, and Sebastian Vizcaino, a Spaniard with four ships. But it was not till 166 years later, when the Russians were coming in from the north, that the first real colonizing by Spain was done. Gasper de Portola, Governor of Lower California, and Junipero Serra, a brilliant Franciscan Friar, journeyed with a well-equipped expedition to San Diego. Here they established the first mission in upper California. Leaving Serra there, Portola traveled by land to the north and discovered the Bay of San Francisco. When his party returned to San Diego, they found that disease and death had weakened the little settlement and that no Indians had been converted. As the supply ship had not arrived, Portola ordered the return to Mexico. Serra, deeply interested in the saving of souls of the heathen, protested. What occurred seemed an answer to prayer, an accomplishment of faith. Portola ordered the de- parture on March 20. On the evening before, at sunset, as the SANTA BARBARA MISSION RISES FROM THE ASHES 485 Franciscans besought divine help, a sail appeared on the horizon. The relief ship, San Antonio, had arrived. The Woman ov San Nicolas Island A story more wierd than that of Robinson Crusoe, more won- derful than that of the Swiss family, Robinson, is that of the Indian woman who spent more than eighteen years alone on San Nicolas island, off the Santa Barbara coast. She had no man Friday — no human companions — not even the child that, mother like, she risked her life to save. Her sole companion was a dog. Yet she established housekeeping arrangements that would put marooned men to shame. It was decided to transport the Indians of the islands to the mission at Santa Barbara. A ship was sent to San Nicolas and the tribe was gathered together and put on board. Just before the ship sailed an Indian woman missed her baby. She jumped over- board and swam back. As a great storm had arisen, the ship went WKyr, ^^ ^^B 3^H> f ^§S B BP^^r^H InP Left: An olive tree planted by the Crown Prince of Belgium, the latest acquisition to the cemetery garden. In this space, peppers from South America. Eucalypti from Australia, oranges from Spain, and oleanders from the Hoiy Land meet on common ground. Right: In the cemetery garden 4,000 Indians and a former governor of California lie buried. A vault in a corner is a repository for the bodies of the Franciscan monks. 486 IMPROVEMENT ERA on without her. Eighteen years later, a boat put in at the island. The sailors witnessed a strange sight. "Awaiting them at the water's edge, was a creature that re- sembled nothing else so much as a huge human bird. It was the for- gotten woman of San Nicolas, clad in a robe of feathers which she had woven from the wings and backs of wild birds and sea-fowl. She had made a hut of whalebones, covered it with brush and had built a brush fence around it to shelter her little home from the winds of the sea. She had a plentiful supply of food from abalone and other fish. She was a skilful weaver and had made many baskets from grass fiber. Her method of killing seal was to hunt them at night, stealing up to them and killing them with stones. Her fish lines were made from flesh of seals and her hooks from abalone shells. She had become very skilful in catching birds. On being taken to the mainland, the woman survived onlv six weeks, but her rescuers waxed rich on the vast quantities of otter and seal which they discovered on the island. Regeneration of the Savages The Santa Barbara Indians were rather superior to some of the other tribes of California. They had robes of rabbit skins and canoes and fishing implements. They also constructed rude huts for shelter. Of agriculture, they had none. The fathers taught them to raise wheat, barley, corn, lentils, peas and beans. They clothed them, trained them, educated them, taught them religion and morals. Be- fore the coming of the white men, the Indians of the "land of bright colors" were a wretched, naked, customless people. Perhaps the greatest thing that the missions did was to get them to abolish warfare. Founding of Santa Barbara The Franciscan missions, 21 of them, extend from the Harbor of the Sun to the Valley of the Seven Moons. They are connected by El Camino Real — the King's Highway — 700 miles of it, glamourous with romance. It was planned that they should be a day's journey apart, (they had swift horses in those days). Of these missions, many are in ruins; two have been totally obliterated. Santa Barbara was the tenth mission to be founded. Father Serra had established nine. He died at Carmel, on the gray coast of Monterey, before Santa Barbara was started, but he already had located the presidio at Santa Barbara and made friends with large tribes of Indians, blessed the water and dedicated the land. El Camino Real The King's Highway is strewn with wonders, says John S. McGroarty, author of the Mission play. SANTA BARBARA MISSION RISES FROM THE ASHES 487 Of all the missions of California, Santa Barbara alone has never been abandoned. Its altar flame has never gone out. After the earthquake, in 1925, services were held temporarily in the garden. "White peaks of glory and sunset shores of dream, yucca and poppy on the upland slopes, gardens deep with roses in each valley's heart, brown roadsides hushed with ruined fanes; and here and there, a mouldered cross upon a haunted hill. "Ofttimes, mayhap, there be those that wander there whom the eyes of mortal cannot see — St. Francis, with sandaled feet, and Brother Juniper, his beloved disciple, searching for hungry mouths and ragged beggars and tossed, sore-beaten souls; Portola, in plumed hat and slashed breeches, haunting the brown hill that made him immortal; Father Serra, harkening to the Mission bells when the Angelus is ringing; the souls of Argonauts, seeking again the golden fleece; deep-sea sailors, tatooed and swart, with rings in their ears; and, in the soft, deep glory of the summer night, Juan de Ayala. on the deck of the San Carlos, the first to sail through the Golden Gate." Los Angeles, California