Mission San Juan Capistrano Chapel
by Joan Carroll
Title
Mission San Juan Capistrano Chapel
Artist
Joan Carroll
Medium
Photograph - Digital Art
Description
Small but powerful, this is the chapel at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. No, not THAT San Juan Capistrano, the one in Texas, near San Antonio! As you walk onto the grounds of the mission, it seems like a simple place, so you are totally unprepared to walk into such a beautiful chapel! However like the other missions around San Antonio (except for the Alamo), this is an active parish. It is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage site that includes all the San Antonio Spanish Missions. I spent a wonderful half hour or so talking with the Park Ranger there (Mission San Juan has been maintained by the National Park Service as a part of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park since the 1980s.) who was very knowledgeable about mission history. FUN FACT: The San Antonio Hungarian Association donated a plaque that is in the chapel explaining who Juan de Capistrano was. He was an Italian (Giovanni di Capistrano, 1386 - 1456) and a "warrior priest", pariticipating in the Battle of Nandorfehervar (Now Belgrade) Hungary whereby Turkish invaders were prevented from invading the European continent. NOT-SO-FUN-FACT: Three Spanish Colonial-period statues that sat at the altar were stolen sometime on the night of Monday, July 31 or early the morning of Tuesday, August 1, 2000. The statues are between 3-4 feet tall and are constructed of carved wood that had been painted. They are considered priceless due to their religious and historical significance. SOME MISSION HISTORY: Mission San Juan Capistrano moved from East Texas to its present site about 12 miles from the Alamo in 1731. It did not make as much progress as did the other San Antonio missions because of frequent Indian attacks and the lack of sufficient lands. The Mission was secularized on July 14, 1794, after which time it was attended by the resident priest at Mission San Francisco de la Espada, until about 1813; it was then attended by the one remaining missionary at the nearby Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo until 1824. Mission San Juan was largely neglected until 1840, when religious services were once again conducted, this time by diocesan priests. Members of the Claretian and Redemptorist Orders also held mass in the church until 1967, when the Franciscans returned to Mission San Juan.
FEATURED PHOTO, Hodge Podge group, 2/27/22
FEATURED PHOTO, Daily Promotion group, 2/14/22
FEATURED PHOTO, CHURCHES CATHEDRALS AND CHAPELS group, 8/17/21
FEATURED PHOTO, Catholic Art Gallery group, 7/28/21
FEATURED PHOTO, Churches group, 7/22/21
FEATURED PHOTO, The Gallery Of Interior Design group, 9/3/15
FEATURED PHOTO, Premium FAA Artists group, 8/23/15
FEATURED PHOTO, The Road to Self Promotion group, 8/16/15
FEATURED PHOTO, Artist News group, 8/14/15
Uploaded
July 31st, 2015
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