The Five Churches of Mission San Diego de Alcalá

The Five Churches of Mission San Diego de Alcalá. . , Mission Founded - July 16, 1769, Mission San Diego de Alcalá was established at the Presidio of San Diego. Services were held outdoors and in available rooms , -Founding Missionary: Father Junipero Serra, O.F.M , 1774 Church - The Mission relocated to its current location where the first church building was constructed. It was described as "a church of poles, roofed with tules and measured 17 x 53 feet." Tule reeds are a large bulrush that is abundant in marshy areas of California. This church burned to the ground in November 1775 during a Native American raid. , , -Head Missionary and Pastor: Father Luis Jayme, O.F.M. , 1776 Church - Two years later, a second, larger church was built with "adobe walls and thatched roof. It measured 80' x 14' and was equipped with a door and a lock and two two windows." , -Head Missionary and Pastor: Father Fermin de Lasuén, O.F.M. , 1780 Church - The third church was made of adobe and completed in 1780. It measured 84' x 15' and a sacristy was added. It was described as "poles of alder, or rough boarding covered the rafters and over all were placed tules. To insure the roof against fire, the tules were covered by a mass of earth." The church was damaged by an earthquake in 1803. , -Head Missionary and Pastor: Father Fermin de Lasuén, O.F.M. , (Appointed in 1785 as the second Father President of the California Missions) , 1813 Church - The construction of the fourth church began in 1808 and was dedicated on November 12, 1813. It had buttress wings, adobe walls and measured 150' x 35'. Father José Bernardo Sánchez, O.F.M. and Father Fernando Martín, O.F.M. designed and supervised the building of the church. , -Head Missionary and Pastor: Father Fernando Martin, O.F.M. , , 1930 Church - The current church is the fifth and it replicated the 1813 church, measuring 150'x 35'. Bishop John Joseph Cantwell supervised the re-building. San Diego de Alcalá was designated as a parish church in 1941 by Bishop Charles Francis Buddy. It continues today as an active Catholic Parish. , -Pastor: Father Charles Norman Raley , , Father Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M., The Missions and Missionaries of California, 1908 and 1912.