Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, circa 1899.
HISTORY
Location:	Soledad, California
Coordinates:	36° 24′ 16.63″ N, 121° 21′ 20.9″ W
Name as Founded:	La Misión de María Santísima, Nuestra Señora Dolorosísima de la Soledad
English Translation:	The Mission of Mary Most Holy, Our Most Sorrowful Lady of Solitude
Patron:	Blessed Virgin Mary
Nickname(s):	"The Lonely Mission"
Founding Date:	October 9, 1791
Founded By:	Father Fermín Lasuén
Founding Order:	Thirteenth
Military District:	Third
Native Tribe(s): Spanish Name(s):	Chalon, Esselen, Yokuts Costeño
Primordial Place Name(s):	Chuttusqelis
SPIRITUAL RESULTS
Baptisms:	2,131
Marriages:	648
Burials:	1,705
Year of Neophyte Population Peak:	1804
Neophyte Population:	339
Neophyte Population in 1832:	687
DISPOSITION
Secularized:	1835
Returned to the Church:	1859
Caretaker:	Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey
Current Use:	Chapel / Museum
California Historical Landmark:	#233
Web Site:	http://www.ci.soledad.ca.us

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad is a former religious outpost established by Spanish colonists on the west coast of North America in the present-day State of California. Founded on October 9, 1791 by Roman Catholics of the Franciscan Order, the settlement was the thirteenth in the twenty-one mission Alta California chain.

History

The Ohlone, the original residents of the valley, were converted and brought to live at the Mission, followed by Esselen and Yokuts. Governor [José Joaquín de Arrillaga was buried in the chapel after he died on July 24, 1814 during a visit to the Mission. Though prosperous in its early years, the Mission declined after 1825. Nevertheless, Father Vicente Francisco de Sarría stayed on in poverty to serve the Indians until his death in 1835, when the Mission was secularized. This was an attempt by the Mexican government to turn the California missions over to the Indians on whose lands the missions had been established.

The Mission lands were subsequently "regranted" to the Bishop of Monterey in 1859. For over a century after secularization the Mission sat crumbling in the wind and rain. In 1954, when restoration was begun, only piles of adobe dirt and a few wall sections from the cuadrángulo (quadrangle) remained. The chapel was reconstructed and dedicated under the auspices of the Native Daughters of the Golden West on October 9, 1955. The ruins of the quadrangle, cemetery, and some of the outer rooms can still be seen. Governor Arrillaga's grave was identified and given a new marker.

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad today serves as Nuestra Señora de La Soledad Catholic Church in the parish of Soledad. It is open to visitors, but is not used as a parish church.