Mission Santa Clara de Asis
by Paige H.

The Founding of the Mission
The founding date of the Mission Santa Clara de Asis was January 12, 1777. It was founded near the San Francisco Bay. The Padre who started the mission was Father Junipero Serra. But he did not do the work himself. Other Padres helped him, some of their names were Fr. Thomas de la Pen a, Fr. Francisco Palou and Fran Juan Crespi. All of these Spaniards wanted to complete their dream of being missionaries.

The Building of the Mission
The local Indians, the Ohlone, with help from the Spanish who traveled with the Padres built the mission. It was built from wood and thatch, which is dried out straw. Later this was replaced by adobe. The church was built first. Then they built the living areas for the Catholic missionaries. There was a courtyard in the middle. There were special rooms that were areas for sewing cloth, tanning hides, and other trades. There were dormitory rooms, called monjerio, for unmarried men and women Indians. Santa Clara de Asis was similar to many of the other missions in California in its design.

History of the Mission
Mission Santa Clara de Asis was named after Saint Clare of Assisi. She was a nun from the 1100' s. There are 4 other missions named after women. The mission was damaged in 1779 when the Guadalupe River overflowed. Some earthquakes happened from 1812 to 1822 and also damaged the buildings. They had to rebuild the church stronger and they used huge 40 foot long beams of redwood. Later, three fires damaged the mission. The first two in 1909 and 1913 did a little damage. In 1926, one fire was so bad it destroyed most of the mission. The people could only save a few treasures.

Daily life for the Native Americans
The daily life for the Native American tribe Ohlone would be as follows. A little after dawn, everyone went to the church to pray and sometimes sing. A breakfast bell would ring an hour later. At 7am Indians were sent to work when another bell would ring. From 12noon to 2pm they had their noon meal and a nap which in Spanish was called a "siesta". At 2pm everyone went back to work. At 8 pm it was time for more praying. Dinner was at 6pm for everyone. After dinner they had some free time. The girls went to bed at 8pm and the boys went to bed at 9 pm.

Neophyte was the name they used for Indians that were baptized as Catholic. The work they did included weaving baskets, farming, tanning leather, and making tools. The Ohlone Indians were the only tribe that lived at the Santa Clara mission. They lived in the dormitories, women separate from men, and separate from the missionaries.

Daily life for the Padres
The missionaries were in charge of the neophytes and had to teach them about Catholic religion and how to speak Spanish. While the adults worked they taught the children lessons in the morning and afternoon. They had to make sure the neophytes worked very hard to make money for the missions and sometimes they beat them. They also had to make sure they didn't run away. The soldiers also helped them do this. The missionaries and the Indians did not always have a peaceful relationship.

What the Mission is like today
The mission Santa Clara de Asis today is used as a college in the San Francisco Bay area. Also, it is the only mission used as a college! The mission has a very famous library. There is only one wall left because of the horrible fire in 1926. The people who recovered the very few treasures were actually students. This mission was very interesting to me and I was 'surprised it is a college.

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