View source for Mission San Gabriel Arcángel

{{Short description|18th-century Spanish mission in California}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox Missions
|  image=Mission San Gabriel 4-15-05 6611.JPG
|  caption=A view of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in April 2005.  The open stairway at the far right leads to the choir loft, and to the left is the six-bell ''campanario'' ("bell wall") that was built after the original bell structure, located at the far end of the church, toppled during the [[1812 San Juan Capistrano earthquake]].
|  name=Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
|  location=428 South Mission Dr.<br />[[San Gabriel, California]] 91776-1299
|  originalname=''La Misión del Santo Príncipe el Arcángel, San Gabriel de los Temblores''&nbsp;<ref name="leffingwell43">Leffingwell, p. 43</ref>
|  translation=The Mission of the Saintly Prince The Archangel, St. Gabriel of the Tremblors
|  namesake=[[Gabriel (archangel)|Gabriel]], Holy Prince of Archangels<ref name = "krell113"/>
|  nickname="Pride of the Alta California Missions"{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}<br />"Mother of Agriculture in California"<ref>Ruscin, p. 41</ref>
|  founded=September 8, 1771<ref>Yenne, p. 48</ref>
|  foundedby=Pedro Benito Cambón and Ángel de la Somera (1st);<br />Father Presidente [[Junípero Serra]] (2nd)&nbsp;<ref name="ruscin196">Ruscin, p. 196</ref>
|  foundingorder=Fourth<ref name = "krell113"/>
|  militarydistrict=First<ref>Forbes, p. 202</ref><ref>Engelhardt, ''San Diego Mission'', pp. v, 228 "''The military district of San Diego embraced the Missions of San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel...''"</ref>
|  nativetribe=[[Tongva people|Tongva]]<br />''Gabrieleño''
|  placename=''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Iisanchanga'', ''Shevaanga''<ref>Ruscin, p. 195</ref>
|  baptisms=7,825<ref name = "krell315"/>
|  marriages=1,916<ref name = "krell315"/>
|  burials=5,670<ref name="krell315">Krell, p. 315: as of December 31, 1832; information adapted from Engelhardt's ''Missions and Missionaries of California''.</ref>
|  secularized=1834<ref name = "krell113"/>
|  returned=1859<ref name="krell113">Krell, p. 113</ref>
|  owner=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles]]
|  currentuse=Chapel / Museum
|  coordinates =  {{coord|34|05|48|N|118|06|24|W|type:landmark_region:UA-CA|display=inline,title}}
|  locmapin=Los Angeles
|  map_caption=Location in Los Angeles County
|  designation1=NRHP
|  designation1_date=1971
|  designation1_number=[http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/CA/Los+Angeles/state8.html #71000158]
|  designation2=California
|  designation2_number=[http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21427 #158]
|  website=http://www.sangabrielmission.org
}}

'''Mission San Gabriel Arcángel''' ({{langx|es|Misión de San Gabriel Arcángel}}) is a [[Spanish missions in California|Californian mission]] and historic landmark in [[San Gabriel, California]]. It was founded by the [[Spanish Empire]] on the [[Nativity of Mary]] September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become twenty-one [[Spanish missions in California]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://missions.bgmm.com/sgabriel.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327033851/http://missions.bgmm.com/sgabriel.htm |title=San Gabriel Arcángel |access-date=14 March 2009 |archive-date=2009-03-27 |publisher=California Missions}}</ref> The mission was named after the [[Gabriel (archangel)|Archangel Gabriel]], and often referred to as the "Godmother of the Pueblo of Los Angeles."<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert A. Bellezza|title=Missions of Los Angeles}}</ref>

The mission was designed by [[Antonio Cruzado]], who gave the building its capped [[Buttress|buttresses]] and the tall narrow windows, which are unique among the missions of the California chain. It was completed in 1805.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://californiamissionsfoundation.org/mission-san-gabriel/|title=San Gabriel Arcángel|publisher=California Missions Foundation}}</ref> A large stone cross stands in the center of the ''Campo Santo'' ([[cemetery]]), first consecrated in 1778 and then again on January 29, 1939. It serves as the final resting place for some 6,000 [[Mission Indians|neophytes]].

According to Spanish legend, the founding expedition was confronted by a large group of native Tongva peoples whose intention was to drive the strangers away. One of the priests laid a painting of [[Our Lady of Sorrows]] on the ground for all to see, whereupon the natives, designated by the [[settler]]s as the ''Gabrieleños'', immediately made peace with the missionaries, as they were so moved by the painting's beauty.<ref name="leffingwell43" /> Today, the 300-year-old image hangs in front of and slightly to the left of the old [[high altar]] and [[reredos]] in the Mission's [[sanctuary]]. Resistance to the mission by the Tongva was recorded<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last1=Dietler|first1=John|title=Forging Communities in Colonial Alta California|last2=Gibson|first2=Heather|last3=Vargas|first3=Benjamin|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2018|isbn=9780816538928|chapter='A Mourning Dirge Was Sung': Community and Remembrance at Mission San Gabriel}}</ref> and how much the neophytes embraced Catholicism remains a subject of debate among scholars.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Hernández|first=Kelly Lytle|title=City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771–1965|publisher=UNC Press Books|year=2017|isbn=9781469631196|pages=25|quote=How much the neophytes embraced Catholicism remains a lively debate among scholars.}}</ref>

==History==
In August 1771, the [[Portolà expedition]], which consisted of "ten Spanish soldiers and two Franciscan priests, encountered armed [[Tongva]] Indians on the banks of the [[Santa Ana River]]."<ref name="Saavedra2019">{{Cite book|title=Pasadena Before the Roses: Race, Identity, and Land Use in Southern California, 1771–1890|last=Saavedra|first=Yvette J.|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2018|isbn=9780816535538|pages=20–21}}</ref> One month later, Mission San Gabriel was founded on September 8, 1771, by Fray Ángel Fernández de la Somera and Fray Pedro Benito Cambón. The planned site for the Mission was along the banks of the ''Río de los Temblores'' (the River of the Earthquakes—the Santa Ana River). The priests chose an alternate site on a fertile plain located directly alongside the [[Rio Hondo (California)|Río Hondo]] in the [[Whittier Narrows]].<ref>McCawley, p. 189</ref> The site of the ''[[Mission Vieja|Misión Vieja]]'' (or "Old Mission") is located near the intersection of San Gabriel Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue.

The mission was built and run using what has been described as [[Slavery|slave]] labor<ref>{{Cite book |last=Street |first=Richard Steven |title=Beasts of the Field: A Narrative History of California Farmworkers, 1769–1913 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780804738804 |pages=39 |quote=A clerk with the Jedediah Smith fur-trapping party spent considerable time observing his San Gabriel mission surroundings. He soon found himself unable to tolerate the site of the natives working in the nearby vineyards and fields. 'They are kept in great fear, and for the least offense they are corrected,' he confided in his diary. 'They are... complete slaves in every sense of the word.'}}</ref> from nearby [[Tongva]] villages, such as [[Yaanga]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Estrada |first=William David |title=The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780292782099 |pages=35–36 |quote=Thus, the missionaries and pobladores became competitors. They secured Indian labor through various material inducements, such as food and clothing, and also by capture.}}</ref> and was built on the site of the village of [[Toviscanga]].<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Peet |first=Stephen Denison |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ar0RAAAAYAAJ |title=The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal |publisher=Jameson & Morse |year=1881–82 |editor-last=Gatschet |editor-first=Alb. S. |page=73}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico. Volume IV, T to Z |date=2003 |others=Frederick Webb Hodge |isbn=978-1-58218-756-3 |location=Scituate, MA |pages=796 |oclc=961309517}}</ref> When the nearby [[Pueblo de Los Ángeles|Pueblo de los Ángeles]] was built in 1781, the mission competed with the emerging pueblo for control of [[Indigenous peoples of California|Indigenous]] labor.<ref name=":0" />

The expedition of [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] visited the mission in January and February 1776, having previous been there in 1774.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anza Trail: Historic & Cultural Sites in California – Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)|url=https://www.nps.gov/juba/learn/historyculture/california-anza-trail-sites.htm|access-date=2021-04-28|website=www.nps.gov|language=en}}</ref> In 1776, a flash flood destroyed much of the crops and ruined the original Mission complex, which was subsequently relocated five miles closer to the mountains in present-day San Gabriel (the Tongva settlement of [[Toviscanga]] or 'Iisanchanga).<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Peet |first=Stephen Denison |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ar0RAAAAYAAJ |title=The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal |publisher=Jameson & Morse |year=1881–82 |editor-last=Gatschet |editor-first=Alb. S. |pages=73}}</ref> The Tongva village of [[Shevaanga]] was also located "close to the second location of Mission San Gabriel" after the original site was abandoned due to the flooding.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-tongva-map/|title=Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.'s past|last1=Greene|first1=Sean|last2=Curwen|first2=Thomas|newspaper=LA Times|access-date=19 June 2019}}</ref>

On December 8, 1812, the [[Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary]], a series of massive [[earthquake]]s shook [[Southern California]]. The [[1812 San Juan Capistrano earthquake]] caused the three-bell ''campanario'' adjacent to the chapel's east façade, to collapse. A larger, six-bell structure was subsequently constructed at the far end of the ''Capilla''. While no pictorial record exists to document what the original structure looked like, architectural historian [[Rexford Newcomb]] deduced the design and published a depiction in his 1916 work ''The Franciscan Mission Architecture of Alta (upper) California''.

Over 25,000 [[baptism]]s were conducted at San Gabriel between 1771 and 1834, making it the most prolific in the chain of missions. Tongva people from nearby settlements like Akuranga village were affected by the practices of Franciscan missionaries, who attempted to "eradicate what they perceived as ills within Tongva society" through "religious indoctrination, labor, restructuring of gender structures, and violence," which took place at and around the Mission.<ref name="Saavedra2019" /> A missionary during this period reported that three out of four children died at Mission San Gabriel before reaching the age of 2.<ref name=":17">{{Cite journal|last=Singleton|first=Heather Valdez|date=2004|title=Surviving Urbanization: The Gabrieleno, 1850–1928|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1409498|journal=Wíčazo Ša Review|volume=19|issue=2|pages=49–59|doi=10.1353/wic.2004.0026|jstor=1409498|s2cid=161847670|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Nearly 6,000 Tongva lie buried in the grounds of the San Gabriel Mission.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Martínez|first=Roberta H.|title=Latinos in Pasadena|publisher=Arcadia|year=2009|isbn=9780738569550|pages=15}}</ref> 

There were reports throughout this period of [[California Mission Indians|Indigenous peoples]] fleeing the conditions at the Mission. For example, in 1808, the missionaries sent Spanish soldier José Palomares after some [[Mission Indians|neophytes]] who had fled the mission. Escapees traveled as far as the [[Serrano people|Serrano]] village of [[Wá’peat]] to escape the Mission. Palomares observed the escapees at the village and attempted to negotiate with the chief of the village for their return. However, the chief refused.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last1=Sutton |first1=Mark Q. |url=https://www.pcas.org/documents/5323DesertSerrano.pdf |title=The Desert Serrano of the Mojave River |last2=Earle |first2=David D. |publisher=Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly |year=2017 |pages=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRErAQAAIAAJ |title=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, Volumes 25–26 |publisher=Malki Museum |year=2005 |pages=19}}</ref>

[[Image:San Gabriel Arcangel circa 1900 Keystone-Mast Company.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Mission San Gabriel Arcángel c. 1900. The trail in the foreground is part of the original [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]].]]
Although San Gabriel once furnished food and supplies to settlements and other missions throughout California, a majority of the Mission structures fell into ruins after it was [[secularization|secularized]] in November 1834. During part of the 1850s, squatters set upon the mission, converting part of it into a [[Saloon bar|saloon]] which had both felons and a [[justice of the peace]] as customers;<ref>{{cite book | last=Pitt | first=L. | title=Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846–1890 | publisher=University of California Press | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-520-21958-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRnjfZeIt7UC&pg=PA106 | access-date=27 September 2023 | page=106}}</ref> it was opened by former [[San Diego]] Mayor [[Joshua Bean]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Vickers | first=M. | title=Twisted Tour Guide to San Diego: Shocking Deaths, Scandals and Vice | publisher=Marquis Publishing | series=Twisted Tour Guides | year=2022 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LWppEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 | access-date=27 September 2023 | page=26}}<br/>{{cite book | last=Arnold | first=R.J. | title=San Gabriel | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | series=Images of America | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-4671-3061-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5W6hAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 | access-date=27 September 2023 | page=64}}</ref>

The Mission's chapel functioned as a [[parish]] church for the City of San Gabriel from 1862 until 1908, when the [[Claretian Missionaries]] came to San Gabriel and began the job of rebuilding and restoring the Mission. In 1874, tracks were laid for [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] Railroad near the mission. In 2012, artifacts from the mission era were found when the tracks were lowered into a trench known as the [[Alameda Corridor]]-East.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-feb-06-la-me-artifacts-found-20120206-story.html|title=At a planned train trench, an archaeological treasure trove|date=February 6, 2012|first= Bob |last=Pool| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref> On October 1, 1987, the [[1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake|Whittier Narrows earthquake]] damaged the property. A significant portion of the original complex has since been restored.

Fire completely destroyed the roof of the original church sanctuary on July 11, 2020.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bravo |first1=Kristina |last2=DerMugrdechian |first2=Lucas |date=11 July 2020 |title=Roof destroyed at San Gabriel Mission after fire broke out at 249-year-old church |url=https://ktla.com/news/local-news/roof-destroyed-at-san-gabriel-mission-after-fire-broke-out-at-249-year-old-church/ |work=KTLA |access-date=11 July 2020 }}</ref> Prior to the fire, the mission was undergoing renovation, saving some paintings and artifacts.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Mission founded by St. Junípero Serra burns in overnight fire |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/45138/mission-founded-by-st-junipero-serra-burns-in-overnight-fire |work=Catholic News Agency |publisher=EWTN News, Inc. |location=Irondale, Alabama |date=11 July 2020 |access-date=21 July 2020 }}</ref> An investigation into the origin of the fire was opened.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gonzales |first=Rudy |date=21 July 2020 |title=Probe continues into fire that gutted Mission San Gabriel Archangel church |url=https://www.sgvtribune.com/probe-continues-into-fire-that-gutted-mission-san-gabriel-archangel-church |work=San Gabriel Valley Tribune ×|access-date=21 July 2020 }}</ref> On May 5, 2021, John David Corey, age 57, was charged with [[felony]] counts of [[arson]] and [[burglary]] for setting the fire.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Campa|first1=Andrew J.|last2=Winton|first2=Richard|last3=Queally|first3=James|date=2021-05-04|title=Man accused of setting fire to San Gabriel Mission had conflicts with staff, sources say|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-04/man-charged-with-arson-in-san-gabriel-mission-fire|access-date=2021-05-06|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> An invitation-only [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] was celebrated in September 2022 with hope of permanently opening the mission by early December.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Campa |first=Andrew J. |date=2022-09-09 |title=A little more than two years after a devastating fire, the San Gabriel Mission is nearly restored |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-08/a-little-more-than-two-years-after-a-devastating-fire-the-san-gabriel-mission-is-nearly-restored |access-date=2022-09-09 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The mission officially reopened in July 2023.<ref>{{cite web|author-first1=Pablo|author-last1=Kay|website=Angelus|date=1 July 2023|url=https://angelusnews.com/local/la-catholics/mission-san-gabriel-reopens/|title=At Mission San Gabriel reopening, the old is made new}}</ref>

==Mission industries==
[[File:Mission San Gabriel 1854 land claims of the Catholic Church 01.jpg|thumb|left|Land claims of the Catholic Church at Mission San Gabriel in 1854; the surveyor's map describes the church, cemetery, ruins, adobe house, dwellings, orchard, garden, and a vineyard bounded by an adobe wall and a [[opuntia|prickly pear]] fence]]
The goal of the missions was to become self-sufficient in relatively short order. [[Farming]] was the most important [[Industry (economics)|industry]] of any mission. Prior to the missions, the Native Americans had developed a complex, self-sufficient culture. The mission priests established what they thought of as a manual training school: to teach the Indians their style of agriculture, the mechanical arts, and the raising and care of livestock. The missions, utilizing the labor of the [[wikt:neophyte|neophyte]]s, produced everything they used and consumed. After 1811, the mission Indians could be said to sustain the entire military and civil government of California.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 211</ref>

Ranchos (not to be confused with secular government land-grant ranchos) were established in a wide area for raising cattle, sheep and other livestock. These included; San Pasqual, Santa Anita, Azusa, San Francisquito, Cucumonga, San Antonio, San Bernardino, San Gorgonio, Yucaipa, Jurupa, Guapa, Rincon, Chino, San Jose, Ybarras, Puente, Mission Vieja, Serranos, Rosa de Castilla, Coyotes, Jabonaria, Las Bolsas, Alamitos, and Cerritos.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Reid |first1=Hugo |title=Letters on the Los Angeles County Indians |url=http://www.gabrielenoindians.net/ewExternalFiles/HUGOREIDLETTERS.pdf |website=GabrielenoIndians.Net |publisher=Los Angeles Star |access-date=15 March 2021 |date=1869}}</ref> When Rancho San Gorgonio was established in 1824, in what today is known as the [[San Gorgonio Pass]], it became the most distant rancho operated by the San Gabriel Mission.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gudde |first1=Edwin G. |title=California Place Names; A Geographical Dictionary |date=1949 |publisher=University of California |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, California |page=305}}</ref>

Many of the Native Americans lived in communities called [[ranchería]]s. "The names of the rancherías associated with San Gabriel Mission were: Acuragna, [[, California|Alyeupkigna]], [[Awigna, California|Awigna]], [[Azucsagna, California|Azucsagna]], [[Cahuenga, California|Cahuenga]], [[Chokishgna, California|Chokishgna]], [[Chowigna, California|Chowigna]], [[Cucamonga (former settlement), California|Cucomogna]], Hahamogna, [[Harasgna, California|Harasgna]], Houtgna, Hutucgna, [[Isanthcogna, California|Isanthcogna]], [[Maugna, California|Maugna]], [[Nacaugna, California|Nacaugna]], Pascegna, [[Pasinogna, California|Pasinogna]], [[Pimocagna, California|Pimocagna]], [[Pubugna, California|Pubugna]], [[Sibagna, California|Sibagna]], [[Sisitcanogna, California|Sisitcanogna]], [[Sonagna, California|Sonagna]], [[Suangna, California|Suangna]], Tibahagna, [[Toviseanga, California|Toviscanga]], Toybipet, Yangna."<ref name="Hodge1910">{{cite book|last=Hodge|first=Frederick Webb|title=Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPAYAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=4 February 2021|edition=1st|volume=Part 2|year=1910|publisher=Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-0-7222-0828-1|page=439}}</ref>

To efficiently manage its extensive lands, Mission San Gabriel established several outlying sub-missions, known as ''[[asistencias]]''. Several of these became or were included in land grants following the [[History of Hispanic and Latino Americans#Secularization|Mexican secularization]] of the missions in the 1830s, including:
* [[Rancho Santa Ana del Chino]]
* [[Rancho La Puente]]
* [[San Bernardino de Sena Estancia]]
* [[Rancho Santa Anita]]

In 1816, the Mission built a [[grist mill]] on a nearby creek. [[El Molino Viejo]] still stands, now preserved as a museum and historic landmark. Other mission industries included cowhide tanning/exporting and tallow-rendering (for making soap and for export), [[lime kiln]]s, tile making, cloth weaving for blankets and clothing, and [[adobe]] bricks.

==Mission bells==
[[File:Architect and engineer (1920) (14779735781).jpg|thumb|The belfry of Mission San Gabriel, 1905]]
Bells were important to daily life at any mission. They were rung to mark mealtimes, to call the Mission residents to work and to religious services, to mark births and funerals, to signal the approach of a ship or a returning missionary, and at other times; novices were instructed in the intricate rituals associated with the ringing of the mission bells. The mission bells were also used to tell time.

The actor Gil Frye portrayed Father Miguel Sánchez in a 1953 episode, "The Bell of San Gabriel," of the [[Television syndication|syndicated]] [[television]] [[anthology series]] ''[[Death Valley Days]],'' hosted by [[Stanley Andrews]]. As a child portrayed in the segment by Peter J. Votrian, Miguel provides funds acquired from a wealthy nobleman to sweeten the tone of the bell at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. Years later, the ringing of the bell saves his life when he is a young monk stranded in the desert in the Death Valley country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0946053/|title=The Bell of San Gabriel on ''Death Valley Days''|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=July 3, 2019}}</ref>

== Burials ==
The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel Cemetery is the oldest and first Catholic cemetery in the state of California.<ref name=":2" /> A large stone cross stands in the center of the ''Campo Santo'' ([[cemetery]]), first consecrated in 1778 and then again on January 29, 1939, by the Los Angeles Archbishop [[John Joseph Cantwell|John Cantwell]]. It serves as the final resting place for some 6,000 "neophytes;" a small stone marker denotes the gravesite of José de los Santos, the last American Indian to be buried on the grounds, at the age of 101 in February 1921. It is the oldest and first cemetery in the state of California.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Schipske |first=Gerrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I73rDAAAQBAJ |title=Historic Cemeteries of Long Beach |year=2016 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-5765-2 |language=en}}</ref>

Also interred at the Mission are the bodies of numerous [[Franciscan]] priests who died during their time of service, as well as the remains of Reverend Raymond Catalan, C.M.F., who undertook the restoration of the Mission's gardens. Entombed at the foot of the altar are the remains of eight Franciscan priests (listed in order of interment): Miguel Sánchez, Antonio Cruzado, [[Francisco Dumetz]], Ramón Ulibarri, Joaquín P. Núñez, [[Gerónimo Boscana]], [[José Bernardo Sánchez]], and Blas Ordaz.  Buried among the priests is centenarian [[Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné]], the "keeper of the keys" under Spanish rule; her grave is marked by a bench dedicated in her memory, and [[Victoria Reid]], a woman from [[Comicranga]], who was taken to the mission at a young age and became a respected figure in [[Mexican California]].<ref name=":04">{{Cite web |title=City of Arcadia, CA |url=https://www.arcadiaca.gov/enrich/arcadia_public_library/gilb_museum_of_arcadia_heritage/hugo_reid.php |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=www.arcadiaca.gov |language=en}}</ref> 

The Tongva people have their own ceremony and traditions after death. A 1724 [[engraving]] depicts Native Americans (most likely Tongva) carrying a dead body over a smoky fire.<ref name=":2" />

==Exhibits==
[[Image:Old PE car at San Gabriel Mission circa 1905.jpg|thumb|A [[streetcar]] of the [[Pacific Electric Railway]] makes a stop at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel c. 1905.]]
Visitors can tour the church, museum and grounds. The adobe museum building was built in 1812 and was originally used for sleeping quarters and book storage.<ref>[http://www.sangabrielmission.org/mission_giftshop_and_museum.htm "Mission, Museum, Grounds, Gardens, and Gift Shop"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122224850/http://sangabrielmission.org/mission_giftshop_and_museum.htm |date=2009-01-22 }}, San Gabriel Mission</ref>  Exhibits include mission relics, books and religious artifacts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vankin |first=Deborah |date=2023-06-28 |title=A fire tore through Mission San Gabriel. Its museum now tells a more inclusive story |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-06-28/mission-san-gabriel-museum-rebuilt-after-2020-fire |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The grounds feature operations from the original mission complex, including indoor and outdoor kitchens, winery, water cisterns, soap and candle vats, tanning vats for preparing cattle hides, and a cemetery. There is also a gift shop.

==Matrimonial Investigation Records==
As part of the William McPherson Collection<ref>[http://libraries.claremont.edu/sc/collections/mcpherson.html William McPherson Collection]</ref> in the Special Collections<ref>[http://libraries.claremont.edu/sc/default.html Special Collections]</ref> at the [[Claremont Colleges]]' Honnold/Mudd Library, the San Gabriel Mission<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/collection.php?alias=mir |title=Matrimonial Investigation Records of the San Gabriel Mission |access-date=November 3, 2010 |archive-date=January 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110235802/http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/collection.php?alias=mir |url-status=dead }}</ref> are a valuable resource for research on the pre-statehood activities of the Mission.<ref name="CCDL">Claremont Colleges Digital Library. [http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/collection.php?alias=mir Claremont Colleges Digital Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110235802/http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/collection.php?alias=mir |date=January 10, 2012 }}.</ref>  William McPherson was a rancher, scholar, and collector from [[Orange County, California]], who donated his extensive collection of mission documents, primarily from the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, to Special Collections in 1964.<ref name="CCDL" /><ref name="Special Collections">Special Collections. [http://libraries.claremont.edu/sc/collections/mcpherson.html William McPherson Collection].</ref>  

The matrimonial records span 1788 to 1861 and are notarized interviews with couples wanting to marry in the Roman Catholic Church, performed to establish the couples' freedom to marry.<ref name="CCDL" /> The collection includes 165 investigations, with 173 men and 170 women.<ref name="CCDL" /> Because the donated records are fragile, they are no longer available to be photocopied. The [[California Digital Library]] has an online guide available to search the collection.<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0199r2cc online guide]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Spanish missions in California]]
* [[List of Spanish missions in California]]
* [[Mission San Francisco Solano (California)]]
* [[Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles Asistencia]]
* [[El Molino Viejo]]
* [[San Bernardino Asistencia]]
* [[USNS Mission San Gabriel (AO-124)|USNS ''Mission San Gabriel'' (AO-124)]]&nbsp;– a [[USNS Mission Buenaventura (AO‑111)|''Mission Buenaventura'']]-class [[Oiler (ship)|fleet oiler]] built during [[World War II]]
* [[Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné]]
* [[Hugo Reid]]
* [[San Gabriel Mission High School]]
* [[Henninger Flats]]
*[[Casa de San Pedro]] – formerly owned by the mission

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book|author=Baer, Kurt|year=1958|title=Architecture of the California Missions|url=https://archive.org/details/architectureofca00baer|url-access=registration|publisher=University of California Press, Los Angeles, CA}}
* {{cite book|author=Engelhardt, Zephyrin, O.F.M.|author-link=Zephyrin Engelhardt|year=1920|title=San Diego Mission|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180080|publisher=James H. Barry Company, San Francisco, CA}}
* {{cite book|author=Engelhardt, Zephyrin, O.F.M.|year=1922|title=San Juan Capistrano Mission|publisher=Standard Printing Co., Los Angeles, CA}}
* {{cite book|author=Engelhardt, Zephyrin|year=1931|title=Mission San Gabriel Arcángel |publisher=Franciscan Herald Press, Chicago, IL}}
* {{cite book|author=Forbes, Alexander|year=1839|title=California: A History of Upper and Lower California|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NH4FAAAAQAAJ|publisher=Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill, London}}
* {{cite book|editor=Jones, Terry L. and Kathryn A. Klar|year=2007|title=California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity|publisher=Altimira Press, Landham, MD|isbn=978-0-7591-0872-1}}
* {{cite book|editor=Krell, Dorothy|year=1979|title=The California Missions: A Pictorial History|publisher=Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, CA|isbn=0-376-05172-8}}
* {{cite book|author=Leffingwell, Randy|year=2005|title=California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions|publisher=Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN|isbn=0-89658-492-5}}
* {{cite book|author=McCawley, William|year=2006|title=The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles|publisher=Malki Museum Press and Ballena Press, Banning and Novato, CA|isbn=0-9651016-1-4}}
* {{cite book|author=Newcomb, Rexford|year=1973|title=The Franciscan Mission Architecture of Alta California|publisher=Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY|isbn=0-486-21740-X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/franciscanmissio0000newc}}
* {{cite book|editor=Paddison, Joshua|year=1999|title=A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush|publisher=Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA|isbn=1-890771-13-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/worldtransformed00josh}}
* {{cite book|author=Ruscin, Terry|year=1999|title=Mission Memoirs|publisher=Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA|isbn=0-932653-30-8}}
* {{cite book|author=Wright, R.|year=1950|title=California's Missions|publisher=Hubert A. and Martha H. Lowman, Arroyo Grande, CA}}
* {{cite book|author=Yenne, Bill|year=2004|title=The Missions of California|publisher=Advantage Publishers Group, San Diego, CA|isbn=1-59223-319-8}}
* {{cite book|author1=Young, S. |author2=Levick, M. |name-list-style=amp |year=1988|title=The Missions of California|publisher=Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, CA|isbn=0-8118-3694-0}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mission San Gabriel Arcángel}}
* [http://parish.sangabrielmissionchurch.org/ San Gabriel Mission Parish] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104224523/http://parish.sangabrielmissionchurch.org/ |date=November 4, 2013 }}
* [http://www.mymission.org/images/sangabr.gif Elevation and Site Layout sketches of the Mission proper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409152200/http://www.mymission.org/images/sangabr.gif |date=April 9, 2008 }}
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.ca0291 Listing, drawings, and photographs] at the [[Historic American Buildings Survey]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203163556/http://www.tongva.com/ Official website of the Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council of San Gabriel]
* [http://www.sgmhs.org/ San Gabriel Mission High]
* [http://www.letsgoseeit.com/index/county/la/san_gabriel/loc01/mission_sg.htm Details of the Mission and photos]
* [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mission-San-Gabriel-Arcangel/119033930313 Mission's Fan Page on Facebook]
* [http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/collection.php?alias=mir Matrimonial Investigation Records of the San Gabriel Mission] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110235802/http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/collection.php?alias=mir |date=January 10, 2012 }} at [https://web.archive.org/web/20081013201954/http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/home.php Claremont Colleges Digital Library]
* {{cite web|last=Howser|first=Huell|title=California Missions (102)|url=http://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2000/12/08/california-missions-california-missions-102/|work=California Missions|publisher=[[Chapman University]] Huell Howser Archive|author-link=Huell Howser|date=December 8, 2000}}

{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles|state=collapsed}}
{{Alta California Missions}}
{{Registered Historic Places}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mission San Gabriel Arcangel}}
[[Category:Spanish missions in California|San Gabriel Arcangel]]
[[Category:San Gabriel, California]]
[[Category:1771 in The Californias]]
[[Category:Churches in Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:Museums in Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:History museums in California]]
[[Category:Religious museums in California]]
[[Category:1771 establishments in The Californias]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1771]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic churches completed in 1776]]
[[Category:18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States]]
[[Category:Archdiocese of Los Angeles]]
[[Category:California Historical Landmarks]]
[[Category:History of Los Angeles]]
[[Category:History of Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in California]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:Spanish Colonial architecture in California]]
[[Category:Tongva]]
[[Category:Old Spanish Trail (trade route)]]
[[Category:Junípero Serra]]