Santa Barbara Mission


From San Luis Obispo, I drove to Santa Barbara and made a stop to see the Mission. Originally, I had planned to visit the Hearst Castle (a perfect counterpart to the Trump years). 


But after the simplicity of the Hermitage and the indirect route to San Simeon, home of the Castle, I decided not to. Skipping the Castle on this trip is a reason to return to California.


The Santa Barbara Mission is one of 21 in California, most along the coast. The route which loosely connects them is known as El Camino Real (The Royal Road or the King's Highway). These missions were founded by Franciscan and Jesuit priests. The Santa Barbara Mission is considered the crown jewel of the missions.


The mission consisted of a beautiful courtyard and cemetery, filled with native plants.








At Franciscan establishments, there are often statues or photos of St. Francis comforting Jesus on the Cross. 


The church at the Santa Barbara Mission was beautiful.




The Ninth Station: Jesus falls the third time.


I especially like this statue tableau of Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus for the first time after His Resurrection.


Jesus has such a gentle expression.


While Mary's is one of surprised awe.


The Mission also had a museum with beautiful artwork.


The priests who founded the Missions helped spread the Catholic faith to the native peoples. As this evangelizing was not always done in a gentle way, the missions were a double edged sword.


When some St. Mark's friends heard I was going to California, they told me about the Camino Real and the missions. While visiting a mission wasn't on my original agenda, I thought I would stop at one.

As my planning process went on, I started to feel a little guilty about the trip: it was such an extravagant thing to be gone for two weeks. Should I really do this? The evening I was entertaining this question, I saw a Facebook post from a friend with whom we had gone on our Camino de Santiago pilgrimage to Spain a year and a half ago. She lives in the Chicago area, but her post was from California, where she was journeying along part of the Camino Real with some friends. I didn't need much to seal the deal, but this Facebook post (!) did it.

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