Name of Church Old Mission Santa Inés
Address 1760 Mission Drive, Solvang CA 93464
Phone number 805-688-4815
Website www.missionsantaines.org.
Mass times Saturday vigil, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. (Spanish); Sundays, 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. (Spanish), 5 p.m. ; Monday – Saturday, 8 a.m.; Holy Days, 7 p.m. vigil (the night before), 8 a.m. and noon.
Confessions Saturday, 4 – 4:45 and 6:15 – 6:45 p.m. (Spanish)
Names of priests All Capuchin Franciscan Friars: Fr. Gerald Barron, pastor. Fr. Brendan Buckley, associate pastor. Fr. Harold Snider, in residence. The Capuchins have a formation house and retreat center seven miles away from the mission. Seventy-three-year-old Fr. Barron came to California from Ireland nearly 50 years ago, and is one of a handful of Irish-born priests still serving on the West Coast. (San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Robert McElroy has said that Fr. Barron’s “example of lived holiness” inspired him to become a priest.)
School No school. Three nuns in residence teach religious education classes.
Special activities and groupsAdoration, Monday – Friday 6 a.m. – midnight; rosary for vocations, Monday – Friday at 1 p.m. in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel; Docent Society; St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Music Many weekend Masses have choirs.
Fellow parishioners It’s an active parish, majority Anglo with a significant Hispanic population.
Parking Plenty.
Acoustics Fine.
Cry room No. There is an Immaculate Conception Chapel in the back into which you can take your children if they are noisy.
Parish bulletin View online at the parish website.
Additional observations Mission Santa Inés was founded by Franciscan priests in 1804 to instruct the local Chumash Indians in the Catholic faith. The original church collapsed in an earthquake in 1812; a second church was built in 1817. The Mexican government seized the mission and its lands in 1833, the mission was later returned to the church. The quaint Danish town of Solvang was built up around the mission about a century ago. The Capuchin Franciscan Friars from Ireland took over care of the mission in 1924. Today, it is a parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Visitors can enjoy historic artwork, documents, vestments and other artifacts. Tour the mission daily, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Cost is $5 for ages 12+.) It is a beautiful old mission worth a visit.

 

READER COMMENTS

Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 5:44 AM By St. Christopher
Beautiful Church — where is the Latin Mass, the Mass that it was designed for?

Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 6:32 AM By mike magee
All of the old mission churches are certainly worth seeing. Nineteen of the twenty-one are active parishes so no government money is available for expensive restoration/maintenance. Still, they are in good shape. Two missions are state parks. Its possible to see each mission in two hours. Since they are fairly close together, its possible to see three missions in a day, with time for a side trip or two to one of the omni-present wineries.

Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 8:43 AM By OneoftheSheep
Love this mission. I attended mass here with two of my sisters back in 2008 after the death of my beloved sister Debora in Lompoc,CA. The church was breath-taking. The music was piercing to my heart. I believe Inez means Agnes but not sure about that. Solvang is a delightful tourist town to visit afterwards.

Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 11:27 AM By Clinton
I would encourage everyone to visit the Missions. They are living museums of our Catholic Faith. My family and I have visited 9 of them so far and hope to see them all eventually.

Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 2:43 PM By Janek
Agreed St. Christopher, stunning Mission but no Traditional Latin Mass to make it complete. Tailor made for the Mass of All Times!!!

Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 5:08 PM By Robert Bushlow
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!! How did we let ourselves toss away such a beautiful heritage for the absurd structures that were built subsequently?

Posted Friday, February 24, 2012 5:21 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Fr. Gerald Barron and other Capuchins used to come to a weekly Rosary at the home of Betty Gaffney, Fr. Aloysius Elacuria, CMF came also. It was and is a blessing to have known them. God bless, yours in Their Hearts, Kenneth M. Fisher

Posted Sunday, February 26, 2012 2:49 AM By Angelo AVP
For a great day, visiting this Mission and its historic surroundings can be a blessing. The Old City of Solvang is built around it, a few miles west one can visit the Old Mission of the Immacualte Conception with its Park like setting, picnic areas and nature hikes ect… Makes for a great day of prayer, rest and leisure for the whole family.

Posted Monday, February 27, 2012 1:54 PM By Doug
My two sons were each baptised here in the early 1990s by a very wonderful traditional Roman Catholic priest saying all the entire Baptismal Rite written in Latin from the early days of the Roman Catholic Church. Santa Ines (named after Saint Agnes – my grandmother’s name was Agnes) will always be a very special dear place to us when we lived in Lompoc. The La Purisma Mission outside of Lompoc is beautiful indeed too as one of the CA State Parks and well restored. Both missions are a great place to tour and enjoy a solemn, humble, relaxing day getting acquainted with the Roman Catholic Church of the far past. May God bless everyone who reads this, and please do say the rosary daily, do spiritual reading, and pay due diligence to fast and abstinence this holy season of Lent. Make this your best Lenten season ever, especially for the holy souls in purgatory!