Name of Church Mission San Juan Bautista
Address 406 Second Street, San Juan Bautista, CA 95045
Phone number 831-623-2127
Website www.oldmissionsjb.org
Mass times Saturday vigil, 5 p.m. Sundays, 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., noon (Spanish), 1:30 p.m. (Spanish) Daily, Wednesday – Friday, noon in the Guadalupe Chapel. (The Guadalupe Chapel is a smaller, 70-seat church which was used in the years the main church was being built, and was restored for use in 1997.)
Confessions 4 p.m. in the Guadalupe Chapel.
Names of priests Fr. Alberto Cabrera, pastor.
School No.
Special groups and activities Moms in Prayer group, Friday night adoration, rosary and Divine Mercy Prayer group.
Fellow parishioners English and Spanish-speaking communities.
Parking San Juan Bautista is a tourist town, so it gets crowded on the weekends. However, you should be able to find parking on the grounds or street. In the summer, a community festival may shut down the main street by the Mission.
Acoustics Good.
Cry room No. There’s a garden area alongside the church you can take your children if they get noisy.
Additional observations Mission San Juan Bautista was founded by Fr. Fermin de Lasuen, successor to Blessed Junipero Serra, in 1797. It is the 15th of California’s 21 Spanish missions. Work began on its church began in 1803; it was dedicated in 1812. It has been in continuous use since then. It is the widest of the mission churches, and the largest of the California missions. Other buildings on the ground include a barracks, convent and the Jose Castro House, which are located around a large grassy plaza. There is also a historic cemetery containing the remains of 4,000 Indians and Europeans. The Mission was prominently featured in the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock/Jimmy Stewart movie “Vertigo,” although the bell tower that is part of the plot is a Hollywood creation. (But, you can still see the carriage and mannequin horse where Jimmy Stewart talks with Kim Novak.) Visit the gift shop to purchase mission-related and religious items or for tourist information. The historic grounds are open daily 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Gift shop and tour information: (831) 623-4528. Take a video tour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqdCokuZjTY.
I saw the movie “Vertigo,” many years ago, several times– and had always wondered about the bell tower! So. It was a Hollywood creation? That explains it! Thanks!
How beautiful and blessed it was a decade ago when Fr Millich was regularly celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass in that chapel on Sundays. And I recall a warm All Souls evening and confirmation with Bishop Garcia. After the ceremony in the chapel and before the generous reception, an angelic voice in the semi-darkness sang, a capella, Adoro te devote.
How unseemly that the Mass is not said and chanted these days in that beautiful, holy space where, for more than 200 years it was celebrated and loved. How to explain that? How to explain clerics who would put up obstacles to oppose such beautiful tradition? How to explain to the more than 4,000 souls whose bodily remains in the adjacent cemetery can no longer share those saving Latin prayers and chant?
Vertigo – back when the City was still beautiful
Mission Delores also in the film