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In 1769 an overland party set out from Mexico
to explore Monterey Bay under the command of Captain Gaspár
de Portolá. They arrived at the site, looked at their maps,
scratched their heads and wondered, "Is this Monterey Bay?"
With 17 of the 64 men sick and provisions quickly being consumed
the expedition held a meeting on the feast day of Saint Francis,
October 4, 1769, to decide whether to continue or return to
Mexico. They decided to push forward.
On October 22 they had
the first recorded encounter between Europeans and Ohlone people.
They encountered Quiroste Ohlone at the village of Mitenne near
today's Point Año Nuevo. The Ohlone people cheered the
explorers and showed traditional hospitality by offering food
and tobacco.
To Sergeant Francisco Ortega they made a present
of a red colored staff decorated with feathers. On November
1, 1769, Sergeant Ortega climbed up what is now called Sweeney
Ridge, looked down and saw San Francisco Bay.
Saint Francis
had led the Spanish Empire to one of the largest harbors in
the world. Now this place in the land of the Ohlone would have
a mission for Saint Francis.
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6 x 9 inches
100 Photographs; 110 pages
ISBN: 1-891030-40-X
Softcover
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Mission Dolores
The Gift of St. Francis
By
Br. Guire Cleary, S.S.F.
Mission Dolores The Gift of St. Francis, is
a Mission history by the Curator of Mission San Francisco de
Asís. Written with vision, and Br. Guire paints a wide
canvas of early San Francisco.
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“It is my hope that within this book
you will hear the voices of 225 years of people building,
praying, working, suffering, playing and living within
the adobe walls of this place, Mission San Francisco
de Asís in the Village of Chutchui. They speak to us
today if we but listen.”
-- Br. Guire Cleary, S.S.F. |
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"As I publish, I continue to see the miracles that bring books together. That the cover artist was a neighbor of the author and that painting came through a neighbor of the publisher. And it all started because during the summer of 2003, I was in San Francisco."
-- Douglas Westfall, Publisher
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