San Javier in photos (1906-2017)

Photo by David Kier

Full name: San Francisco Javier de Biaundo

Founding date: November 1, 1699 (relocated 5 miles south circa 1710-1720) Mission #2

Catholic Order: Jesuit

Founded by: Padre Francisco Píccolo

Condition: Stone church constructed from 1744 to 1758.

Closing date: Closed in 1817.

GPS: 25.860727, -111.543585

Access: Mex. #1 Km. 117 (Loreto) east & south 21 miles (paved).

Read more: CLICK HERE

All photos below that are prior to 1973, are off the Internet and shown here purely for educational purposes. Photos below are arranged oldest to newest: 

1906 Arthur North

Author of Camp and Camino in L:ower California

1926 Edward Davis

Edward Davis traveled the peninsula in 1926, often photographing the missions.

1950 Marquis McDonald

Author of Baja: Land of Lost Missions

The monument at the far end of the San Javier mission avenue, from the church.

Roof of church
View to the east from the canyon slope.

1952 Howard Gulick

Co-author of Lower California Guidebook, (1956-1970 editions and printings), and Baja California Guidebook (1975 & 1980)]. I met Mr. Gulick in 1966 and am sure of how thrilled he would be knowing we can continue to admire his work, over 70 years later! See all editions at https://vivabaja.com/baja-books/2/

View south

View northwest towards the mission.

1955 Howard Gulick

Roof view to the southwest, down the arroyo.
San Javier street view, north, from the mission roof.

1956 Howard Gulick

1960 Richard F. Pourade

1960s Erle Stanley Gardner

1967 Harry Crosby

1973 David Kier

Author of 1973’s Baja and the Transpeninsular Highway, and in 2016: Baja California Land of Missions. Also, in 2012, co-authored The Old Missions of Baja & Alta California, 1697-1834, and the expanded 2020 edition: Old Missions of the Californias (with Max Kurillo).

In 1973, my parents and I (along with a lady who joined us), drove the rugged road to the mission from Loreto. I am in the yellow shirt, 15 years-old, next to my dad.
My mother, and the caretaker of Mission San Javier. The main entrance faces north.
The sunlit west side of the 1750s stone church.
The graveyard is on the eastern side, in the shade at this time.

1976 David Kier

In 1976, I return to San Javier, now at 18 and just graduated high school. Here is my mother, who joined my girlfriend and I, getting a special trip up to the roof of the mission by the kind old caretaker. Photo looking north.
My high school girlfriend, Lynne, posing like statuary in the distance. Photo facing south from the bell tower.

2001 Jack Swords

2009 David Kier

The north end of of the mission avenue.

This photo appears on page 34 of the book Baja California Land of Missions.

This photo appears in the preface of the book Baja California Land of Missions, page xii. The author (David Kier) is dwarfed by the massive, hand-built church.
My wife, Elizabeth, on our first anniversary vacation,
Interesting doorway decorations.

The dome, inside. See the 1976 photo of the the outside, on the roof.
Looking towards the entrance, from the altar end.

2017 David Kier

Compare to the 2009 photo.

The west side still in shadow as it was morning when I arrived this trip. Also, it was winter (February). Other trips were al in the summer (July).
Mike Younghusband toured me to the back of the mission and beyond!
One of the mission’s pilas (reservoirs).
The famous olive tree, rumored to be over 300-years-old.
Very photogenic image of the missions from the trail, south.
Another nice image of the south or back side of Mission San Javier.
The jewel of the Baja California missions, San Javier is all original, Jesuit period construction (1744-1758). This 1699 mission was founded about five miles north (today’s Rancho Viejo) and relocated here about twenty years later where water was more reliable. This location was a mission farm, called San Pablo. The mission’s name did not change with the move, as sometimes is the case.

Maps and Plans

I hope this was interesting or informative for you! Please be welcome to join our Baja California Land of Missions Book Group, on Facebook: HERE

The following chapter is from my book, Baja California Land of Missions  Order your own copy from Amazon Books: HERE

#2 San Francisco Javier de Biaundo (1699-1817) 

Having heard of an Indian settlement named “La Vigge” hidden away amid a circle of virtually impassable mountains, Padre Francisco María Píccolo forged his way from Loreto up through rocky arroyos and precipitous passes until he reached the site.  The trek was arduous indeed.  Thinking the settlement’s name was La Vigge, which to the Indians meant “mountain,” each time he came upon a new group of Indians and inquired of the way to La Vigge, they would send him off to a new series of mountain peaks. At an Indian settlement named Biaundo, he founded Mission San Francisco Javier de Biaundo on May 11, 1699 with financial support from Juan Caballero. This was at today’s Rancho Viejo and about five miles north of the final mission site, developed later by Padre Juan de Ugarte.

During a drought that occurred around the year 1710, the original mission headquarters was obliged to move to the nearby visiting station and farm of San Pablo, a location that turned out to be so promising that after Padre Juan de Ugarte came to replace Padre Píccolo, he moved the mission there.  Costing over a million pesos, possibly gained from profits of pearl fisheries supposedly discouraged by the Jesuits, the ambitious new mission was endowed with a belfry, spires, and altars that required many years of construction.  The church was built from 1744 to 1758 and remains as the finest preserved original mission in California. Cut in stone above the lintels of the door is the date 1751.  Today it is the most architecturally impressive mission on the peninsula, remaining in good condition, and continues to serve the need for religious functions.

Spectacular black lava cliffs rise hundreds of feet behind it, casting the mission’s white Moorish domes and bell tower into stark relief.  To the north, east, and west, great double doorways open into the mission.  Within its vaulted interior, light filters through the peninsula’s first stained glass windows, falling on three gold-leaf altars shipped from Mexico and reassembled.

Dominating the main altar is a statue of Saint Francis Xavier, surrounded by eight revered oil paintings of saints and the Holy Trinity.  A spiral staircase reaches the choir loft.  Presently three bells are in the tower, two dated 1761 and a third 1803.   It is interesting that an early Jesuit description of this mission endowed it with eight bells, more than any other mission. Visitas of San Javier include Santa Rosalía (later named Santa Rosalillita), San Miguel (now San Miguel Comondú), and La Presentación. Visita San Miguel was very productive and some Jesuits served there in preparation for their future mission work.

Mission San Francisco Javier reached a high degree of prosperity. The stone mission was constructed under the leadership of Padre Miguel del Barco, who was at San Javier for thirty years beginning in 1738. Of all the peninsula missions, this one is perhaps the most rewarding to visit.

The twenty-two-mile automobile road from Loreto was opened at the end of 1952 and for sixty years was a tough ride usually done in a truck or Jeep. A paved highway now connects Loreto with San Javier, but it is subject to washouts after summer storms.

Missionaries recorded at San Javier:

Jesuit

Francisco Píccolo 1699-1703

Juan de Ugarte 1702 and 1704-1730

Juan Basaldúa 1703-1704

(Mission moved in 1710)

Juan Mugazábal 1718-1719

Agustín Luyando 1730-1738

Miguel Barco 1737-1768

Franciscan

Francisco Palóu April 5, 1768

Fernando Parron 1768

Juan Escudero 1769-1771

Ramón Uson 1771-1772

Vicente Santa María 1772-1773

Dominican

Manuel Pérez (to 1794) and Domingo Ginés May 15, 1773

Gerónimo Soldevilla 1784-1810

Mariano Yóldi 1791-1792

Miguel Gallégo 1794

Romantino de la Cruz 1812

See the other mission pages: https://vivabaja.com/baja-mission-albums/