The Missions of Southern California

[All photographs in these collages are by John-Brian Paprock, except those by Teresa Paprock. - September 2010 - all rights reserved]


Mision de San Juan Capistrano - Teresa got a great picture of John-Brian taking pictures.

 At the beginning of September 2010, I was given the opportunity to visit Southern California.  It was both exhilarating and difficult, being a place of my early childhood that I had not returned since the middle of 1966. We moved to the Windy City, Chicago - close to the childhood home of my mother who spent her entire childhood in Oak Park.  My father was raised in the Detroit area.  So, as I planned the trip, I had the business of the trip that needed time and attention. There was family, paternally on my side and maternally on my wife's side, and there was the places and spaces, the nooks and cranies, that teased my memory of my earliest days.
 

A few of the places I recalled were the Missions that established the pathways and towns of a coastal land that eventually became known as Cailfornia.  Especially fond memories of San Juan Capistrano, even though we went at the wrong time of year to see the swallows when I was a child.  So, even though my wife and I arrived at the proper time of year, the swallows had long since moved to other more stable nesting sites.  Nevertheless, the Mision de San Juan Capistrano continued to have the familiar forms that I recalled, even as there were developments and changes.  The Mission is a national treasure, full of spiritual light and perfumed with the prayers of millions who have made the pilgrimage.

The Mission church maintains its historic ambience while being a fully functioning Catholic chapel where people of all faiths have been sending their prayers to heaven - so many prayers that it seemed, in some places, to have worn down the veil that separates this world from that divine abode. With our own prayers on our lips, we also lit candles at San Juan Capitrano.




The dedicated chapels at San Juan Capistrano include the Shrine of St. Peregrine, healer of cancer, whose staute is worn where the faithful have reached out to the marble to touch the saint. Teresa captured a wonderful photograph of faith lighting candles with John-Brian looking from behind the candle box. 

 It was a beautiful, very hot day. The exterior with the mission bells and arches seemed to glow in the sunlight.






Mision de San Juan Capistrano - September 2010



 On the drive from Orange County to a family visit in San Diego area, we were able to visit two more Missions.  Mision San Luis Rey, which I remembered from my childhood.  And Mision San Diego de Alcala, which I have a vague memory of stopping at when my Grandfather lived in San Diego. It was a special way to be reunited with the first part of the world I ever knew.




Mision San Luis Rey features Native American baths with open mouths for water.  I immediately remember my father's fascination and remember trying to see what he was seeing.

 


We arrived in San Diego a bit later than we hoped but we were still able to see the architecture and charm of one of the principal missions that formed California.



Even with a very warm day in September, some of the locals greeted us.  Koi from the fountain pond at San Jaun Capistrano. The others from the walk to the ancient baths at San Luis Rey