Mission Santa Barbara is a Christian religious center that was established by Spanish Roman Catholic priests in California. The Franciscan missionary Fermín Lasuén founded it on Dec. 4, 1786, at what is now the coastal city of Santa Barbara. Between 1769 and 1823, Spanish priests started 21 missions as centers for teaching the Indians of California about Christianity. Mission Santa Barbara became known as the “Queen of the Missions” because of the beauty and grace of its architecture.
Chumash Indians helped build the mission and were among its first members. They also constructed a dam, aqueduct, and irrigation system to supply water to the mission and its rich farmlands. On Dec. 21, 1812, an earthquake destroyed the mission church. The community built a new church between 1815 and 1820 and completed the second of its two matching towers in 1832. The church still stands today.
Beginning in the 1830’s, the Mexican government redistributed or sold most California mission lands. Franciscans continued to serve as priests at the church of Mission Santa Barbara, however. From 1842 to 1846, the mission was the residence of Francisco García Diego y Moreno, the first Roman Catholic bishop of the Californias. The bishop’s authority at that time extended over the lands that are now California, the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico, and parts of Nevada and Utah. The mission housed a Franciscan school of theology from 1896 to 1968. An earthquake damaged the mission church in 1925. The repaired building is now an active Roman Catholic parish (district) church.
