Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá

Mission San Fernando Velicatá (Spanish: Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá) was a Spanish mission located about 56 km (35 mi) southeast of El Rosario in Baja California, Mexico. The mission was founded in 1769 by Franciscan missionary Junípero Serra and was the only mission founded by Franciscan missionaries in what is now Baja California.^[1]

Another mission bearing the name San Fernando Rey de España is located in the Mission Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá

Location in Baja California Show map of Baja California Location in Mexico Show map of Mexico
Location	San Quintín Municipality, Baja California, Mexico
Coordinates	29°58′16″N 115°14′12″W
Patron	Ferdinand III of Castile
Founding date	14 May 1769 (1769-05-14)
Founding priest(s)	Junípero Serra
Founding Order	Franciscans
Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s)	Cochimí

History

Junípero Serra, the mission's founder

Location of Mission San Fernando among the Spanish missions in Baja California

The site for the future mission was identified by the Jesuit missionary-explorer Wenceslaus Linck in 1766. After the Jesuits were replaced by the Franciscans in 1768, the latter were charged with extending Spanish control far to the north, into Alta California. Mission San Fernando, at the Cochimí settlement of Velicatá on the route north, was established by Junípero Serra during the early stages of the Portolá expedition, on May 14, 1769, the day of Pentecost. This would be Father Junipero Serra's first mission before moving north to Alta California.

In the 1770s, under the Franciscans and then after 1773 under their Dominican successors, the mission quickly reached its peak and went into decline as epidemics decimated the native population. The missionaries were no longer permanently resident at the site after about 1818.

Present day

A few ruined walls and stone foundations survive at the site as well as petroglyphs and some remains of pictograms. An aqueduct and a small dam can be seen just to the west of the mission ruins.

See also

• Spanish missions in Baja California