Episode 2 of 3
Serra raises the Cross at the Santa Barbara Channel
- When
- 31 March 1782
- Where
- beach of the Santa Barbara Channel (la playa de la canal de Santa Barbara)
On Easter morning, March 31, 1782, Junípero Serra raised the Cross at the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel, founding the mission.
The founding followed Serra's 1749 Palm Sunday decision to become a missionary in the New World. Thirty-three years and one day after that decision, he raised the Cross at "la playa de la canal de Santa Barbara" on Easter morning, March 31, 1782. A cross he erected on La Loma de la Cruz at the founding is commemorated as California Historical Landmark #113.
Sources
- Mission San Buenaventura Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.