Mission Santa Rosalía de Mulegé is located in the oasis of

Mulegé Mulegé is a city in Mulegé Municipality, Baja California Sur, situated on the Gulf of California. Located on the Gulf of California, the population was 3,821 according to the Mexican census of 2010. History Indigenous peoples had lived in t ...

, in

Mulegé Municipality Mulegé is a city in Mulegé Municipality, Baja California Sur, situated on the Gulf of California. Located on the Gulf of California, the population was 3,821 according to the Mexican census of 2010. History Indigenous peoples had lived in ...

, northeastern Baja California Sur state, México. It is an Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia listed Cultural Heritage Monument.

Etymology

The mission is named after both

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...

and the indigenous

Cochimí The Cochimí were the indigenous inhabitants of the central part of the Baja California peninsula, from El Rosario in the north to San Javier in the south. Information on Cochimí customs and beliefs has been preserved in the brief observati ...

settlement of

History

The mission was founded in 1705 by the Jesuit missionary Juan Manuel de Basaldúa and financed by the Marqués de Villapuente at a ranchería of the local Cochimí people known as ''Mulegé'', on the eastern Baja California Peninsula, in

Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...

. The site lies near the entrance of Bahía de Concepción, on the coast of the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

. A hurricane in 1717 devastated the agricultural fields that supported the original settlement. Construction of a stone church was begun in 1766. In 1768, when the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

took over responsibility for colonial Baja California from the Jesuits, there were reportedly still some 300 Cochimí neophytes kept at Mulegé. However, by 1770, the mission was virtually deserted. The Dominicans, who succeeded the Franciscans in Baja in 1773, began rebuilding, but the population remained less than 100. The mission ceased to function in 1828. The present church buildings have been extensively restored. Santa rosalía interior

References

* Vernon, Edward W. 2002; ''Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California, 1683–1855'' — Viejo Press, Santa Barbara, California.

External links

Panorama of "Mission Santa Rosalía"

Panorama of "The Oasis of Mulegé"

Rosalia Rosalia or Rosalía (with diacritic) may refer to: Persons * Saint Rosalia (1130–1166), the patron saint of Palermo in Italy * Rosalia (given name) * Rosalía (born 1992), Spanish singer Places * 314 Rosalia, an asteroid * Rosalia, Pisidia ...

Mulegé Municipality 1705 in New Spain 1705 establishments in New Spain Religious buildings and structures completed in 1768 1768 establishments in New Spain {{NewSpain-stub

Etymology

History

See also

References

External links