Address
4050 Mission Avenue
San Luis Rey, CA 92068
United States
San Luis Rey de Francia
General Information
Founded:
June 13, 1798 - The 18th California Mission
Also Called:
Mission San Luis Rey
Current Status:
A consecrated Roman Catholic Church attached to the Franciscan community of San Luis Rey de Francia.
Summary:
San Luis Rey de Francia was founded on June 13, 1798. This eighteenth mission quickly became the most prosperous of the California missions. San Luis Rey’s stately church and long corridor with 32 Roman arches spanning the front of the convento has been carefully restored. The mission has a modern museum and many unique attractions.
Directions
Take Interstate 5 to Exit 54, CA 76 East. Take CA 76 East for 4.4 miles, turn left on Rancho Del Oro Drive for .2 miles. Turn right on Mission Drive.
Website(s)
Phone(s)
760-757-3651 - Mission
760-757-3250 - Parish
Fees, Hours, Tours, and Church Services
Please contact the mission directly by telephone or by visiting the mission website for the most current information. There is a short video on the museum home page which provides a great overview of what you will find by visiting the mission and the museum. It also links you to the mission event calendar.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, it is best to check for current information.
Weddings and Other Special Services
San Luis Rey has a comprehensive section on the website for Wedding Information, Policy and Fees. Please note it is recommended you begin planning your wedding one year in advance.
The parish also provides other Special Services.
Special Events
The mission celebrates the Day of the Dead each year. Día de los Muertos has been celebrated for thousands of years by Mexicans and Indigenous people to honor and remember relatives and loved ones who have passed away.
Unique Attractions
- The stately San Luis Rey Church is the only surviving mission church laid out in a cruciform plan.
- A long exterior corridor, with 32 Roman arches, spanned the front of the friary or convento in the mission era.
- The mission quadrangle (now part of the retreat/conference center) can be viewed through a perimeter fence. The first pepper tree in California was located here. During the mission era bullfights were held in the quadrangle.
- The sunken gardens and lavendería, located in a hollow to the south of the mission, are reached by descending 46 fired-tile steps. Two springs provided water that sprouted from the mouths of sculpted gargoyles into the lavendería.
- San Luis Rey has a very professional interpretive museum, which contains many original artifacts and interesting displays.
Other Historic Attractions
- San Antonio de Pala, located on the Pala Indian Reservation, is the only one of a score of mission "sub-missions" that remains intact and continues to serve its descendant Indian Community. It is located about twenty-five (25) miles to the east of San Luis Rey.
- A visit to both San Luis Rey and San Antonio de Pala offers a full, satisfying day's exploration of a California Mission and Asistencia.
Tips for Visitors
- Give yourself enough time to enjoy this mission, which extended over six (6) acres in the mission era. Allow several hours/half day for a thorough exploration of the site and museum.
- When you visit the church notice the cupola which contains an octagonal lantern formed with 144 panes of glass. It sits on top of the wooden dome built over the sanctuary in 1829.
- Do visit the lavendería ruins. They are located in the southwest section of the complex, about an 8-10 minute walk.
- The San Luis Rey cemetery has been greatly enlarged since the mission era. The entrance gate is to the right of the church. Visit the Franciscan Burial Crypts (after going through the cemetery gate keeping to the left to reach the crypts).
Year Secularized
1834
Year Returned to Catholic Church
1865
Patron Saint (Named For)
King Luis IX of France who led crusades to the Holy Land in the 13th century.
Prominent Missionary Leaders
- Founding Father President - Fr. Fermin Francisco Lasuén
- Founding Missionaries - Fr. Antonio Peyrí and Fr. José Faura were the first assigned religious missionaries.
- Prominent Missionary Leader - Fr. Peyrí led the mission for thirty-six (36) years. Fr. Peyrí was not only an energetic leader with a genial disposition but he was also a talented architect and builder.
Indians Joining Mission
The Takic speaking people associated with Mission San Luis Rey have been called Luiseños since the Spanish occupation. The native term for these people is the Payomkowishum.
The descendants of the neophytes at the mission's Asistencia, San Antonio de Pala, now call themselves the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
Mission Site
Located on a hill overlooking a peaceful valley at the native village of Tacayme in the region known as Quechia, about five (5) miles each of present day Oceanside.
Mission Layout
San Luis Rey extended over six (6) acres. By 1826 the quadrangle measured 500 feet on each side. There was a long corridor with thirty-two (32) Roman arches in front of the patio.
A French sea captain named Auguste Duhaut-Cilly, who visited California in 1827-1828, drew a detailed drawing of San Luis Rey.
Water Source
The nearby San Luis Rey River and two springs fed an aqueduct or zanja that supplied water through two fountains and a charcoal filtration system before irrigating fields.
Population
Although San Luis Rey was one of the last missions founded, it rapidly became the most prosperous of the California missions with a population that reached 2,869 in 1825 - over three (3) times the mission average.
Livestock
San Luis Rey rapidly built its livestock herd from 800 in 1798 to over 20,000 within a decade. In 1832 the total number of animals at the mission peaked at 57,380 including 27,500 cattle and 26,100 sheep dwarfing all other mission herds in size.
Agricultural Output
San Luis Rey harvested over 411,000 bushels of grain and produce during the period 1789-1832. Wheat, barley, corn, and beans were the primary early crops.
Mission Church
The San Luis Rey Church, which was completed in 1815, is the only surviving mission church laid out in a cruciform plan. It is 165.5 feet in length and the nave spans 27.5 feet in width by 30 feet in height.
A cupola - unique among the California missions - is an octagonal lantern formed with 144 panes of glass. It tops the wooden dome built over the sanctuary in 1829.
Mission Bells
Four bells hand in a three-story domed bell tower. The mission was designed with only one bell tower.
Mission Art and Artifacts
There is an original hand-hammered Baptismal Font in the baptistery along with religious iconography and mission era art and artifacts exhibited in a beautiful interpretive museum.
Significant Events
The departure of Fr. Antonio Peyrí. When the beloved Padre was forced to leave after the Mexican takeover of California, hundreds of neophytes followed him to San Diego begging him to return.
Interesting Facts
- In 1816 the Asistencia or sub-mission of San Antonio de Pala was established at a mission rancho about 25 miles to the east of the main complex. This rare colorized illustration of San Antonio de Pala was first published in 1875 in Harper's Weekly magazine.
- Two Indian boys, Pablo Tac and Agripito Amamix, were brought to Rome by Fr. Peyrí to further their education and train for the priesthood.
- A document from the mission's cornerstone identifies master carpenter José Antonio Ramirez as the "architect and director" who completed the mission church in 1815.
- A Franciscan novitiate was established on the site in 1893 and later developed into San Luis Rey College. Today, it is a retreat and conference center.
- This mission was the site for several episodes of the Walt Disney television series Zorro in the 1950's.
For Additional Information
- Quasha. J. Mission San Luis Rey de Francia. (PowerKids Press, Missions of California Series).
- Tac, P. Indian Life and Customs At Mission San Luis Rey: A Record Of California Mission Life. (Reprint of a classic.)
- Engelhardt, Z. (1921). San Luis Rey, the King of the Missions. (The definitive early history of the mission.)
Historical Gallery
By 1815, only seventeen (17) years after it was founded, San Luis Rey had a large distinctive church. By 1826 the mission complex extended over six (6) acres, with Roman arches spanning the front of the convento. This Historic Image Gallery shows historic drawings and paintings of San Luis Rey.
Contemporary Gallery
The Contemporary Image Gallery contains more recent photographs of the mission's distinctive features taken by several different photographers from around the Church gardens and the Church interior.
Architectural Gallery
