In 1769, St. Junipero Serra, OFM, (Order of Friars Minor) established the California Mission System, 21 missions connected to one another by the El Camino Real. Between 1834 and 1836, the Mexican government confiscated California mission properties and exiled the Franciscan friars. The missions were secularized, and the properties were sold or given away to private citizens. It was President Abraham Lincoln who signed an order to return the missions to the State of California and the Roman Catholic Church.
The Present and the Future
In 1997, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter established St. Stephen the First Martyr in Sacramento, CA, a Latin Mass parish, and thus began the bold, new California Mission history. The initial cost to get this new history started was $2 million, provided by generous benefactors and Catholic plebeians.
running a min of 1 1/2 hours because it is sung in Gregorian chant with frankincense and myrrh,
mm-mm, from end to end.