serra

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.