On July 11, 2020 a fire severely damaged the San Gabriel Mission church. The roof was totally destroyed and much of the interior, too.
Years ago a scandal erupted around the false information given out about the native Americans’ role at the Santa Barbara Mission. It was ugly! The truth of the matter is that the Native Americans physically built the Mission churches–all of them–under duress. The fact was that the Franciscan missionaries, hundreds of years ago, ruthlessly exploited the native peoples in the name of ‘saving’ them. None of the California Missions would have been able to thrive and grow rich without the work of the native people.
Anyway, after the uproar at Santa Barbara, things changed. Now all the Missions–both the ones owned by the Catholic Church and ones owned by the State of California–acknowledge the importance of the native people.
The San Gabriel Mission includes information and artefacts of the native Americans, the Tongva tribe, in their gardens and museum displays, but one very sad thing is the sole and lonely gravestone marking the first native American to die within the Mission grounds.
On the other hand, I loved the photo in the museum of this native American girl (boy?) smiling. Obviously, this is not a photo of one of the natives who built the church. Photography was not invented until a century later. But I have never seen a historic photo of any Native American, anywhere, smiling before.
While no mention is made of it, all the original art at the San Gabriel Mission, for example the ceiling in the baptistry, was painted by native artists. Some other Missions have more examples of the artwork by native people.
To see more about the garden and the interior of the church including Native American fresco painting at the San Gabriel Mission, go here.
