Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala

The Story

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala, founded on July 16, 1769, by St. Junipero Serra, was the first of the twenty-one Franciscan missions of Alta California and is honored as the Mother of the Missions. It takes its name from St. Didacus of Alcala (San Diego), the humble fifteenth-century Franciscan lay brother for whom the bay and city are also named. The mission was moved in 1774 from the Spanish presidio to its present site in what is now Mission Valley, closer to the San Diego River and the native villages the friars hoped to serve. In November 1775 the mission was attacked and burned, and Father Luis Jayme was killed; he is remembered as the first Catholic martyr of California and is buried in the sanctuary. The mission was rebuilt, and the whitewashed adobe church completed in 1813 forms the basis of the restored church that stands today, with its iconic campanario of five bells. St. Junipero Serra, the Mallorcan Franciscan who founded the mission and led the evangelization of California, was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015 in the first canonization celebrated on United States soil. In 1976, the bicentennial era of the mission church, Pope Paul VI honored it with the title of minor basilica. Today the mission is an active parish of the Diocese of San Diego and a cultural landmark visited by pilgrims, students, and travelers. As the southern anchor of the historic El Camino Real, it remains the natural starting point for those who trace the California mission trail as a journey of faith.

Church Recognition

Pope Paul VI designated the mission church a minor basilica in 1976, and its founder, St. Junipero Serra, was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015; the basilica serves as an active parish of the Diocese of San Diego.

Catholic Teaching

The mission embodies the Church's missionary mandate to bring the Gospel to all peoples (Matthew 28:19; CCC 849-856), a work carried out in California by the Franciscans in the spirit of evangelical poverty and zeal.

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The mother of the California missions and southern anchor of the historic El Camino Real.

Go Deeper

The basilica's official website (https://www.missionsandiego.org) offers history and visitor information; see also Pope Francis's canonization homily for St. Junipero Serra (September 23, 2015) and the Catechism on the Church's missionary nature (CCC 849-856).