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Good friends Jill, Karen and I recently went down to San Juan Capistrano to wander around the shops, the Mission and newly finished Mission Basilica Church at San Juan Capistrano. On their way over to the Mission Patty posed in front of the Starbucks window. The Mission now has a big wall around it, unlike years ago when you could see more of the exterior from the street. There is also now a $9.00 admission fee to enter the Mission. Since it was Spring break during our visit, there were a lot of kids who were on a field trip to the Mission.

The original Great Stone Church on the Mission grounds was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. The church was built in 1984 and is 20% larger than the original, according the free on line encyclopedia Wikipedia. The interior was designed by historian Norman Neuerberg, who painted much of the decorative and sacred art which adorns the walls. In 2000, Pope John Paul II conferred the title of minor basilica on the San Juan Capistrano church, a status granted to a church of particular religious, historic, and cultural significance.

A prominent feature of the basilica is the Grand Retablo, a forty two foot high, 30 foot wide, sixteen ton altar-backing carved in cedar and covered in gold leaf which is stylistically reminiscent of 17th- and 18th-century Spanish colonial and Mexican colonial retablos. The retablo’s focal point is the Trinity, comprised of the crucifix, God the Father depicted as an ancient patriarch, and the Holy Spirit depicted as a dove. Beneath the Trinity is Our Lady of Guadalupe. Four saints included on the retablo are Saint Francis of Assisi – patron of the mission’s founding order, Saint Joseph, Blessed Junipero Serra – the mission’s founder, and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha – significant for the area’s Indian population. The Retablo was designed and created by 84 artisans in numerous parts at the Talleres de Arte Granda in Madrid, Spain, and was inspired by an altarpiece in the Serra Chapel that was made almost 400 years ago in Spain.

Made of cedar, the piece stands 42 feet high, 30 feet wide and weighs 16 tons. It portrays swallows, grapes and angels, and statues of Junipero Serra, Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Joseph, surrounding a central painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The retablo, in four cargo containers, was trucked to the basilica, where it took about three weeks to install. The 16-ton piece arrived a month later than expected because it was held up by Spanish customs over the origin of its wood. After the 8,000-mile ocean journey, the piece was unveiled on Swallows Day, March 19 2007.

After visiting the church we wandered around the Los Rios Street area. We had lunch at Ruby’s, after the crowds dissipated. It was grand central right about 1:30 for all the parents and their kids. I took several more photos of the Mission from their 2nd story restaurant. I never knew there was a big wholesale-retail nursery down by Los Rios Street; Ito Nursery has a lot of plants to chose from and the prices were somewhat competitive. We also saw this huge odd flower which Jill immediately identified as a banana tree flower. It hung about 12 feet up in the tree and seemed to come right out from the middle of a bunch of bananas.

There are a lot of little new shops and business’s around Los Rios street and the train station. Something new to me was a petting zoo with horse rides, osteriches and a lot more. There are all kinds of eateries too, Sarducci’s being a well known one. I remember seeing this carved cactus the last time I was down here, but I sure don’t remember it being so large.