Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

{{Short description|18th-century Spanish mission in California}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox Missions| image=Mission Soledad, 36641 Fort Romie, Rd Soledad, CA USA - panoramio (2).jpg| imagesize=260| caption=Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad| name=Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad| location=36641 Fort Romie Road<br />Soledad, California 93960| originalname=''La Misión de María Santísima, Nuestra Señora Dolorosísima de la Soledad'' <ref>Leffingwell, p. 109</ref>| translation=The Mission of Mary Most Holy, Our Most Sorrowful Lady of Solitude| namesake=Our Lady of Solitude, Our Most Sorrowful Lady of Solitude <ref name = "krell224"/>| nickname="The Holy Mission" <ref>Ruscin, p. 111</ref>| founded=October 9, 1791 <ref>Yenne, p. 120</ref>| foundedby=Fermín Francisco de Lasuén| foundingorder=Thirteenth <ref name = "krell224"/>| militarydistrict=Third <ref>Forbes, p. 202</ref>| nativetribe=Chalon, Esselen, Yokuts, <br>Salinan| placename=''Chuttusqelis'' <ref>Ruscin, p. 195</ref>| baptisms=2,131 (by 1832)<ref name = "krell315"/>| marriages=648 (by 1832) <ref name = "krell315"/>| burials=1,705 (by 1832) <ref name="krell315">Krell, p. 315: as of December 31, 1832; information adapted from Engelhardt's ''Missions and Missionaries of California''.</ref>| secularized=1835 <ref name = "krell224"/>| returned=1859 <ref name="krell224">Krell, p. 224</ref>| owner=Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey| currentuse=Chapel / Museum | coordinates = {{coord|36|24|16.6278|N|121|21|20.9046|W|type:landmark_region:UA-CA|display=inline,title}} | locmapin=California | designation1=California | designation1_number=#233 }}

'''Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad''' ({{langx|es|Misión Nuestra Señora de la Soledad}}),<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ci.soledad.ca.us/index.aspx?nid=328 | title=Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad | author=City of Soledad, California}}</ref> commonly known as '''Mission Soledad''',<ref>{{cite web | url=http://missionsoledad.com/ | title=Mission Soledad | author=Misión de María Santísima Nuestra Señora de la Soledad}}</ref> is a Spanish mission located in Soledad, California. The mission was founded by the Franciscan order on October 9, 1791, to convert the Native Americans living in the area to Catholicism. It was the thirteenth of California's Spanish missions, and is named for Mary, Our Lady of Solitude. The town of Soledad is named for the mission.

After the 1835 secularization of the mission and the later sale of building materials, the mission fell into a state of disrepair and soon after was left in ruins. A restoration project began in 1954 and a new chapel was dedicated in 1955. The chapel now functions as a chapel of Our Lady of Solitude, a parish church of the Diocese of Monterey. The priests' residence was later recreated, and functions as a museum.

==History==

===Mission era=== thumb|left|The ruins of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad ''circa'' 1900. Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, ''La Misión de María Santísima, Nuestra Señora Dolorosísima de la Soledad'' (''The Mission of Mary Most Holy, Our Lady of Sorrows of Solitude''), was founded October 9, 1791 by Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, the 13th of 21 missions in California.

The Chalon, a subgroup of the Ohlone were converted and resided there, followed by Esselen and Yokuts people. By 1803, there were 627 Mission Indians at Mission Soledad. At the Mission many Chalon married local Esselen speakers, while others married Yokuts were brought into the mission between 1806 and 1834.

thumb|View from front garden

The mission's herds numbered 1,150 cattle, about 5,000 sheep, 30 swine, 670 horses, and 40 mules. Spanish Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga was buried in the chapel after he died on July 24, 1814, during a visit to the Mission.

The mission was inundated by floods in 1824, 1828, and 1832, and following secularization (when Pio Pico sold the mission for a reported $800), the remaining buildings were looted for supplies. The mission's land became Rancho Ex-Mission Soledad.

==Restoration and reconstruction==

In 1954, when the Mission Soledad restoration was begun, only piles of adobe dirt and a few wall sections from the ''cuadrángulo'' (quadrangle) remained. The chapel was reconstructed and dedicated under the auspices of the Native Daughters of the Golden West on October 9, 1955. The ruins of the quadrangle, cemetery, and some of the outer rooms, while not restored, can still be seen. Governor Arrillaga's grave was identified and given a new marker.

The Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad is now a functioning Catholic chapel and public museum. thumb|Mission Soledad altar and interior, 2015|left {{clear}}

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== * {{cite book|author=Forbes, Alexander|year=1839|title=California: A History of Upper and Lower California|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NH4FAAAAQAAJ|publisher=Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill, London}} * {{cite book|editor1=Jones, Terry L.|editor2=Klar, Kathryn A.|year=2007|title=California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity|publisher=Altimira Press, Landham, MD|isbn=978-0-7591-0872-1}} * {{cite book|editor=Krell, Dorothy|year=1979|title=The California Missions: A Pictorial History|publisher=Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, CA|isbn=0-376-05172-8}} * {{cite book|author=Leffingwell, Randy|year=2005|title=California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions|publisher=Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN|isbn=0-89658-492-5}} * {{cite book|author=Levy, Richard.|editor=William C. Sturtevant, and Robert F. Heizer|year=1978|title=Handbook of North American Indians|volume=8 (California)|publisher=Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC|isbn=0-16-004578-9 |pages=486}} * {{cite book|author=Milliken, Randall|year=1987|title=Ethnohistory of the Rumsen; Papers in Northern California Anthropology No. 2|publisher=Coyote Press, Salina, CA}} * {{cite book|editor=Paddison, Joshua|year=1999|title=A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush|publisher=Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA|isbn=1-890771-13-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/worldtransformed00josh}} * {{cite book|author=Ruscin, Terry|year=1999|title=Mission Memoirs|publisher=Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA|isbn=0-932653-30-8}} * Tapis, Estevan, OFM, State of the Missions of New California ... December 1803.

==External links== {{Commons category|Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad}} *{{Official|missionsoledad.com}} *[http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/browse/azBrowse/Mission+Nuestra+Senora+de+la+Soledad Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad: Early photographs and sketches archives] - ''via Calisphere California Digital Library'' *{{Cite web |last=Howser |first=Huell |title=California Missions (105) |url=http://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2000/12/08/california-missions-california-missions-105/ |work=California Missions |publisher=Chapman University Huell Howser Archive |author-link=Huell Howser |date=December 8, 2000}} *{{HABS |survey=CA-1130 |id=ca0418 |title=Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, Soledad, Monterey County, CA |photos=64 |supp=yes}} *{{HALS |survey=CA-80 |id=ca3955 |title=Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, Soledad, Monterey County, CA |data=12}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mission Nuestra Senora De La Soledad}} Nuestra Senora de la Soledad Category:1791 in The Californias Category:Churches in Monterey County, California Category:Museums in Monterey County, California Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in California Category:Historic American Landscapes Survey in California Category:History museums in California Category:Religious museums in California Category:1791 establishments in The Californias Category:Religious organizations established in 1791 Category:California Historical Landmarks Category:History of Monterey County, California Category:Diocese of Monterey in California Category:Salinas Valley