Mision Neustra Senora de Loreto
the mission at Loreto, Mexico was started in
1697 at the Monqui settlement of Concho that is today, Loreto,
and began by the Jesuit missionary, Juan Mario de Salvatierra
and is believed to be the mother and head of all the Spanish
missions that were to be constructed in the upper and lower
regions of what would become the state of California. In 1535,
Hernan Cortes tried to start a colony in the Bay of Santa Cruz,
which is today, La Paz, the next century and a half would be
marked with many failed attempts at starting colonies in Baja.
The most successful would be the 1683-1685 outpost at San Bruno,
some 15 miles north of Loreto, among the Cochimi Indians; but
its eventual failure would lead to the successful settlement at
Loreto, 12 years later. In 1697, Salvatierra would disembark
from the galley, Santa Elvira, that sat anchored in the Bay of
San Dionisio, and during their first days there, they would
build a modest structure that would serve them as a chapel, in
the front of they put a wooden cross. A week after their
arrival, they would carry the image of the Virgin of Our Lady of
Loreto in a solemn procession, that became a ritual of faith
that would claim the region for Spain, and begin the mission. It
would become the base so that further Jesuit missions could be
build, first in south central Baja and then to the remotest
regions of the peninsula. In 1829, it would be abandoned, since
the native Indian neophyte people had become extinct.
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