Mission San José del Cabo

By David Kier

Martyrdom of Padre Tamaral on October 3, 1734

The twelfth California mission was founded on April 8, 1730, by the Jesuit’s Visitador General Padre José de Echeverría and Padre Nicolás Tamaral. The mission was first established along the estuary, where a river joins the sea.

Their journey began in March 1730, sailing from Loreto to La Paz along with Spanish soldiers. After an inspection of Mission Pilar de la Paz, they traveled overland to Todos Santos, a productive visita of the La Paz mission. Three years later, Todos Santos would become Mission Santa Rosa de las Palmas. Next, the two Jesuits, with their protection, went east to Mission Santiago. Finally, one day’s travel south of Santiago brought them to the future mission site of San José del Cabo.

The first church was a hut made with palm leaves. Pericú Indians did not arrive for two more weeks, after Padre Echeverría and the soldiers left. Padre Tamaral soon wrote that he converted a hundred Natives in a single day. In a December 1730 letter to Echeverría, Tamaral reported to have baptized 823 Natives since the founding of the mission. Because of mosquitos and poor soil, the mission was moved inland to a place called Añuití.

San José del Cabo in the 1760s by Padre Ignacio Tirsch

San José del Cabo was one of the many missions sponsored by the wealthy Marqués de Villapuente. An interesting letter of June 15, 1731, from Tamaral to the Marqués, was about the difficulty in getting the men to give up polygamy. The Pericú women, who favored polygamy, would compete for the honor of being one of a man’s wives, by collecting food for him. The missionary could not get any work done as food was the payment. These “lazy men” had no need to work as long as his many wives kept him fed.

The Pericú Revolt began in October of 1734 at nearby Mission Santiago but soon spread to the three other southern missions (San José del Cabo, Santa Rosa, and La Paz) and destroyed them all. Padre Carranco of Santiago and Padre Tamaral were both murdered. Mosaics above their mission entrances today depict the martyrdom of the two Jesuits. The revolt was terminated with assistance from the Spanish and Indians from across the gulf after nearly three years of unrest.

Mission church in ruins, following the hurricane of 1918.

The Presidio of the South was established at San José del Cabo in 1737 to secure the region with more soldiers. The mission moved closer to the estuary, near the presidio, for better protection. In 1741, the presidio was reduced in size and become the Escuadra del Sur.

In the 1740s, epidemics hit the mission Indians hard, reducing the population so much that the mission was closed in 1748 and became a visita of Mission Santiago. The escuadra was moved to Todos Santos, as well. In 1753 the mission/visita site was moved a final time to just north of the estuary.

In 1767, the Jesuits would learn that they were to be removed from California and replaced by the Franciscan Order. The new Spanish governor, Gaspar de Portolá, with twenty-five armed soldiers reached the peninsula at San José del Cabo after storms prevented them from landing at Loreto. Padre Ignacio Tirsch rode south from Mission Santiago to greet Portolá, unaware of the orders he brought.

The modern church, in a 1957 photo by Howard Gulick.

In April of 1768, the newly arrived Franciscan padres had instructions to elevate San José del Cabo back in status to a full mission. Padre Juan Moral was the first to serve. The Franciscans would soon be directed to occupy Alta California. After just five years, they turned the Baja California missions over to the Dominican Order. Gerónimo Soldevilla and José Lafuente were the first Dominicans to serve at the southernmost California mission.

In 1793, floods damaged the mission. By 1799 a large adobe church replaced the previous one. In 1822, Chilean ships piloted by the English admiral Thomas Cochrane, attacked the cape region. They were taking advantage of the weakness of the Spanish military following their recent loss of the mainland of Mexico to its independence. The two Californias (Baja and Alta) were still under Spanish control. On February 17, 1822, the crew of the Independencia attacked San José del Cabo and they took all that they could, including valuables from the mission church. Read more.

After the Californias accepted Mexican rule, in 1822, many Dominicans left Baja California, and several missions were abandoned. A few Dominicans remained as Mexico allowed the active missions to continue to serve the needs of Indians who had not yet been able to live outside of mission life. By the early 1840s, with mainland Mexicans immigrating to Baja California, the need for a mission at San José del Cabo ended. The Dominicans helped with its conversion to a parish church for the new and remaining old residents. In 1847, American forces occupied the mission church and battled Mexican forces. Read more.

A hurricane in 1918 irreparably damaged the mission church and a modern church now sits on the site, facing the town plaza. Go east from Km. 32, four blocks, passing a baseball field, then three blocks south, and one more block east. Each of the twenty-seven missions on the peninsula are interesting studies and worthy of a visit, even if little to nothing remains standing today. It is where history happened and another great attraction of Baja California.