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Little Chapters About San Juan Capistrano

Chapter VII: The Bells

The Mission bells now hang in a bell-wall between the present chapel and the ruins of the church, but this is not their original place, for at one time they swung high up in the tower which stood in front of the great church. The inscription on the largest one is as follows:

VIVA JESUS, SN VICENTE ADVON DE LOS RRS PS MIROS F VICTE FUSTR IF JN SN TIAGO, 1796

of which the translation is:

"Praised by Jesus, San Vicente. In honor of the Rev. Fathers, Ministers (of the Mission) Fray Vicente Fuster, and Fray Juan Santiago, 1796."

AVE MARIA PURISIMA ME FESIT RUELAS I ME YAMO S. JUAN, 1796

And the translation is:

"Hail Mary most pure. Ruelas made me, and my name is San Juan, 1796."

"Ave Maria Purisima, Sn Antonio, 1804."

And the smallest one:

"Ave Maria Purisima San Rafael, 1804"

From the above inscriptions it is evident that these were not the original bells of the Mission, as the institution was carrying on its work many years before these dates, and the bell was a necessity in the daily regime, for all work, divine services, meals and recreation were begun and ended at a signal from the bell. The bells buried by order of Father Lasuen in the Mision Vieja were either never found, which is the tradition at San Juan, or were afterwards lost, or were re-cast in the founding of other bells.

A bell, in Mission days, hung at the west end of the front corridor, where the outlines of a blocked-up gateway that once opened into the yard of the children's quarters may be made out.

Of the Mission Bells there are many traditions known to all the older people of San Juan. One of these relates to the good old Padre, Fray José Zalvidea. Of all the mission padres, he more than the others, still survives in the living memory of the people, and his name is the "open sesame" to the treasure caves of local tradition.

Adhering to the ancient custom of his brethren, he always travelled afoot on his journeys to other Missions, or on calls to the sick. Once while returning from a visit to a rancheria in the north, the story runs, he was overtaken near El Toro, some twelve miles away, by the other padre of the Mission who rode in a carreta drawn by oxen. On being invited to get in and ride, he refused and answered pleasantly -

"Never mind, my brother, I shall arrive at the Mission before you to ring the Angelus."

The other Father, respecting Padre José's desire to proceed afoot, did not urge him further, but continued on his way in the carreta.

Now, in those days El Camino Real came into San Juan from the north, not as it does now, along the level side of the Trabuco Valley, but some rods to the east, over the rolling breasts of the lomas. From the Mission patio one may still see the depression in the hill-top to the north-west of the Mission, where the roadway came over the swelling ground there, and gave the weary traveler from the north a first full view of the Mission. When the Father in the carreta reached this point on the King's Highway, it was just the hour for the Angelus, and promptly on the moment the bells rang out the three-fold call to prayer. Wondering who could have rung the Angelus in the absence of both Fathers, he hastened forward and found that Father Zalvidea, true to his word, had reached the Mission before him; but how he did so, to this day remains a mystery.

Another of the traditions is as follows: There lived with her parents near the Mission and Indian maid named Matilda who was very gentle and devout, and who loved to care for the sanctuary and to keep fresh flowers upon the altars. She took sick, however, and died just at the break of day. Immediately, in order to announce her departure, the four bells all began of their own accord, or rather, by the hands of angels, to ring together - not merely the solemn tolling of the larger ones for an adult nor the joyful jingling of the two smaller ones for a child, but a mingling of the two ways, to proclaim both the years of her age and the innocence of her life. Some say it was not the sound of the Mission bells at all that was heard ringing down the little valley at dawn, but of the bells in heaven which rang out a welcome to her pure soul upon its entrance into the company of the angels.

Next: Chapter VIII

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