inSPIREd Sunday

Beth and Sally host inSPIREd Sunday!

March 2014 - Capistrano CA






While in San Diego last spring we went to Capistrano to visit the mission, click here for more photos.




Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano opened in 1986 and is located just northwest of Mission San Juan Capistrano. The church's design is patterned after the Mission's original stone church, which was destroyed in an 1812 earthquake. The interior was designed by historian Norman Neuerberg, who painted much of the decorative and sacred art which adorns the walls. The church was granted the status of minor basilica in 2000, and that of national shrine in 2003.

A prominent feature of the basilica is the Grand retablo, a 42-foot-high (13 m), 30-foot-wide (9.1 m), 16-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, composed of the crucifix, God the Father depicted as an ancient partriarch, 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 Junípero Serra - the mission's founder, and Saint 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.