La Purísima Mission
Mission La Purísima Concepción, or La Purísima Mission (originally La Misión de la Purísima Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María, or The Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary) is a Spanish mission in Lompoc, California. It was established on December 8, 1787 (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, hence the mission's name) by the Franciscan order. The original mission complex south of Lompoc was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812, and the mission was rebuilt at its present site a few miles to the northeast.
La Purísima Mission | |
Location in California La Purísima Mission (the United States) | |
| Location | 2295 Purisima Road, Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California 93436 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°40′13.692″N 120°25′14.2206″W |
| Name as founded | La Misión de La Purísima Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María |
| English translation | The Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Patron | The Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Nickname(s) | "The Linear Mission" |
| Founding date | December 8, 1787 |
| Founding priest(s) | Father Fermín Lasuén |
| Founding Order | Eleventh |
| Headquarters of the Alta California Mission System | 1815–1819 |
| Military district | Second |
| Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s) | Chumash Purisimeño |
| Native place name(s) | Laxshakupi, 'Amuwu |
| Baptisms | 3,255 |
| Marriages | 1,030 |
| Burials | 2,609 |
| Secularized | 1834 |
| Returned to the Church | 1874 |
| Governing body | California Department of Parks and Recreation |
| Current use | Museum |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Designated | 1970 |
| Reference no. | #NPS-70000147 |
U.S. National Historic Landmark | |
| Designated | 1970 |
| Reference no. | #340 |
| Website | |
| https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=598 | |
The mission is part of the larger La Purísima Mission State Historic Park, part of the California State Parks system, and along with Mission San Francisco de Solano is one of only two of the Spanish missions in California that is no longer governed by the Catholic Church. It is currently the only example in California of a complete Spanish Catholic mission complex, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.