Visions of California

  Father Mugártegui ’s signature from one of the registers of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Mugártegui lived an extraordinary life. He was Basque and born in Markina-Xemein, Spain, on October 31, 1736, became a Franciscan, a professor of philosophy, and finally a missionary in the Americas. He was a founding missionary of Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, serving there until returning to Mexico in 1789.  Father Mugártegui - Philosophy from a Founder of Mission San Juan Capistrano Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in the final months of 1776 by missionaries Junípero Serra, Gregorio Amurrió, and, arriving just after the official founding, Pablo Mugártegui. Serra and Mugártegui originally met aboard the ship Santiago while sailing to California from Mexico in 1774. Both were former professors of philosophy in Spain who had become missionaries. Their shared backgrounds were a source of mutual respect that each expressed towards one-another in letters. Markina-Xemein, Mu...