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"Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá was the first Franciscan mission in the Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it was founded in 1769 by Spanish friar Junípero Serra in an area long inhabited by the Kumeyaay Indians. The mission and the surrounding area were named for the Catholic Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego. The mission was the site of the first Christian burial in Alta California. San Diego is also generally regarded as the site of the region's first public execution, in 1778. Father Luís Jayme, "California's First Christian Martyr," lies entombed beneath the chancel floor. The current church is the fourth to stand on this location. The Mission is a National Historic Landmark...
The first expedition to reach San Diego came by sea aboard the packet ship San Antonio, commanded by Captain Juan Pérez, which sailed into port on April 11 and dropped anchor near Point Guijarros. Under the command of Captain Vicente Vila, the San Carlos (formerly the Golden Fleece), despite having put to sea well ahead of her sister ship, nonetheless did not arrive in San Diego until the afternoon of April 29, severe storms having hampered her progress. The first overland expedition, under Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada, completed their journey on the afternoon of May 4, while Governor Portolà's contingent arrived on June 29. Many members of the overland expeditions fell ill along the way, and a majority of the crews from both ships contracted scurvy during their voyages; in all, over a hundred men (including the crew of a third ship, the San José which went down en route) died. Portolà and the "Sacred Expedition" continued on to Monterey Bay on July 14, and just two days later, on July 16, a cross was raised and Father Serra held the first Holy Mass, praying for Pope Clement XIV and King Charles II of Spain; Mission San Diego de Alcalá was officially founded. The padres' initial efforts to establish an outpost at the San Diego met with little success. The Mission was founded at a site overlooking the Bay known today as "Presidio Hill" (Kosoi to the natives), but the natives resented the Spaniards' intrusion, and the settlement was attacked within a month. By the first few months of 1770, food had run low, no permanent buildings were erected, and there had yet to be a single conversion. Four soldiers, eight Catalonian volunteers, one servant, and six Christian Indians from Lower California had died from scurvy since the expedition's arrival; serious consideration was therefore given to abandoning the site and returning to the Baja settlements. It was therefore determined that, if a supply ship did not arrive by March 19 (Saint Joseph's Day), the expedition would be recalled. Father-Presidente Serra, in response, wrote a lengthy letter addressed to Father Francisco Palóu the following day:
Four Fathers, Fr. Juan Crespí, Fr. Fernando Parrón, Fr. Francisco Gómez, and I, are here, ready to found a second mission, if the ships arrive. Should we see that hope and supplies are vanishing, I shall remain here alone with Fr. Juan Crespí and hold out to the very last. May God give us His holy grace. Recommend us to God that so it may be...
Serra feared that if San Diego were abandoned, "..centuries might come and go before the country would again be revisited...;"finally, just before sunset on the 19th, the San Antonio entered the harbor. The ship had been bound for Monterey to deliver supplies to the expedition waiting there, but had lost one of its anchors and was forced to make port in San Diego, where a spare anchor from the San Carlos could be retrieved. With the settlement now properly outfitted with supplies, the missionaries set about constructing permanent buildings at Kosoi, in 1773 the site of California's first Christian burial. The Mission was relocated to its present location (the native village of Nipawai) in August 1774. The lack of a dependable water supply, coupled with the proximity of the military personnel at the presidio, led Father Luís Jayme to seek permission to relocate the mission from its original site, to the valley some six miles upriver to the east, where it remains today. Almost immediately there was a noticeable increase in the number of baptisms, which in 1775 totaled 431 (compared to 274 for the preceding four years combined).
An illustration depicts the brutal death of Father Luís Jayme by the hands of angry natives at Mission San Diego de Alcalá, November 4, 1775. A carpenter named Urselino and José Romero, a blacksmith, were also killed during the attack. The uprising was the first of a dozen similar incidents that took place in Alta California during the Mission Period.Native resistance continued almost unabated. At approximately 1:30 a.m., on the moonlit night of November 4, 1775 between 600 and 800 warriors from the surrounding rancherías silently crept into the mission."