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= The San Jose Mission =

 **History: ** The San Jose Mission was founded in June 11, 1797 in San Francisco by a man named Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen. The Franciscan missionaries hoped to create a "chain" of missions which would be a day's ride apart on horseback. In 1796, they were well on their way with 13 missions along the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco. El Camino Real, the road joining them, was a well-traveled road joining north and south, but there were still long dangerous stretches with no mission nearby. Father Lasuen and the new governor decided to build 5 more missions, and Mission San Jose was the first of the five.

Mission San Jose was founded June 11, 1797 by Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen, President of the California Missions Chain. This mission was part of a natural highway that stretched from Livermore Valley to the San Juaquin Valley. It is the fourteenth of 21 Spanish Missions in Alta California. They were founded to secure Spain's claim to the land and convert Indians to Christianity and the Spanish ways of living. When San Jose was founded it was named " LA MISION DEL GLORIOSISIMO PATRIARCH SAN JOSE " in honor of patron St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus Christ and Patron of the Universal Church.
 * Background:**
 * [[image:file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/BDAMBR%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png]][[image:file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/BDAMBR%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png]][[image:http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRdpKuJRUZ6Tr9HGqaOad_xvpxg1hJ4PrLbs7aH1WMuwSwPs1I&t=1&usg=__JE2bDn7BPUXc2NbUThheYrOZ1vQ=]] ||
 * Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen ||

 This was the only site chosen to be built on the east side of San Francisco Bay. This place had been occupied for countless generations by the Ohlone Indians. Their village was known as Orisom. The Ohlones lived almost as one with the land never wasting resources and only taking what they needed. This was a routine thing for them unlike today were people struggle just to recycle. Their food source consists of seeds, roots, berries, acorn meal, small game and seafood. Three years after Mission San Jose was founded, there were several hundred Ohlones that had come to live at the Mission. They were introduced to a new way of life by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries. They also had thousand of cattle roaming the mission ranges. Acres of wheat and other crops were planted and harvested and cared for by padres.

** Founder: ** Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen was born on June 7, 1736 at Vitoria in Cantabria, Spain. He became a Franciscan priest in 1752 and volunteered for the American mission’s in1758. He arrived in Mexico in 1761 and was sent to lower California in 1768. In 1773, he again moved to northern California, arriving in San Diego on August 30th in 1775, Lasuen and Father Gregorio Amurrio were appointed the first missionaries at Mission San Juan Capistrano. When they arrived, he gave Mass, but he did not stay there for long. When Father heard that the mission in San Diego had been attacked and Father Luis Jayme was murdered, soldiers and missionaries went to San Diego. He built a new church and enlarged the mission compound. **The opening of the missions ** During the summer and fall of 1776, the missions were re-opened and Father Lasuen went with Father Serra to San Luis Obispo, where he stayed for the next year. Later he was appointed minister of Mission San Diego. He served there until he became President of the missions in 1785, after Father Serra passed. Father Fermin moved to the Carmel Mission and stayed until he died. He was Father-President for eighteen years. He personally founded nine missions in California. He also expanded many older missions and he was responsible for much of the missions as we know them today.

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 * __LINKS__**
 * http://www.athanasius.com/camission/san_jose.htm**
 * http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/missioncalifornia/a/fr_lasuen.htm**