History :

Founded by Father Antonio Peyrei, OFM on June 13, 1816, Mission San Antonio de Pala is the only one of the original Spanish California Missions to survive in its purpose of service to the Native American Indians.

The location of Pala was ideal: there was water, from which the Indian word, the name Pala, is derived, the soil was good, and there was a large Indian population. Farmers from San Luis Rey began growing corn in Pala before the Mission was established. The first mission establishment built at Pala in 1810 was the granary and other buildings soon followed.

By 1816, the interests of Mission San Luis Rey had grown so that Fr. Antonio Peyri established a chapel, which he dedicated to St. Anthony de Padua, the famous Franciscan Friar. The Pala Mission thrived. At the height of its development in the 1820's and 1830's, Fr. Antonio Peyri wrote, "San Luis Rey has a station called San Antonio de Pala, with a church, dwellings, granaries, and a few fields where wheat corn, beans garbanzos, and other leguminous plants were grown. There is, also, a vineyard and an orchard of various fruits and olives." At this time there were about 1300 Indians attached to the Mission.

After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1834, the California Missions continued to be administered by the Franciscan Friars. However, the Mission lands were among the most valuable in California, and consequently were secularized and confiscated by the Mexican government in 1835. Great Mexican landowners acquired the lands cheaply, but the Indian population refused to be exploited, and the Mission fell into decay.

Soldiers stripped the buildings of rood tiles and timbers. The adobe buildings were laid open to the weather. The adobe was not a very substantial material, and when it's plaster covering was neglected; it soon melted in the rain. The remote location of the Pala Mission protected it from some of the vandalism of the settlers.

Consequently, the chapel and the west wing of the building, partially restored by the Landmarks Club in 1903, stand as they have for over 184 years.

The flood of January 1916 washed the original adobe foundation from under the bell tower, which fell but was restored later that same year, this time on the present stone and concrete foundation.

The mission continued under the administration of the Church, but the remainder of the quadrangle was largely in ruins until 1954, when Fr. Carillo, of the Comboni Fathers, began an ambitious rebuilding program, with little money but much cooperation of the local parishioners and friends of the Mission. The efforts received considerable publicity and attracted the help of individuals and groups from throughout Southern California. By April 1959, the structure was completed as it stands today.

The Comboni Fathers were in charge of Pala Mission from 1948 until 1991. In May of 1991, the administration of the Mission was returned to the Diocese of San Diego. Then in June 1993, Franciscan Friars and Sisters accepted the pastoral care of this very special Mission.

The restoration of the Mission and later in 1958, the establishment of the Pala Mission School, staffed by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and Sisters of the Precious Blood continued the work begun by the Franciscan Friars 184 years ago. The school no longer exists as a Catholic school but as a charter school of the Bonsall Union School District.