Mission San Miguel

Old Mission San Miguel Arcangel Saint Francis of Assisi Wine

Locatelli Vineyards and Winery has partnered with Old Mission San Miguel to bring you a new wine that is not only rich in body, mouthfeel and taste but will also contribute to the prosperity of Old Mission San Miguel. For each bottle sold, Locatelli Winery will contribute a portion of the proceeds to the Mission.  This collectors vintage was released at  a very special wine event at Old Mission San Miguel on September 25, 2010. For more information or to purchase this special wine, please visit www.locatelliwinery.com/product/Old-Mission-San-Miguel-Arcangel.

Pax Christi

Pax Christi is a national Catholic peace and justice movement reaching over one half-million U.S. Catholics. Their membership includes: 650 religious communities; 800 parishes; 130 bishops; 400 Pax Christi local and campus groups; 20 regions that coordinate activities in their geographic areas; and tens of thousands of individual members. Pax Christi local groups offer opportunities to join with others in a community setting to deepen their understanding of the gospel call of peace and justice. Local chapters meet regularly in neighborhoods, parishes, religious congregations, high schools, and on college campuses to pray, study, and act for peace with justice on local, national and global issues. For more information, visit www.paxchristiusa.org. If you are interested in starting or joining a local Pax Christi group, please call Father Ray Tintle at (805) 467-2131.   

Community Information

A Message From Mission San Miguel's Guardian, Fr. Larry R. Gosselin, OFM

Welcome to all!  And in the words of St. Francis of Assisi, I pray,  "May the Lord give you peace!" Our mission as a Mission community is to deepen the Good News of Jesus, by preserving our history while imagining new visas of faith, culture, and expressions of creativity.  The rich historical nature preserved alongside of the antiquity of an old Mission offers a glimpse into the life and times of early California, and the missionary vision that the first Franciscans brought to this state.  "To savor history is to create a future", and this is our hope.  We recognize that we stand on this bridge of "preserving" and "becoming" which offers a perspective that deepens appreciation for all that, which is given to us.  I invite you to come and rest awhile in this place, and breathe in your sole a certain peace that comes through the sacredness of old adobes held on for years by ancient prayers, preserved by faith in these walls and frescos.  Old Mission San Miguel offers to all an appreciation of walking in the past while envisioning a future that is still coming alive.  The unique expression of faith founded with the Native Salinan Indian people held in these walls reveals a strength formed in history and striving still for greater expressions. 

Our Mission church founded in 1797, as one of the original Franciscan California Missions, was only recently officially consecrated as a canonical Church on September 29, 2009, the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel.  It was at the time of our reopening, after the closure caused by the San Simeon earthquake of 2003, that it was discovered the Mission had never been formally consecrated as a worship space.  In this consecration and blessing, the Mission is literally both old and new, filled with history and yet just still beginning.

Old Mission San Miguel is home to four different ministries that are ongoing as part of life here.  The parish of San Miguel offers a rich and diverse community that is alive in spirit, prayer and faith, growing as a center of worship and ministry.  As believers we affirm that we are gathered together in Christ and are charged in bringing Christ more fully to one another. Along with the spiritual dimension of our life, we share a welcoming camaraderie social environment founded upon rich relationships.  Our parish offers ministry and services that are both in English and Spanish.  We serve the community with our regularly scheduled Masses meeting the ministerial needs of our community and beyond.  We are recognized as offering compassionate and inspiring liturgies and ministry to a multitude of people and needs.  Our newly added parish center is an exciting addition to the social dimension of our life.  This beautiful new facility is also available to the public for social and special events. 

On the second leg of ministry, we have been entrusted by the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara for the formation of novices entering consecrated life as Franciscan Friars.  Young men will receive their religious habits here as they begin a year of Novitiate and will end this period of Franciscan formation by taking their Simple Vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the Rule of Life given by St. Francis of Assisi.  The Mission provides an important service as a unique and special place offering spiritual values that will be enduring and endearing.

There is also a retreat center that is presently under renovation but should be available in early 2011 for ongoing group and private retreatants.  This ministry provides an opportunity for a deeper encounter into the aspects of the spiritual life.  We will be inviting notable retreat directors who will present aspects of spiritual life and maturity from contemporary and traditional perspectives.  This ministry provides for us as Franciscans a vehicle of witnessing Christ by our hospitality, spirituality, and opening our communal lives to others.

Our Mission provides evangelization through our Historical Museum and Gift Shop.  The Historical Museum provides a "walk" through a rich history as it comes alive in one's experience and makes real the value we place upon our faith and life today.  We invite you to walk in these same footprints where others have trod, built, and left behind a heritage that is noble and enduring.  We are in the process of creating an even more informative and inspiring presentation to the Museum. We are in need of people with a love for history to help in leading tours and assisting in this ministry. 

Our Gift Shop, besides providing religious articles and books, also offers a venue of creative and beautiful expressions of faith and art made both locally and beyond.  We offer this ministry of our Gift Shop as a means to enhance, promote, and acknowledge our religious faith, and to acknowledge the wealth of talent and creativity found in our community and a means of providing promotion of our local artisans.  The Gift Shop is an important means of support for our Franciscan Friar community, and is opened daily to meet the needs of our visitors.  We have a very friendly, courteous, and wonderful staff there to assist you in all that is offered and available at the Mission. 

In very careful planned, respected, and orchestrated ways of preserving and conserving, there is emerging a new face to a Mission that has endured the test of time and nature.  In Easter of 2010 we unveiled a statue entitled "The Inviting Christ".  This life-size bronze sculpture invites the viewer by the command of Jesus that we are to "love one another".  It is our hope that this image will provide for many  "a place to come and rest awhile" finding comfort on our journey upon this road of life.  We invite all to "come and rest" in this "place apart" from the cares of the world, and to find comfort in knowing of the One who invites us to live in the awareness and responsiveness of His love.

The doors of the Mission Church are open every day from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and all are welcome to come for personal reflection and appreciation.  We offer our daily Eucharist at 8:00 am, Monday through Friday, and at 9:00 am on Saturday. All are invited to come pray with us. 

The Mission offers a forum for community events. We host on different occasions concerts and venues of creative expressions.  The Mission is clearly recognized as a center of cultural and spiritual life that touches many people both near and far.  The acoustics, setting, and beauty of the Mission offer to all a special appreciation of art and music.  Please check our Calendar for any and all upcoming events.

There is a quote attributed to St. Francis, "The essence of life is love".  Even though there are no historical indications to show that this saying did indeed come from him, we have nonetheless taken this as a trademark of our life here at the Mission.  It is my fervent hope and prayer that you will find in the life shared in the historical preserved treasure of our Mission, a place where love and beauty grounded in faith "do matter" and are becoming the essence of life, giving all a greater sense of where we have come from and where we are going.

I personally welcome you to this our Mission, and your Mission, to be part of us, so that we might be a part of you. I invite you to become a part of the transformation that is taking place here. 

We are in need of volunteers who can assist us in preserving and transforming the Mission into an even more attractive and major contributor towards appreciation of spirtuality, beauty, and history.  There is much work still to be done.  Please contact us if you desire a fulfilling work in your life and are able to volunteer your time, talent, or financial support in helping, not only to "preserve the irreplaceable" but being a part of creating an even more inspirational, alive, beautiful, and spiritual site ot Old Mission San Miguel.  People with a vision and desire are invited to be part of our story in contributing your part in help making history come alive.  Come and become a part in creating a new vision of a Mission that is both old and new.

I graciously thank you for your interest and support of Old Mission San Miguel and I extend my personal hospitality in welcoming you and offering my services to assist you in anyway that will make your visit or stay here truly a blessing.

I will leave you with a traditional Franciscan blessing, but look forward to the opportunity of seeing you here at the Mission.

"May the Lord bless you.  May the Lord keep you.  May He turn to you His countenance and have mercy.  The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you.  May He show His face to you, and give you peace.  The Lord bless you!"

Fraternally, I am your brother! 

Fr. Larry Gosselin, O. F. M.

Guardian, Old Mission San Miguel