Unexplainable phenomena have been said to happen at thousands of
churches throughout time, but in 2000, on an early December morning
at San Juan Bautista Mission, even Ruben Mendoza, a man of science,
was astonished.
San Juan Bautista – Unexplainable phenomena have been said to happen at thousands of churches throughout time, but in 2000, on an early December morning at San Juan Bautista Mission, even Ruben Mendoza, a man of science, was astonished.
“I was thinking to myself, this is either an incredible coincidence, or it’s a miracle,” Mendoza said.
A professor at California State University Monterey Bay, Mendoza has been the Mission’s archeologist since 1995, and in 2000, Reverend Edward Fitz-Henry told him about something magical he’d witnessed. During the winter solstice, which begins on December 21, the sun rises over the eastern mountain peaks at the Mission’s front doors, and shines through the window directly onto the tabernacle. After talking with Fitz-Henry, Mendoza came to the mission and witnessed the ray of light for himself. Amazed at the site, Mendoza went out to find evidence that the church had planned for this special event, and while on the path toward his answers, he discovered many symbols in the Mission that related to astronomy and numbers.
The sun and the Native Americans
In the 1700s, when Father Junipero Serra was building missions and spreading Catholicism throughout California, he and other Franciscan missionaries needed a way to relate the liturgy to the local Indians, Mendoza said.
“The Native Americans worshiped the sun, and for them, Christ was the sun, and they would eventually come to call the sun ‘Jesus,'” Mendoza said.
Throughout Mexico and other areas of Latin America, Native Americans continue to equate Jesus to the “Solar Christ,” according to Mendoza’s research.
In his manuscript, “Skywatchers of the Millennial Kingdom: Astronomy and Sacred Geometry in a California Mission,” Mendoza discussed the importance the Catholic Church places on orienting church structures to the east, because that is where Jesus is supposed to return to earth on the day of judgment. Because the window faces the east and allows the sun to shine on the tabernacle during the winter solstice, which is when Jesus is said to have been born, it gave Native Americans a sense of belief in the religion, and that Jesus actually was present in the mission, Mendoza argues.
In the Catholic religion, the tabernacle is where bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ for the Eucharist, and, Mendoza said, having the sun, a symbol of Christ, shine in made the new religion more believable to Native Americans.
“It was a way of showing them the host transformed into the body and blood of Christ,” Mendoza said.
What began with just a few amazed parishioners, has turned into a “cult-like” following of people coming to see the church lit up by the sun, he said. Mendoza was amazed last winter to find hundreds of people, bundled in sweaters and blankets, waiting for the sun. And when the sun was hidden by the morning fog, people started drumming and playing flutes, trying to coax it into appearing, he said.
“It was amazing to see that many people out there,” he said.
As Mendoza continued to look into the phenomenon of the winter solstice at San Juan Bautista, he also visited other missions in California and even some in Mexico built by Serra. Surprisingly, they all had the same light on the tabernacle, but the solstice varied. While some shared the winter solstice with San Juan Bautista, others like the Carmel Mission were on summer solstice, which signifies another important Catholic feast day period – mainly those celebrating the Ascension and the life of Saint John the Baptist.
Regardless of which time the solar event takes place, Mendoza said all 11 California missions incorporate significant Azimuth orientations – meaning they are aligned to either liturgically or astronomically important dates.
“In those days, they didn’t have General Electric running the energy or the light bulbs, so they relied on the sunlight to indicate different feast dates and times,” Mendoza said.
Symbols and stars
His investigations into the alignments associated with the illumination of the tabernacle at San Juan Bautista, led Mendoza to discover other astronomical similarities and symbols.
“It’s pretty fundamental when you look at the history of the church,” he said. “They base things off of astronomy. For example, the star of Bethlehem and the birth of Christ.”
The man responsible for the building and architecture of the San Juan Bautista Mission, Friar Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta, was a Franciscan mystic, Mendoza said.
“He was very into astronomy, and it’s very interesting to see how he tried to incorporate that into the building of the church,” he said.
Another symbolic representation found in all the missions is the number 12, and the white, simplistic exterior of the buildings.
“The outside of the Mission may seem plain to most, but the church actually intended on it being this way, because it represents the purity of life,” Mendoza said. “In every mission you’ll also find 12 columns, which represent the 12 pillars of heaven, the 12 gateways and the 12 apostles. This is the house of God in a very literal sense.”
The 12 columns at the San Juan Bautista Mission can be seen on the main alter screen, and in the columns of the arcade running on either side of the central nave.
Another reoccurring number is three. Visitors of the mission will also notice there are three archways at the entrance of the mission. The Book of Revelations makes reference to the “Kingdom of Heaven,” including three gateways that face to the east, and the place from which Jesus would return in the final days before the Last Judgment of humankind.
“This represents the (Trinity),” Mendoza said. “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
What does it all mean?
The interesting astronomical and biblical connections kept him intrigued in the project for the past few years, but Mendoza said his original motivation for doing the research was his heritage.
“In some ways it’s helped me find a deeper understanding of the church and the way it developed,” he said. “My ancestors are natives to this land, so it’s interesting to learn about how their beliefs and those of the church intertwined.”
Mendoza’s manuscript is in the process of being reviewed by the California Mission Studies Association Journal Editorial Board, and may go to press as early as this fall.
