Santa Cruz in Spanish means Holy Cross. Devotion to the Cross is very common throughout Latin America, and the Feast of the Holy Cross figures prominently in the history of the Franciscan missionaries in the new world.

Holy Cross

“I found the site to be most excellent as had been reported to me. I found also a stream of water very near, copious and important. On August 28, 1791, I celebrated Mass and raised the cross on the spot where the mission is to be.” (Fr. Lausen) Permanent buildings of this mission were quickly erected, and the neophyte population grew rapidly, but progress was made for only six years before a series of disasters befell the mission. In 1797 the government established a town just across the river from the mission. The town of Branciforte became headquarters for gambling, smuggling and prostitution. In 1818 a pirate was sighted off the coast. The friars and the Indians fled to the hills for safety but the people of the town sacked the mission in the meantime. Then in 1840 a particularly strong earthquake caused the collapse of the bell tower and in 1857, during one night, the church fell with a resounding crash. The replica that we see today is one half the size of the original church.