Mission San Juan Capistrano. Mission San Juan Capistrano is a Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California. Founded in 1776 in colonial Las Californias by Spanish Catholic missionaries of the Franciscan Order, it was named for Saint John of Capistrano. The Spanish Colonial Baroque style church was located in the Alta California province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Mission was secularized by the Mexican government in 1833, and returned to the Roman Catholic Church by the American government in 1865. The mission was damaged over the years by a number of natural disasters, but restoration and renovation efforts date from around 1910. The mission was founded in 1776, by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, a 14th-century theologian and warrior priest who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy, San Juan Capistrano has the distinction of being home to the oldest building in California still in use, a chapel built in 1782. Father Serra's Church, also known as Serra's Chapel, is the only extant structure where it has been documented that Junipero Serra celebrated Mass. The mission is one of the best known in Alta California, and one of the few to have actually been founded twice; the others being Mission San Gabriel Arcangel and Mission La Purisima Concepcion. The site was originally consecrated on October 30, 1775, by Fermin Lasuen, but was quickly abandoned due to unrest among the indigenous population in San Diego. The success of the settlement's population is evident in its historical records. Prior to the arrival of the missionaries, some 550 indigenous Acjachemen people lived in this area of their homeland. By 1790, the number of Indian reductions had grown to 700 Mission Indians, and just six years later nearly 1,000 neophytes lived in or around the Mission compound. Baptisms in that year alone numbered 1,649 out of the none total 4,639 people converted between 1776 and 1847. More than 69 former inhabitants, mostly Juaneno Indians, have marked graves in the Mission's cemetery. The remains of St. John O'Sullivan, who recognized the property's historic value and working tirelessly to conserve and rebuild its structures, are buried at the entrance to the cemetery on west side of the property, and a statue raised in his honor stands at the head of the crypt. The surviving chapel also serves as the final resting place of three priests who passed on while serving at the Mission: Jose Barona, Vicente Fuster, and Vicente Pascual Oliva are all entombed beneath the sanctuary floor. The Criolla or Mission grape, was first planted at San Juan Capistrano in 1779, and in 1783 the first wine produced in Alta California was from the Mission's winery. The Mission entered a long period of gradual decline after Mexican government secularization in 1833. After 1850 U.S. statehood, numerous efforts were made over the latter 19th century to restore the Mission to its former state, but none achieved much success until the arrival of O'Sullivan in 1910. Restoration efforts continue, and the chapel called Father Serra Church is still used for religious services. Over 500,000 visitors, including 80,000 school children, come to the Mission each year. And while the ruins of The Great Stone Church are a renowned architectural wonder, the Mission is perhaps best known for the annual Return of the Swallows which is traditionally observed every March 19. Mission San Juan Capistrano has served as a favorite subject for many notable artists, and has been immortalized in literature and on film numerous times, perhaps more than any other mission. In 1984, a modern church complex was constructed just north and west of the Mission compound and is now known as Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano. Today, the mission compound serves as a museum, with the Serra Chapel within the compound serving as a chapel for the mission parish. The natives often ate acorns that they turned into soups, cakes and bread. The former Spanish settlement at Sajavit lies within that area occupied during the late Paleoindian period and continuing on into the present day by the Native American society commonly known as the Juaneno; the name denotes those people who were ministered by the priests at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Many contemporary Juaneno, who identify themselves as descendants of the indigenous society living in the local San Juan and San Mateo Creek drainage areas, have adopted the indigenous term Acjachemen. Their language was related to the Luiseno language spoken by the nearby Luiseno tribe.