Mission San Fernando Church

Below you should see a rotating panorama of the complete inside of the Mission Church. You should be able to click on the panorama to stop the rotation at any point and then drag the mouse left, right, up, or down to see any specific area. If you have a mouse wheel, it should be able to be used to zoom in and out. If one or more of these behaviors does not work click on the full screen icon (top right corner) and try the behavior again. If you are at full screen, press the ESCape key to have the panorama return to this page.

[pano file=”https://missiontour.org/wp/panoramas/sanfernando/church/sf-churchpan.htm”]

Church Interior

If you enter from the back of the Church one of the first things you will come upon is an old Wells Fargo safe. It may seem odd but probably not when you consider that the missions were likely stops on any stage route and safekeeping of materials carried by the coaches would be a concern.

A confessional (presently unused) sits nearby.

From the back of the Church you can see the typical mission construction: a long, narrow nave with two rows of pews and a center aisle.

At the back of the Church is the Baptistry. 3093 Native Americans were baptized here. The mural along the back wall depicts the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist.

Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015

Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015

At the front of the church to the left is the ambo (pulpit). The Sanctuary light is behind it toward the back on the left side (facing the altar). The altar takes up the entire eastern wall.

Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015

Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015

The Altar

The altar in the church is not the original nor is it a reproduction of the original. It is, instead, a 400-year-old altar from a church in Spain that was installed in the mission in 1991. It’s called the Ezcaray Altar after the town where it was originally built. A single person (with assistants) probably carved the original in 1608 for the Church of St. Philip Neri in Ezcaray, Spain.

The altar is not a solid construction but composed of hundreds of parts that likely came from at least three different sanctuaries. In 1925 a private Pasadena art dealer acquired the altar but its 523 pieces stayed in storage until the dealer’s death in the 1940s. The altar passed to a group of investors who eventually donated the altar to the archdiocese after funds were found to restore it. The restoration was performed at Mission San Carlos Borromeo (Carmel) by Richard Menn, a protègè of Sir Harry Downie. There were no diagrams to work from so the altar was put together in the style of Spanish altars (rather like a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box).

Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015	Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015	Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015
Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015	Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015	Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015
Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015	Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015	Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015

There are three main panels that frame statues and painted scenes.

The center section shows the Holy Trinity bringing St. Ferdinand into heaven. The highlight is a set of gold-leaf sun rays in a sunburst. The Trinity depiction was used in Spain more than in the missions; another indicator of the altar’s origin. The St. Ferdinand statue was from the mission’s original altar (built in 1797) and was restored after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and then added to the Ezcaray Altar when it was installed.

The statues on the side sections represent St. Philip Neri, St. Dominic, Our Lady of the Pillar, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Mary Magdalene, and St. Francis. St. Mary Magdalene is wearing sackcloth, a repentance symbol, and St. Michael. And, to add a mission flavor, the statue of St. Francis was renamed to represent Saint Serra once the altar was installed in the mission.

The altar also contains a sculpted throne of angels. The tabernacle is surrounded by seven letters symbolizing the seals of the Apocalypse; seals that will be opened when Christ returns for the final judgment.

If you walk up to the altar rail you will see two graves in the floor. One is a generic stone that probably represents some, if not all, of the 2,449 burials at the mission between 1797 and 1846. The other has specific names and dates of Padres buried at the mission. [Note: The generic RIP tile is repeated several more times throughout the Church.]

Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015	Picture taken 2:15pm 13 August 2015
	EN ESTA YGLESIA Y EN EL CEMINTERIO ADJUNTO YACEN LOS RESTOS MORIALES DE CINCO FRAILES DE LA ORDEN FRANCISCANA QUE TRABAJABAN EN ESTA MISIONFR. MARTIN DE LANDAETA FALLECIO 1809 FR. JOSE ANTONIO URRESTI 1812 FR. JOSE DE MIGUEL 1813 FR. PEDRO CABOT 1836 FR. THOMAS ELEUTERIO ESTENAGA 1847REQURESCANI IN PACE

Church Art

Five works of art hang on the walls of the Church. There are no plaques to describe the art in any detail. A story circulates saying that one of the works of art was found at the side of the road with road information written on the back during reconstruction and its being returned to the Mission. There is no indication in the Church that the story might or might not be true. Here are the five pieces of art…

While you are toward the front of the church be certain to look back at the choir loft and stained glass window there.

Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross in this church are paintings. Some of the paintings are damaged and require restoration. The gallery below shows all fourteen of the Stations. Click on a thumbnail to show the full image and then navigate between them in the lightbox or just click on the play button and watch the slide show.

I 1 – Jesus is condemned to die	II 2 – Jesus carries the cross	III 3 – Jesus falls the 1st time	IV 4 – Jesus meets His Blessed Mother	V 5 – Simon helps bear the cross	VI 6 – Veronica wipes face of Jesus	VII 7 – Jesus falls a 2nd time
VIII 8 – Jesus meets women of Jerusalem	IX 9 – Jesus falls the 3rd time	X 10 – Jesus stripped of His garments	XI 11 – Jesus is crucified	XII 12 – Jesus dies on the cross	XIII 13 – Jesus taken down from the cross	XIV 14 – Jesus body laid in the tomb