Mission Santa María de los Ángeles was the last of the missions established by the Jesuits

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 in Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

, Mexico, in 1767. The site chosen was the Cochimí

Cochimi

The Cochimí are the aboriginal inhabitants of the central part of the Baja California peninsula, from El Rosario in the north to San Javier in the south....

 settlement of Cabujakaamung ("arroyo of crags"), west of Bahía San Luis Gonzaga near the Gulf of California

Gulf of California

The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...

 coast, about 22 kilometers east of Rancho Santa Inés, and south of Cataviña

Cataviña, Baja California

Cataviña, Baja California is a small town on Highway 1 in the Mexican state of Baja California. It is located 118 km south of El Rosario and 106 km north of the junction with the road to Bahía de los Ángeles....

.

The mission site was visited by the Jesuit missionary-explorers Ferdinand Konščak

Ferdinand Konšcak

Ferdinand Konščak was a Jesuit missionary, explorer, and cartographer.-Education:...

 and Wenceslaus Linck

Wenceslaus Linck

Wenceslaus Linck was the last of the outstanding Jesuit missionary-explorers in Baja California.Born in Bohemia , he entered the Jesuit order at age 18 and studied at Brno and Prague. In New Spain, he continued his studies in Mexico City and Puebla between 1756 and 1761...

. Victoriano Arnés found the mission to replace the unsatisfactory site of Calamajué

Visita de Calamajué

The Cochimí settlement of Calamajué in Baja California, Mexico was briefly, in 1766–1767, a Jesuit visita or subordinate mission station....

 only months before the Jesuits were expelled from Baja California. After the establishment of Mission San Fernando Velicatá

Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá

Located in Baja California, Mexico about 200 miles south of Ensenada, Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá was the only mission founded by Franciscans in Baja California....

, Santa Marí was reduced to the status of a visita, or subordinate mission station. The visita was abandoned in 1818. Ruined structural walls and rock corrals survive at the site.

See also

• Spanish missions in California
  Spanish missions in California
  The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to...