Mission Basilica San Buenaventura

The founding of the San Buenaventura Mission traces to the decision on Palm Sunday, March 30, 1749, by the Franciscan friar Junipero Serra to journey to the New World as a missionary to the native peoples.

Thirty-three years and one day later he raised the Cross at "la playa de la canal de Santa Barbara" (the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel) on Easter morning, March 31, 1782. Assisted by Pedro Benito Cambon, he celebrated a High Mass, preached on the Resurrection, and dedicated a mission to San Buenaventura (St. Bonaventure). It had been planned as the third in the chain of twenty-one missions founded by Serra but was destined to be the ninth and last founded during his lifetime, and one of six he personally dedicated.

Under the direction of Friar Cambon, whom Serra left in charge of the new mission, a system of aqueducts were built by the Chumash people between 1805–1815 to meet the needs of the Mission population and consisted of both ditches and elevated stone masonry. The watercourse ran from a point on the Ventura River about ½ mile north of the remaining ruins and carried the water to holding tanks behind the mission, a total of about 7 miles (11 km). With plentiful water, the mission was able to maintain flourishing orchards and gardens, which were described by |English navigator George Vancouver as the finest he had seen. The water distribution system was damaged by floods and abandoned in 1862.

The mission's first church was destroyed by fire in 1793. The construction of a second church was abandoned because "the door gave way." A permanent replacement was not able to be rebuilt until 1812.[10] About the same time, the San Miguel Chapel and the Santa Gertrudis Chapel were completed.

A series of earthquakes and an accompanying seismic sea wave in 1812 forced the friars and Indian neophytes to seek temporary shelter a few miles inland. Six years later the friars had to remove sacred objects from the church and the whole mission flee into the hills to elude an attack led by Argentine pirate Hippolyte de Bouchard, who was pillaging the missions and had just conducted a successful attack against Mission San Juan Capistrano.[11]

After its independence from Spain, in 1834 the Mexican government issued a secularization decree, divesting the friars of administrative control over the missions. In 1845 Mission San Buenaventura was rented to Jose Arnaz and Narciso Botello and was later sold illegally to Arnaz.

The mission did not fully escape the impact that the Mexican–American War of 1846–1847 had on California. On January 5, 1847, while on its way from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, the 428 men-strong California Battalion, under the command of U.S. Army Major John C. Fremont, managed to disperse an armed force of up to 70 enemy Californios near the mission.

As California had become a state of the Union, when Joseph Sadoc Alemany, O.P., was named the first Bishop of Monterey in 1850, he petitioned the United States Government to return that part of the mission holdings comprising the church, clergy residence, cemetery, orchard, and vineyard to the Catholic Church. The request was granted in the form of a proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln on May 23, 1862.

Because of severe damage in the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, the Mission's tile roof was replaced by a shingle roof. In 1893, Cyprian Rubio "modernized" the interior of the church, painting over the original artwork; when he finished, little of the old church was untouched. The windows were lengthened, the beamed ceiling and tile floor were covered, and the remnants of the quadrangle were razed. The west sacristy was removed to provide room for a school, which was not actually built until 1921. During the pastorate of Patrick Grogan the roof of the church was once again tiled, the convent and present rectory were built, and a new fountain was placed in the garden.

The education of children at Mission San Buenaventura has flourished intermittently since 1829 (during Mexican rule) and continuously since 1922. Originally a four-classroom structure, Holy Cross School served its students and the parish admirably since its 1922 dedication. In 1925 it was expanded to accommodate growth and in 1949 a subsequent renovation brought it out to Main Street (El Camino Real) with no space left for further expansion.

In a major restoration under the supervision of Aubrey J. O'Reilly in 1956–1957 the windows were reconstructed to their original size, and the ceiling and floor were uncovered. A long-time parishioner commissioned the casting of a bell with an automatic angelus device and donated it to the mission; it hangs in the bell tower above the four ancient hand-operated bells.

The second half of the 20th century brought more growth, as well as wear-and-tear and obsolescence, and the school's problems far exceed spatial deficiency. In response to this situation, the San Buenaventura Mission parish, under the leadership of Monsignor Patrick J. O'Brien, formed a Planning and Development Committee comprising parishioners, faculty, parish staff, and parents, and in June 1994 hired the downtown firm of Mainstreet Architects and Planners prepare a conceptual master site plan for the mission properties, incorporating the design of a new school and an adjoining multi-purpose building which would serve both school and parish. This plan also necessitated the deconstruction of the convent and the two remaining Holy Cross Sisters moved into the larger St. Catherine by the Sea Convent, a short distance from the Mission.

The entire roof of the church was removed and replaced in 1976. In December of that year the church was solemnly consecrated by Cardinal Timothy Manning, the Archbishop of Los Angeles. In 1982 the mission marked its bicentennial. A new three-story school building, with pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1–8, located at the base of the hill behind the Mission, was dedicated in January 2001. The school also houses the Serra Chapel for Eucharistic Adoration, adult classrooms, a parish/school kitchen, and a large assembly hall used as a school auditorium and for large parish gatherings and one Sunday Mass. The assembly room was named after O'Brien, who was the pastor of the church for 25 years until his sudden death in 2005. The mission celebrated its 225th anniversary with a year-long series of events and activities during 2006–07.

All that remains of the original mission is the church and its garden.[12] A small museum sits at the mission with displays of Chumash Indian artifacts and mission-era items. Located in the historic downtown of Ventura, very few California missions had the center of business and commerce remain at the location where the mission was established like Mission San Buenaventura.[13] The church remains an active Catholic parish, serving approximately 2,000 families, and services are still held in the parish church. The current pastor is Tom Elewaut, who has served since 2011.