Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission San Juan Capistrano (originally christened in 1716 as La Misión San José de los Nazonis and located in East Texas) was founded in 1731 by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order, on the eastern banks of the San Antonio River in present-day Bexar County, Texas. The new settlement (part of a chain of Spanish missions) was named for a 15th-century theologian and "warrior priest" who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The mission San Juan was named after Saint John of Capestrano. The first primitive capilla (chapel) was built out of brush and mud. Eventually a campanile, or "bell tower" containing two bells was incorporated into the structure, which was replaced by a long hall with a flat roof and an attractive belfry around...