Angelus News | July 31-August 7, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 21

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San Buenaventura’s papal upgrade In a surprise announcement, the Vatican designated the last mission founded by St. Junípero Serra a minor basilica BY PABLO KAY / ANGELUS Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in Ventura. COLTON MACHADO/ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES 20 • ANGELUS • July 31-August 7, 2020
COLTON MACHADO/ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES When Father Tom Elewaut saw the name on his phone’s caller ID the night of June 30, the pastor of Mission San Buenaventura guessed the call had something to do with the recent controversy over whether to remove the statue of St. Junípero Serra in front of Ventura’s City Hall. He guessed wrong. “I’ve got some good news,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez on the other end of the line. “You’re a minor basilica.” Father Elewaut’s voice started to crack with emotion. He’d spent the last six years researching, praying, and waiting for Pope Francis to decide whether to elevate his 238-year-old parish to the rank of “minor basilica.” Two weeks later, on July 15, the feast of the mission’s namesake, St. Bonaventure, the pope’s decision was made public. At a special 7:30 a.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop Gomez, along with Father Elewaut and regional Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron, Mission Basilica San Buenaventura was unveiled as the first basilica in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the 88th in the United States. “When the pope designates a basilica, it means this is holy ground, that something beautiful and important in the history of salvation happened here,” Archbishop Gomez said at the Mass, held outside in the mission’s garden due to restrictions on outdoor religious services mandated by Gov. Gavin Newsom just two days earlier in light of the recent spike in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the state. Of the nine missions St. Junípero founded in what is today California, Mission San Buenaventura has the distinction of being his last. St. Junípero had planned to establish San Buenaventura as the third mission in Alta California, but was forced to wait more than a decade before receiving approval. When the mission was eventually founded, on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1782, St. Junípero alluded to the fact that it took the Church more than 200 years after Bonaventure’s death to declare him a saint. “Today [God] has been kind enough to grant me the consolation, after many years of longing, of witnessing the founding of the Holy Mission of Msgr. Francis J. Weber speaks at the solemn consecration of Mission San Buenaventura on Dec. 19, 1976. Our Seraphic Doctor San Buenaventura,” he said. “And the same thing can be said of this founding as the canonization of the saint: ‘Quo tardius, eo solemnius’ [‘The more slowly, the more solemnly’].” In other words, the longer delayed, the sweeter the celebration. And in many ways, this expression could also characterize the nearly 45 years it took for St. Bonaventure’s mission to be named a basilica. MISSION SAN BUENAVENTURA BUMPY ROAD TO 'BASILICA' The first attempt to get Rome to recognize San Buenaventura as a basilica ended in failure. And the second one almost did, too. The pursuit began in 1976, when the Vatican gave the archbishop of Los Angeles at the time, Cardinal Timothy Manning, approval to solemnly consecrate the mission’s 167-year-old church building. Then-pastor Msgr. Francis J. Weber, one of the eminent historians of the Church in California and the United States, suggested that the mission seek a further honor from Rome. St. Pope Paul VI had just granted minor basilica designation to Mission San Diego of Alcalá, the first mission St. Junípero established in 1769. Msgr. Weber felt it only fitting that St. Junípero’s last mission enjoy that same status. But soon after Cardinal Manning submitted the three-page application, it came back from Rome denied. Despite Msgr. Weber’s request that he make a second attempt, Cardinal Manning decided not to push the issue any further. The idea of making San Buenaventura a basilica was not given serious thought again until 2011, when Father Elewaut arrived as the mission’s new pastor. He started going through the parish records and came across Msgr. Weber’s original application, along with the rejection letter from Rome. “I thought, ‘I wonder if we would have the opportunity to reopen a new request?’ ” Father Elewaut recalled. The new pastor approached Archbishop Gomez and, after some consultation, in 2014 he gave Father Elewaut the green light to start the process anew. As befitting a former high school principal, Father Elewaut spent the next four years studying and researching, building his case for the mission’s pastoral and historical importance. One of Father Elewaut’s main chal- July 31-August 7, 2020 • ANGELUS • 21
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Angelus News | July 31-August 7, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 21

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