Mission San Rafael Arcángel — Attraction in San Rafael

Many people confuse Old Mission San Rafael with the current replacement Mission San Rafael. Others confuse it with the Church of Saint Raphael. If you're looking for the historical old mission, it just doesn't exist anymore.

Old Mission San Rafael was founded in 1817. Originally built to serve as a sub-mission and hospital to Mission San Francisco, it basically contained two adobe structures that served as a hospital building and housing for the Catholic Fathers. It did eventually receive mission status.

By 1844, after Mexican Secularization, Old Mission San Rafael was abandoned. Completely in ruins, another church was built nearby in 1885. Old Mission San Rafael was completely torn down by 1870. At that time, only a single pear tree was listed as the last remnant at the original mission site.

Even the church built in 1885 no longer exists. The striking Church of Saint Raphael was built here in 1919. It is adjacent to the smaller Mission church.

During a rush to save California's historic mission ruins along the Camino Real, this mission was different. There were no ruins. There were no records, drawings or pictures existing that showed what the original Mission looked like. In 1949 when architects designed Mission San Rafael, an old romanticised postcard was used as a basis of its construction. Mission San Rafael was rebuilt using a fictional image drawn by Felix Raymaud.

All that remains of Old Mission San Rafael are the original bells. Three currently hang outside the doors of Mission San Rafael.

If visiting Mission San Rafael, the museum and gift shop are currently closed on Mondays...

St Raphael is the Archangel of Health.

And boy is he handsome!

Being healthy is being wealthy and being wealthy from health is Wise and Wisdom brings real lasting Joy.

So Archangel Raphael is by far a good guide for us to consider: Rest, healthy food, and prayer to have a good heart along with lots of exercise daily is what Archangel Raphael encourages.

The church itself is beautiful. People are people, not always nice but they try. The service is usually a helpful one to start the week and there is a prayer book to write prayer wishes to have prayed by the clergy there.

There is a beautiful room on the left with the Virgin De Guadalupe inside, or is it Mother Mary? I think both. The beautiful stars in that room make for such a beautiful sleep.

The majority of the attendees are hispanic so sometimes that can be a bit much without enough diversity, but overall the church still has a mission they try to upkeep.

There is a full blown school there and many other projects going on. There is a lovely store that sells nice crosses and gifts. I had to ask for the ascended swedish cross to be ordered though because this cross is very rare in the U.S.

Some of my friends who attend from time to time and my family, we enjoy taking the best from the experience and work in our little ways towards the type of improvement that Archangel Raphael...

If you’re interested in history, especially that of the creation of Spanish missions in California, drop on by to visit the Mission San Rafael Arcangel. It’s located on 5th street, in San Rafael, not too far off the freeway US 101.

There are no original structures left. The last original remnants were removed in 1870 to make way for city development. The site has a functional church and Catholic school campus. Mission visitors can visit the smaller replica chapel and gift shop. The smaller chapel was built in 1949. It’s located to the right of the larger Parish church which was built in 1861. The Saturday morning I visited, the smaller chapel was open to the public while the larger church was not. Plus oddly the gift shop was closed for the day. I heard that inside the gift shop were Mission artifacts.

The Mission was originally established as a hospital in 1817 and converted to a full commissioned Mission in 1822. The Mission operated for the following 12 years. It was the 20th Mission built out of a...