When Swallows No Longer Return to Mission San Juan Capistrano

To everything there is a season - the Mission San Juan Capistrano in California is a place that has certainly been through a great many seasons.

The Mission San Juan Capistrano will celebrate its annual Saint Joseph's Day and the Return of the Swallows Celebration on March 19^th which has historically taken place for a great many years. But this year, as has been true recently, the large influx of swallows that travelers will expect to see will not be taking place.

As I reflect on this, I think of this Mission when it was founded in 1776 by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order at the beginning of its season in time. What were the hopes and aspirations of the founders - could they have imagined anything outside of the scope of their desire to convert the natives to Christianity?

And the building of the chapel in 1782, known alternately as "Serra's Chapel" and "Father Serra's Church," - what would the people who built that humble structure simply for the celebration of mass have thought about the "masses of visitors" that have since toured the Mission and the "restored" chapel and other buildings on the grounds?

And there was the season of Father St. John O'Sullivan, Pastor of Mission San Juan Capistrano from 1910 to 1933, who took an interest in the well-being of swallows when he saw their nests being destroyed by a shopkeeper. According to legend he said, "Come on swallows, I'll give you shelter. Come to the Mission. There's room enough there for all." And they did come to the Mission, and the legend of the swallows was born.

Imagine if the walls of the Mission San Juan Capistrano could talk! Wikipedia categorizes seasons of time in history there as the Mission Period (1769 - 1833), Rancho Period (1834-1849), California Statehood (1850-1900), and the period of the 20^th century and beyond (1901 - present). How infinitesimally little we know about the lives of the millions of people who came and went at the Mission during those significant segments of time.

So where did all the swallows go?

The Mission San Juan Capistrano went through a season of "restoration" in the 1900s, and while this was being done the swallow nests were removed so that the restoration of the walls and structures could be completed. Out of necessity, the swallows adapted by building their nests elsewhere in the San Juan Capistrano area, mainly under bridges, in culverts, or under the eaves of other structures that better suited their needs for survival than did the restored walls of the Mission.

Charles R. Brown , Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Tulsa, concluded an article entitled "How Cliff Sparrows Choose Where to Live" with this sentence: "We may never know why the swallows seemed to have given up on their longtime home at the San Juan Capistrano mission, but we can say with certainty that they are following rules of behavior that natural selection devised."

"Rules of behavior" for survival

In the more than two hundred years since the humble beginnings of the Mission San Juan Capistrano, countless scores of people connected with the Mission adapted to changing times, and because of it the Mission survived. Now celebrations continue, tours are conducted, donations are sought, and history is being preserved, at least to some extent.

I've toured many missions in past travels, and each time when doing so I came away with a knowing that I had not seen what the real mission had been like. The restorations, with their almost pure white stucco, the new windows and lighting that have replaced the darkened woods and candlelit interiors of the past, along with the on-going parades and ceremonies - all of these try so mightily to preserve what once was, and is now part of history. But no matter how valiant the efforts may be which are put forth, the newly restored structures and grounds can never embody that which was the very spirit of the missions but is now consigned forever to the distant past.

The swallows had their moment in time at the Mission and even achieved some fame as they were romanticized in song and writings. They have relocated in their quest for survival.

Time is fleeting, and to everything there is a season. As I look about me today, I am no different from the founders and builders of all things in the past. Like them, I cannot foresee what my surroundings or my culture will be like 200 years or more in the future. But I've adapted throughout my years here on Earth in my own quest for survival, much like the swallows, sparrows and other creatures with which or whom I share my world today.

My personal take away from the swallows at Capistrano: This particular season in time will not be here long. As I have adapted through the years, I have learned to be content to let history unfold as it will. I now purpose to enjoy each day as it comes, knowing with certainty that just as He cares for the swallows of Capistrano, His eye is also on the sparrow, and it is also on me.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the Father. But the very hairs on your head are numbered. Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31 NKJV

See also by R.C.: Learning Contentment

Sources:
http://www.missionsjc.com/
http://www.missionsjc.com/activities/signature_StJosephsDay.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Juan_Capistrano
http://www.missionsjc.com/activities/pkpforum_spring2010_cliffswallows.pdf
The Holy Bible , New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994