The 18th in the 21-mission chain established in California by the Spanish Franciscans, Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was founded by Father Fermín Francisco de Lausuén. The mission is located in the city of Oceanside, California.
The Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was founded by Father Fermín Francisco de Lausuén on June 13, 1798. Father Antonio Peyrí supervised the construction of the mission and acted as its administrator for 34 years. Peyrí introduced the native people of the area to Christianity. Before 1830 the neophytes (Indian converts) numbered almost 3,000.
The mission’s adobe buildings covered about six acres of land. A mission church and a cemetery made up one corner of the site, and farmland extended as far as 15 miles out from the site. The architecturally impressive Spanish-Moorish and Mexican-style Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was the largest of all the Spanish missions and was once the largest building in California. It was given the name “King of the Missions” because of its size and because it was named after French King Louis IX. Noted for its grain and livestock, the mission had about 60,000 animals prior to its secularization in 1834. In 1846 it was sold, the property divided, and the buildings dismantled. During the next 45 years, the mission was used only to quarter United States troops during the Mexican-American War.
In 1892 Franciscan Father Joseph Jeremiah O’Keefe came to San Luis Rey and began the mission’s restoration. After initial repairs, the church was rededicated in 1893, and gradual improvements of the remaining buildings continued. In 1970 Mission San Luis Rey was designated a national historic landmark. Today the mission is used by the Franciscans as a retreat center.