San Antonio de Pala Asistencia, an asistencia of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, is located in Pala, California

Asistencias or visitas were smaller sub-missions of Catholic missions established during the 16th-19th centuries of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. They allowed the Catholic church and the Spanish crown to extend their reach into native populations at a modest cost.

Description

Asistencias were much smaller than the main missions with living quarters, workshops and crops in addition to a church. They were typically staffed with a small group of clergymen and a relatively small group of indigenous neophytes in order to maintain the complex.

Particularly strategic asistencias were later elevated to the status of a full mission. This typically included an expansion of existing facilities to support a larger clergy and indigenous neophyte population, improvement of basic infrastructure such as roads, and rechristening under a new Catholic saint.^[1][2]

List of asistencias

The following is a list of asistencias that remained so at the time of their abandonment, sorted by year of establishment.

List of former asistencias

The following is a list of asistencias that were elevated to the status of mission, sorted by year of establishment.

Sonora

Misión San Diego de Pitiquito in Pitiquito, Sonora

• Misión San Valentin del Bizani was established as a visita to Misión San Ignacio de Caborica in 1687. It was elevated to the status of mission in 1694.
• Misión San Diego de Pitiquito was established as a visita to Misión San Ignacio de Caborica in 1689. It was elevated to the status of mission in 1695.

See also

• Estancia - Spanish colonial ranch

References