Mission San Buenaventura

Mission San Buenaventura is a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscans in present-day Ventura, California. Founded on March 31, 1782, it was the ninth Spanish mission established in California and the last to be established by Father Junípero Serra. The mission was named after Saint Bonaventure, a 13th century Franciscan saint and Doctor of the Church. The mission is located in the historic downtown of Ventura.

Mission San Buenaventura was planned to be founded in 1770, but the founding was delayed because of the low availability of the military escorts needed to establish the mission. In 1793, the first church burned down. Today, only a small section of the entire mission complex still stands; the cemetery to the left of the church is covered by a school. It took the neophytes 16 years to build the new church, which still functions as a parish church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.