San Antonio Mission Trail

December 27, 2016 we tackled the San Antonio Mission Trail. We decided to start with the one farthest from the Alamo and work our way back to the Alamo so we could end our day at the River Walk.

I put together a little collage of us at the all the missions except the Alamo.


We started our morning at Mission Concepcion and the only one where we have a big group photo.


This was probably my favorite mission. The old world beauty was so apparent here.


We talked to the boys before going in to each of the churches to explain that these are all (except the Alamo) still active Catholic churches. So, we would want to behave the way we would in any other church. We told them to look for the Sanctuary Lamp (the red candle beside or near the tabernacle that indicates the consecrated host and thus the true presence of Jesus) and be sure to genuflect towards the Lamp if it was burning. They are true Catholoic school kids as they were very reverent inside and even said a special prayers to Mary.


There was a little grotto to Mary outside of the church building. The boys found some stones in the shape of Texas and some natural Texas plant life.


The next mission we went to was Mission San Jose. This mission was by far the biggest and most complete. They still have most of the outer walls of the mission so you get a feel for the size of life in the mission. It also had a gift shop and more docents around to answer questions. In fact, you had to enter the mission grounds through an old gate.


Mission San Jose has lots of cool archways and nooks to see outside the church building.


Mission San Jose is famous for the Rose Window, which is where they showed the Host to Mission celebrants during the Feast of the Pentecost. It is also, apparently, one of the best examples of the Baroque period of architecture in North America.


The entrance to the church was just as ornate.


The inside of this church was just beautiful.


To the side of the main sanctuary is the inside of the Rose Window, which isn't as impressive from this side of the building.


They also had a statue of St. Michael. Garytt was the first to want to stop and say a prayer. Westyn followed suit.


The third mission on our journey was Mission San Juan. This building looks so different from the other since it is so white and very smooth.


This church was just as minimal inside as it is outside. The sanctuary is quite small and was actually mostly blocked off.


The final mission before we took a lunch break was Mission Espada.


This mission lots of remnants of walls around the perimeter. There were also walls that shows the size of "rooms."


The church building was quaint and charming.


We really enjoyed our exploration of Mission Trail but it was definitely time for a lunch break!