428 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



is named after some saint, and in whose faith the saints were 

 but little below divinity. It was customary for them to keep 

 the saints constantly in mind, and when they came to a 

 strange place, to name it after the saint upon whose day they 

 had reached it. Thus it is that nearly all the settlements 

 made by or under the missionaries are sanctified. 



The male saints have " San," the females " Santa " to pre- 

 cede their Christian names, as in English we have " Saint." 

 Some uneducated Americans corrupt the " San " or "Santa " 

 before certain Spanish names into " Saint," and say " Saint 

 Francisco." But the more intelligent Americans adhere to 

 the Spanish spelling, and generally to the pronunciation. The 

 " a " in " San," however, is usually pronounced like the " a " 

 in the English " fat," while the Spanish sound is more like 

 that in " far," and the last " s " in " San Jose " and " Santa 

 Rosa," is ordinarily given like an English " z " rather than a 

 Spanish " s." 



The Missions were all named from saints or sacred dogmas. 

 There are San Miguel, San Gabriel, and San Rafael (from the 

 three archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael), San Juan 

 Bautista and San Juan Capistrano (St. John the Baptist and 

 St. John of Capistrano), San Francisco de Assisi and San 

 Francisco de Solano, San Luis Rey and San Luis Obispo (St. 

 Louis the king and St. Louis the bishop), San Carlos, Santa 

 Clara, Santa Barbara, San Jose (St. Joseph), Santa Inez Vir- 

 gen y Martyr (St. Inez the virgin and martyr), San Antonio 

 de Padua (St. Anthony) , San Fernando Rey (St. Ferdinand 

 the king), San Buenaventura, La Purisima Concepcion (the 

 Most Pure Conception), Nuestra Seiiora de Soledad (our 

 Lady of Solitude), San Diego (St. James), and Santa Cruz 

 (the Holy Cross). 



Among the saints whose names are applied to places not 

 missions, are San Pedro (Peter), San Pablo (Paul), San Mateo 

 (Matthew), San Andres (Andrew), San Marcos (Mark), San 

 Simeon, San Joaquin (Joachim), San Nicolas, San Clemente, 



