Thousands of miles apart, the city of San Juan Capistrano in southern Orange Country, California, and the small town of Capestrano in the Abruzzi region, Italy, became “Sister Cities” in the year 2000. This international, non-profit Sister Cities network was created with the aim of strengthening relationships between communities in the U.S. and other countries worldwide, through cultural promotion and economic cooperation.
These two particular “sisters” are linked by their name, as the Mission San Juan Capistrano was named after the Italian Saint Giovanni da Capestrano. Born in Capestrano in 1386, he was a Franciscan friar, a reformer of the Order, and an Inquisitor, who preached simplicity and penance, and vehemently opposed any type of heresy.
He is also known as the “Soldier Saint”, since at the age of 70 he was sent by Pope Callistus III on a crusade against the Turkish invasion of Hungary, where he died from the bubonic plague in 1456. Because of his remarkable endeavor and his studies – he also attended the law school in Perugia, Umbria region – Giovanni da Capestrano is recognized as the Patron of military chaplains and of jurists.
The Saint was the favorite of Franciscan Father Junipero Serra, who founded the Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776. The 7th of 21 Spanish Missions established in California, it is today one of the State’s most important historical, cultural, and educational centers. Among the major areas of interest inside the Mission is the Roman Catholic Basilica, designed after the original Stone Church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812.
One of the main attractions of Mission San Juan Capistrano is also a fascinating spectacle of nature: the return of the swallows to the city. After traveling 7500 miles from Goya, Argentina, where they spend the winter months, these little birds have been welcomed home every year by locals and tourists since 1939, when a live NBC radio broadcast made them famous nationwide.
Goya is another “sister city” to San Juan Capistrano, as is Petra, on the Spanish island of Majorca, which is the birthplace of Father Junipero Serra.
The Fiesta de las Golondrinas (Festival of the Swallows) falls on March 19, a date that also marks Father’s Day in Italy and St. Joseph’s Day in the Christian world, a religious festivity widely diffused in Italy and brought to the United States by the early immigrants. It is still celebrated by many local parishes by preparing the traditional banquet in honor of the Saint, and sharing food with the poor and homeless, as described on page four.
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