[californology 加州觀察筆記 no.1]
方濟會與三藩市 From Franciscans to San Francisco
Was in Bay Area last week. While having been there many times, I still learned something new -- How did San Francisco get named after the well-known Catholic figure? Not just randomly picked from the list of saints.
即使已經去過灣區無數次，上禮拜還是好奇心大爆發，想挖掘出一些以前不知道的歷史，結果還真的挖到東西了——原來舊金山（三藩市）得名於亞西西的法蘭西斯（Francis of Assisi），並不是從天主教的聖徒清單裡隨便亂選的，而是和早期開發者背景有關。
SF was founded in 1776 by the Franciscans, who were responsible for the evangelism, education and development of Alta California (today's US state of California), after Spanish Empire expelled the Jesuits (who represented the papal authority). As one of their earliest bases (missions), it might be intuitive to name the place after their founder, Francis of Assisi. This is probably also why Santa Clara got its name from Clare of Assisi, who were directly influenced by Francis of Assisi and founded the female equivalent of the Franciscans.
I visited Mission de San Francisco Solano, located in today's Sonoma. Many Californian kids were there, probably doing their spring break assignment Along with the other 20 remaining missions, they continue to show how Christian monasticism has impacted California's history and architecture until now.
18世紀後期，西班牙政府驅逐了代表教宗權威的耶穌會後，便將上加利福尼亞（Alta California，今美國加州）指派給方濟會，負責殖民地的傳教、教育與開發。既然是方濟會最早的幾個據點（傳教所）之一，可想而知他們就選擇了最大咖的人物，也就是創辦者法蘭西斯（或譯方濟）來命名；附近還有個類似的據點，被以號稱「女版方濟」的重量級聖徒克萊兒（Clare of Assisi，或譯佳蘭）命名，也就是現在矽谷的主要城市之一聖塔克拉拉（Santa Clara）。
這趟和家人去了位在酒鄉Sonoma的傳教所Mission de San Francisco Solano遺跡，現在是州立公園兼博物館，不少加州小屁孩都到那裡做春假作業。連同另外20個仍然存在的傳教所，它們繼續透露著加州的歷史與建築如何受到基督教修道主義（monaticism）的影響。
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