Designated a California Historical Landmark , the mission is one of many locally designated landmarks in downtown Ventura. The mission was named after St. Bonaventure , a 13th-century Franciscan saint , one of the early leaders of the Order to which the friars belonged, and a Doctor of the Church.
The name of the mission was changed to reflect this new status in the Catholic Church. Mission San Buenaventura was planned to be founded in and become 3rd mission, but the founding was delayed because of the low availability of the military escorts needed to establish the mission. In , the first church burned down.
When the mission was completed, it included an adjacent quadrangle with living and work space. All that remains of the original mission is the church and its garden.
The founding of the San Buenaventura Mission traces to the decision on Palm Sunday , March 30, , by the Franciscan friar Junipero Serra to journey to the New World as a missionary to the native peoples.
Thirty-three years and one day later he raised the Cross at "la playa de la canal de Santa Barbara" the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel on Easter morning, March 31, It had been planned as the third in the chain [ 11 ] of twenty-one missions founded by Serra but was destined to be the ninth and last founded during his lifetime, and one of six he personally dedicated.
