Suddenly a shock was felt.

All were alarmed, but, devoted to his high office, the padre began again the solemn words, when, suddenly, the second shock came and sent the great tower crashing down upon one of the domes or vaults, and in a moment the whole mass of masonry came down upon the congregation.

Thirty-nine were buried in the next two days, and four were taken out of the ruins later.

The officiating priest escaped, as by a miracle, through the sacristy.
It was in 1814 that Padre Boscana, who had been serving at San Luis Rey, came to reside at San Juan Capistrano, where he wrote the interesting account of the Indians that is so often quoted.

In 1812, its population gained its greatest figure, 1361.
In November, 1833, Figueroa secularized the Mission by organizing a "provisional pueblo" of the Indians, and claiming that the padres voluntarily gave up the temporalities.