This is to continue the series of posts leading up to the Solemnity of
St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary on March 19.
Today's post relates to my top favorite in Saint Joseph lore -- the return of the
swallows to Mission San Juan Capistrano in Southern California on St Joseph's feast day, an event that
still goes on in current times.
During spring
and summer, the Mission and its nearby environment provide an ideal habitat for the
cliff swallows, who nest in
little mud huts. The tradition is that the cliff swallows leave to winter in Argentina and return to Mission San Juan
Capistrano on St. Joseph's Day, March 19th.
While there is some elaboration to the tradition and there have been some
difficulties during the past few years, this is nevertheless an actual
documented event.
According to Fr. St. John
O’Sullivan, who was pastor of Mission San Juan Capistrano from 1910-33, the swallows came to dwell at the Mission this way:
A nearby shopkeeper was using a broom to knock down the swallows' nests from the
eaves of his shop, causing considerable upset to the birds. Father asked the
man what he was doing and the man replied that he was getting rid of the
nuisance caused by the dirty birds. Father then invited the swallows to the Mission and
welcomed them there.
It is
well-documented that after summering in San Juan Capistrano, the swallows leave around October 23 (the Feast of San Juan Capistrano)* and migrate to Goya,
Argentina. They arrive about November 24 and spend the winter.
The trip spans between 6,000 and 7,500 miles depending on the route. They typically follow the California coast,
flying at high altitudes and traveling about 30 days.
Goya mirrors
the perfect nesting ground they have in San Juan Capistrano. Both locales have nearby rivers
that provide mud for their cone-shaped nests.Thus they live in a perpetual spring
that is suitable for their survival and reproduction (As a result of this connection,
San Juan Capistrano, California and Goya, Argentina became sister cities in
1985.)
The swallows
are diurnal migrants. That means that
while in migration, they fly during the day and rest every night. Typically
they start flying shortly after sunrise and travel about 200 miles a day. The
swallows' primary food source consists of insects. They are aerial insectivores, meaning that they hunt with their
mouths open and eat while in flight, consuming flying insects while still
airborne. A single adult swallow can
eat from 800 to 850 insects a day including flies, beetles, grasshoppers,
aphids, bees, wasps, mosquitos, and gnats.
They consume even more on a daily basis while nesting.
The return of
the swallows is the occasion of a major celebration in San Juan Capistrano with
a parade, pageantry, lectures, and the ringing of the historic mission
bells. This celebration, in one form or
another, goes back to the days of Father O'Sullivan himself, as it was he who
initiated the Return of the Swallows parade.
Unfortunately
in recent years there have been fewer swallows at the Mission itself due to
some structural work that made the mission itself less suitable for the
birds. Many steps have been taken to
remedy this problem and encourage the swallows to nest at the mission
again. Consulting with ornithologists
they have used recorded mating calls and artificial nests. And in March 2025 it was confirmed that the
sparrows indeed flew over the great stone ruins of the Mission shortly after the
festivities.
One cannot
help but compare the welcoming attitude of Fr. O'Sullivan, and of those who
celebrate the swallows' return, with those of the shopkeeper whose attitude was like Chinese Communist Mao Tse Tung.
Chairman Mao thought sparrows were pests that ate the grain so he
instituted a campaign to kill them all.
Unlike the swallows, the sparrows were not able to remain airborne for
long periods. The obedient citizens of Mao's regime used noisemakers to keep
the sparrows from returning to their nests (The Eliminate Sparrows campaign, which was part of "The 4 Pests
Campaign").
Thus all
the sparrows died of exhaustion. And,
without the sparrows to eat the true pests (locusts), the true pests proceeded
to eat the crops. The end result was
famine, with a large loss of life among the populace - millions died.
N.B. The traditional feast day for St. John Capistrano is March 28. Modernly it is October 23.
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