The mission was founded on November 1, 1776, by Spanish Catholics of the a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciscan" target="_blank"Franciscan/a Order. Named for a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_da_Capistrano" target="_blank"Giovanni da Capistrano/a, a 15th-century a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology" target="_blank"theologian/a and quot;warrior priestquot; who resided in the a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abruzzo" target="_blank"Abruzzo/a region of a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy" target="_blank"Italy/a, San Juan Capistrano has the distinction of being home to the oldest building in California still in use, a chapel built in 1782.