Image: La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles, Los Angeles, California (14524862275) (cropped)

Description: La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles, or The Church of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels, is a historic Catholic church in the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District in northern downtown Los Angeles, California. The 'Church of Los Angeles' was founded on August 18, 1814 by Franciscan Fray Luis Gil y Taboada. He placed the cornerstone for the new church in the adobe ruins of the original "sub-station mission" here, the Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles Asistencia (founded 1784), thirty years after it was established to serve the settlement founding Los Angeles Pobladores (original settlers). The completed new structure was dedicated on December 8, 1822. A replacement chapel, named La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles - for Mary, mother of Jesus or "The Church of Our Lady of the Angels" - was rebuilt using materials of the original church in 1861. The title Reina, meaning "Queen," was added later to the name. For years, the little chapel, which collected the nicknames "La Placita" and "Plaza Church," served as the sole Roman Catholic church in emerging immigrant Los Angeles. The facility has operated under the auspices of the Claretian Missionary Fathers since 1908. During the 1980s, the church called itself a sanctuary for refugees threatened with deportation to El Salvador. The sanctuary movement continues: On August 19, 2007, immigration activist Elvira Arellano was arrested outside the church and later deported to Mexico. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Iglesia_de_Nuestra_Se%c3%b1ora_la_Reina_de_los_%c3%81ngeles" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Iglesia_de_Nuestra_Se%C3%B1ora_l...</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...</a>
Title: La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles, Los Angeles, California (14524862275) (cropped)
Credit: La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles, Los Angeles, California
Author: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes