A mission provided food, housing, and religious support for the neophytes. In return, the neophytes were expected to stay at the mission and live a regimented life devoted primarily to work and spiritual growth. This was a life the friars believed would transform native Californians into good Catholics.

Daily Schedule

From sunrise until early evening the Indians' time was filled with work and prayer. One visitor showed particular interest in the meals that broke up other daily activities. This visitor, the French nobleman Jean-François de Galoup de La Pérouse, was the commanding officer of two French ships that called at Monterey Bay in 1786. In his journal, he described a typical day at the nearby Carmel mission:

The Indians as well as the missionaries rise with the sun, and immediately go to prayers and mass...