As we leave the model room, we step outside into the interior of the Mission quadrangle (quadrangle means surrounded on four sides by buildings). Now a quiet garden, this interior space would have been abuzz with people, animals and activity when used by Old Mission San Miguel as a stockade and general work area.

The buildings you see behind me originally served as both workshops and living quarters for the Old Mission. Restored in the 1920's and 1930's, they now serve as the offices of the Novitiate of Mission San Miguel (the school and living quarters for novices such as me), as well as the living quarters for the Friars who still live at the convent of Mission San Miguel. (Convent properly means the living quarters of our religious community - Mission San Miguel is not a monastery, and we Brothers are properly called Friars, not Monks!)

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