- Adobe - bricks made of compressed mud and straw, dried in the sun.
- Buttress - a structure made of stone or wood, built against a wall to strengthen it
- Campanario - A wall which holds bells
- Cloister - an enclosed area
- Convento - a group of monks or nuns, or the place where they gather
- El Camino Real - Spanish for "the King's Highway", the name of the road that connected the California mission chain
- Facade - the face or front of a building
- Font - a large, decorated bowl holding Holy Water for baptizing people
- Friar - a member of the Franciscan order
- Franciscan - a member of a Catholic church religious order, named for St. Francis of Assisi
- Fresco - paintings done directly on wet plaster
- Neophyte - new convert
- Padre - Spanish word for father, used for a priest or pastor
- Presidio - a camp or fort
- Quadrangle - an enclosed courtyard or patio, having four sides
- Reredos - the wall behind the main altar in a church
- Restoration- to repair or return something to its original condition
- Sanctuary- the area inside a church where the main altar is found
- Secular- not religious
- Secularization- to change from religious to not religious, in mission days it meant taking the California mission buildings away from the church and placing them under government rule
California Mission GlossaryA Collection of Terms Associated with California Mission History
By Betsy Malloy, About.com
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