The first Mass with Japanese homily celebrated in California was said by Father Albert Breton on Christmas Day, 1912 in the Settlement Chapel of the Settlement House which was located at 711 Jackson Street. In response to a personal letter from Leo Kumataro Hatakeyama to Bishop Alexander Berlioz, MEP. He asked the Bishop if he could confess by mail as no Japanese speaking priest was available. Father Breton was sent by Bishop Alexander Berlioz, MEP of Hakodate, Japan to minister to the spiritual needs of the Japanese Catholics in California. From this humble beginning the “first Catholic Mission dedicated to the Japanese in America” started.