José Bernardo Sánchez (September 7, 1778 – January 15, 1833) was a Spanish missionary in colonial Mexico and Alta California.
He traveled on to Las Californias the next year, 1804, where he worked at the following missions: In 1806, as chaplain, Sánchez accompanied a military expedition against the Californian indigenous peoples.
During the winter of 1826-1827, as head of the San Gabriel mission, Sánchez hosted the party of explorer Jedediah Smith, the first ever to travel overland to California from the United States.
[1] From 1827 to 1831, Sánchez reluctantly held the position of Presidente of the California mission chain and of Vicáreo Foraneo (archbishop) to the bishop.
"As far as it concerns me personally," he wrote, "...would that it might be tomorrow, so that I might retire between the four walls of a cell to weep over the time I wasted in behalf of these unfortunates."