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Spanish Franciscan priest, explorer and colonizer of
California where he was the founder of the missions of California. He
was beatified by Pope John Paul II in September1988.
 Junipero Serra was born Miguel Serra y Abram on November 24, 1713in
Petra, a farming village in Mallorca's central plain. At the age of
sixteen, Miguel entered the Franciscan friary and took the name Junípero,
after St. Francis' close, extroverted friend.
Years of formation and study followed, and in 1744 he was named
Professor of Philosophy at the monastery of San Francisco and at Lullian
University. Serra was known as a bright, articulate scholar --apparently
a moving speaker and a clear, precise writer -- but he did not remain
long in academic life. In1749 he responded to the call for Franciscan
missionaries to the New World.
Nearly 200 years before, Spain had established a colony called New
Spain, the area now known as Mexico. The success of colonization was due
largely to the collaboration of the Spanish imperial staff and the
Catholic Church. By acting as partners in exploration and settlement
efforts, both their purposes were achieved: Spain claimed new territory
and the Catholic Church claimed new members.
By the middle of the 18th century, Spanish cultural and religious
influence was already evident in New Spain's great cathedrals, schools,
hospitals, and seaports. However, this sophisticated civilization was
restricted to urban centers such as Mexico City. The outlying areas were
still uncharted and wild. The unexplored areas were considered
missionary territory.
Serra's first assignment was to be a rugged, mountainous region of
Sierra Gorda. Here he remained for nine years, preaching to the Indians
and strengthening the two missions already established in the area.
Serra's second assignment was to journey out from Mexico City into
coastal villages and mining camps. In those eight years, despite a leg
chronically infected and ulcerated after an insect bite, he walked over
6,000 miles on foot, preaching retreats and administering the
sacraments.
In 1767 when the King of Spain banished the Jesuit Society from his
dominions, the thirteen Jesuit missions in Baja California were suddenly
left unstaffed. Junipero Serra was assigned the new Superior of Baja
California, and within several years he was given orders to move into
Alta California, or what today is known as the state of California. In
1769 Serra was appointed padre president of California.
Serra joined the expedition of Don Gaspar de Pórtola, ordered by the
Spanish king to explore and occupy new territory. He reached San Diego
on June 27, 1769 and founded there the first mission. From San Diego the
party journeyed northward and in April, 1770 Serra founded San Carlos
Borromeo at Carmel, the second mission. In his fifteen years as padre
president, he established nine of his 21 missions, each a one-day walk
apart (about 30 miles), and linked by a dirt road called "El Camino
Real."
Junípero Serra personally oversaw the planning, construction, and
staffing of each mission from his headquarters at Carmel. From Carmel he
traveled on foot to the other missions along the California coast, to
supervise mission work and to confer the sacrament of Confirmation.
Biographers estimate that, still bothered by the infected leg, Serra
walked more than 24,000 miles in California alone -- more than the
journeys of Marco Polo and Lewis and Clark combined. He kept with
determination to his watchword, "Always to go forward and never to
turn back."
Each mission centered on a church structure, usually a wood frame
topped with a thatched roof. However, when the church at San Luis Obispo
burned after being showered by Indians' flaming arrows, all churches
were rebuilt of adobe and stone. Indians fashioned rounded roof tiles by
molding wet clay around their shins. Surrounding the church itself were
housing, areas for education of women and children, land cultivated for
farming, and cattle-grazing areas.
Junipero Serra did not die a martyr as he had hoped. Instead he died
a quiet, natural death at Carmel on August 28, 1784. Today, 200 years
later, he is a candidate for canonization. Prayer for canonization |
