Junípero Serra

Fray Junípero Serra
Junípero Serra at age 61, several years before his death.
Confessor
Born	(1713-11-24)November 24, 1713 Petra, Majorca
Died	August 28, 1784(1784-08-28) (aged 70) at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in California
Venerated in	Roman Catholicism
Beatified	September 25, 1988, Rome by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine	Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in Carmel, California
Feast	July 1
Patronage	Vocations

Fray Junípero Serra (known as Fra Juníper Serra in Catalan, his mother tongue ) (November 24, 1713 – August 28, 1784) was a Catalan Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in Alta California of the Las Californias Province in New Spain - present day California, United States. Fr. Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988 and given the title Blessed Fray Junípero Serra.

History

Junípero Serra was born Miquel Josep Serra i Ferrer in Petra, Majorca, Spain. He later took the name of "Junípero" in honor of Saint Juniper, who had also been a Franciscan and a follower of Saint Francis. On September 14, 1730, he entered the Order of Friars Minor. For his proficiency in studies he was appointed lector of philosophy before his ordination to the priesthood. Later he received a doctorate in theology from the Lullian University in Palma de Mallorca, where he also occupied the Duns Scotus chair of philosophy until he joined the missionary College of San Fernando de Mexico in 1749.

That year he journeyed to North America, first to Mexico City, where he taught. Father Serra refused to ride the mule that was provided him and walked from Veracruz to the capital. He was bitten by an insect and suffered from it throughout his life, though he continued to make his journeys on foot whenever necessary. He requested a transfer to the Sierra Gorda Indian Missions some 90 miles north of Santiago de Querétaro where he spent about nine years. During this time, he served as the mission's superior, learned the language of the Pame Indians, and translated the catechism into their language. Recalled to Mexico City, he became famous as a most fervent and effective preacher of missions. His zeal frequently led him to employ extraordinary means in order to move the people to penance: he would pound his breast with a stone while in the pulpit, scourge himself, or apply a lit torch to his bare chest. He established ten missions including Velicata.

Monument of Junípero Serra (with Juaneño Indian boy) on plaza de San Francisco de Asis in Havana

In 1768, Serra was appointed superior of a band of 15 Franciscans for the Indian Missions of Baja California. The Franciscans took over the administration of the missions on the Baja California Peninsula from the Jesuits after King Carlos III ordered them forcibly expelled from "New Spain" on February 3, 1768. Serra became the "Father Presidente." On March 12, 1768, Serra embarked from the Pacific port of San Blas on his way to the Californias. Early in the year 1769, he accompanied Governor Gaspar de Portolà on his expedition to Alta California. On the way, he established the Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá on May 14 (the only Franciscan mission in all of Baja California). When the party reached San Diego on July 1, Serra stayed behind to start the Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first of the 21 California missions (including the nearby Visita de la Presentación, also founded under Serra's leadership).

Serra moved to the area which is now Monterey in 1770, and founded Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo. He remained there as "Father Presidente" of the Alta California missions. In 1771, Serra relocated the mission to Carmel, which became known as "Mission Carmel" and served as his headquarters. Under his presidency were founded Mission San Antonio de Padua, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Mission San Francisco de Asís, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and Mission San Buenaventura. Serra was also present at the founding of the Presidio of Santa Barbara on April 21, 1782, but was prevented from locating the mission there because of the animosity of Governor Felipe de Neve.

In 1773, difficulties with Pedro Fages, the military commander, compelled Serra to travel to Mexico City to argue before Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursua for the removal of Fages as the Governor of California Nueva. At the capital of Mexico, by order of Viceroy Bucareli, he printed up Representación in 32 articles. Bucareli ruled in Serra's favor on 30 of the 32 charges brought against Fages, and removed him from office in 1774, after which time Serra returned to California. In 1778, Serra was given dispensation to administer the sacrament of confirmation for the faithful in California. After he had exercised his privilege for a year, governor Felipe de Neve directed him to suspend administering the sacrament until he could present the papal brief. For nearly two years Serra refrained, and then Viceroy Majorga gave instructions to the effect that Father Serra was within his rights. During the American Revolutionary War, Father Serra took up a collection from his mission parishes throughout California. The total money collected amounted to roughly $137, but the money was sent to General George Washington.

During the remaining three years of his life he once more visited the missions from San Diego to San Francisco, traveling more than 600 miles in the process, in order to confirm all who had been baptized. He suffered intensely from his crippled leg and from his chest, yet he would use no remedies. He confirmed 5,309 persons, who, with but few exceptions, were Indians ("neophytes") converted during the 14 years from 1770.

On August 28, 1784, at the age of 70, Father Junípero Serra died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo. He is buried there under the sanctuary floor.

Legacy

The Mission in Carmel, California containing Serra's remains has continued as a place of public veneration. The burial location of Serra is southeast of the altar and is marked with an inscription in the floor of the sanctuary. Other relics are remnants of the wood from Serra's coffin on display next to the sanctuary, and personal items belonging to Serra on display in the mission museums. A bronze and marble sarcophagus depicting Serra's life was completed in 1924 by Catalan sculptor Joseph A. Mora. Father Serra's remains have not been transferred to the sarcophagus.

The chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano, built in 1782, is believed to be the oldest standing building in California. Known as "Father Serra's Church," it has the distinction of being the only remaining church in which Father Serra is known to have celebrated the rites of the Catholic Church (he presided over the confirmations of 213 people on October 12 and October 13, 1783).

A gold statue of heroic size represents him as the apostolic preacher at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford, wife of Leland Stanford, governor and US Senator from California, although not a Catholic herself, had a granite monument erected to honor Father Serra at Monterey.

• In 1884, the Legislature of California passed a concurrent resolution making August 29 of that year, the centennial of Father Serra's burial, a legal holiday. Many of Serra's letters and other documentation are extant, the principal ones being his "Diario" of the journey from Loreto to San Diego, which was published in Out West (March to June, 1902) along with Serra's "Representación."

A statue of Friar Junípero Serra is one of two statues that represents the state of California in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol Building. It was sculpted by Ettore Cadorin and depicts Serra holding a cross and looking toward the sky.

When Interstate 280 was built in stages from Daly City to San Jose in the 1960s, it was named the Junipero Serra Freeway. Along the freeway in Hillsborough, California, is a statue of Serra. It stands on a hill on the northbound side and has a large pointing finger facing the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Pacific.

Many California cities have streets, trails, and other features named after Father Serra. Examples include Santa Barbara, which contains Alameda Padre Serra (Father Serra's Street), running from Mission Santa Barbara along the base of the Riviera, the hill overlooking the city; and San Diego, in which Father Junipero Serra Trail runs through the Mission Trails Regional Park to Santee. Among the many schools named after Serra are Junípero Serra High School in the San Diego community of Tierrasanta, and Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo.

Both Spain and the United States have honored Serra with postage stamps.

Allegations of genocide

Lives

To the Native American Californian people of Alta California, the missions were nothing but forced labour relocation camps. They formed the major part of a calamitous process of colonization that amounted to cultural genocide. Serra planned to convert all Indians to Christianity and recruits to the mission were often forced to do so, nearly at gunpoint. Their centuries old native religions, spiritual practices, and ceremonial objects were forbidden. By Spanish law, all baptized Indians were under the authority of the Franciscans. Outfitted in blue uniforms and given foreign Spanish names, they became slaves on the mission farms and ranches. Disobedience was punished by whipping, branding, mutilation or execution. If they fled the mission grounds they were hunted down. In 1775, eight hundred Native Americans revolted against their treatment, and burned down the San Diego mission. The revolt for freedom was brutally put down by the Spanish soldiers.

Deaths

Between 1769 and 1821, the Indian population dropped from 300,000-700,000 people to 25,000. On this Cook rendered his harshest criticism:

"The first (factor) was the food supply... The second factor was disease. ...

A third factor, which strongly intensified the effect of the other two, was the social and physical disruption visited upon the Indian. He was driven from his home by the thousands, starved, beaten, raped, and murdered with impunity. He was not only given no assistance in the struggle against foreign diseases, but was prevented from adopting even the most elementary measures to secure his food, clothing, and shelter. The utter devastation caused by the white man was literally incredible, and not until the population figures are examined does the extent of the havoc become evident."

— Cook, Sherburne F. 1976b. The Population of the California Indians, 1769-1970. University of California Press, Berkeley, p. 200

Sherburne F. Cook was the most persistent and painstaking student of the problem, examining in detail both pre-contact estimates and the history of demographic decline during mission and post-mission periods.

Many deaths were the result of diseases such as malaria and smallpox, unknowingly brought by the Spanish and to which the native population had no immunity. Life expectancy once within the missions was around 10 years. As one Friar noted, the Indians "live well free but as soon as we reduce them to a Christian and community life... they fatten, sicken, and die."

Questions over beatification

Junípero Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988, this being one of the steps towards canonization, or promotion to sainthood, in the Roman Catholic Church. Some Native American groups are opposed to this, claiming that the missions seriously mistreated their people. They point to the harsh conditions of mission life, substantial Native Californian population and cultural losses, and Serra's own justification of Indian Reductions and beatings. In 1780, Serra wrote: "that spiritual fathers should punish their sons, the Indians, with blows appears to be as old as the conquest of the Americas; so general in fact that the saints do not seem to be any exception to the rule."

See also

• Junipero Serra Peak
• Catholic Church in the United States#American Catholic Servants of God, Venerables, Beatified, and Saints

Further reading

• Gleiter, Jan (1991). Junipero Serra.
• Fitch, Abigail Hetzel (1914). Junipero Serra: The Man and His Work.
• Deverell, William Francis (2008-10-31). A Companion to California History. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9781405161831. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sandos, James A. (2004). Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the Missions. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300101003.
• Cook, Sherburne Friend (1976-10-28). The conflict between the California Indian and white civilization. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520031425.

External links

• The Humanity of Junípero Serra, an article by Thomas Davis at the Serra International official website
• Junipero Serra and the California Missions Biography, mission information.
• Junipero Serra (1713-1784) Biography, mission information.
•  Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1892). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• California Genocide
• Junípero Serra at Find a Grave