Junípero Serra

Fra Junípero Serra
Junípero Serra at age 61, several years before his death.
Confessor
Born	November 24 1713(1713-11-24) in Petra, Majorca
Died	August 28 1784 (aged 70) in 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
Attributes	Confessor

Fra Junípero Serra (November 24, 1713 – August 28, 1784) was a Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in Alta California and is remembered both for his effective missionary work and his courageous insistence on the rights of native Americans.

Serra joined the Franciscans in 1730, became a priest in 1738, and later taught philosophy in Majorca, Spain. He traveled to Mexico City in 1750 and worked as a missionary and preacher in central Mexico until 1767. He then led a group of Franciscans to California), where he founded Mission San Diego and eight additional Franciscan missions, converting a large proportion of the local natives and strengthening Spain’s control of the area.

A supporter of human rights for the natives, in 1773 brought a successful case against the military governor of New Califonia on grounds of corruption and abuse and later won the right to administer the sacrament of confirmation to his converts, giving them the status of Spanish citizens.

Serra was beatified on 1988, but his canonization as a saint is opposed by segments of the Native American population who charge that, as part of the Spanish colonial system, he disrupted native culture and exploited the native people for Spain's economic advantage. He is nevertheless highly respected in California, where numerous monuments have been erected in his honor.

Biography

Serra was born Miguel José Serra in Petra, Majorca, Kingdom of Spain on November 24 1713. He later took the name of "Junípero" in honor of Saint Juniper, a disciple 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.

Activities in and near Mexico City

That year he traveled to North America, first to Mexico City, where he taught. While riding on a mule from Vera Cruz to the capital, he seriously injured his leg, so that he suffered from pain throughout his life. He nevertheless tried to make his journeys on foot whenever possible.

Serra soon requested a transfer to the Sierra Gorda Indian Missions some 90 miles north of Santiago de Querétaro where he spent 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 fervent and effective preacher. His zeal frequently led him to employ extraordinary and dramatic means in order to move the people to penance: he would pound his breast with a stone while in the pulpit, scourge himself, and even apply a lit torch to his bare chest. He established nine missions.

The California Missions

Fr. Serra rejoices over the arrival of a much needed supply ship in San Diego.

In 1767, Serra was appointed superior of a group of 15 Franciscans who were mandated to expand the Indian Missions of Lower 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.

On March 12, 1768, he embarked from the Pacific port of San Blas on the Mexican mainland on his way to the Californias. Early in 1769, he accompanied Governor Gaspar de Portolà on an expedition to Nueva 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 such missions in California.

Under the Franciscan spirit, the missions met with unprececedented success, accomplishing the conversions of majority of the natives on the Pacific coast as far as north as Sonoma, although not without sometimes violent resistance, notably at San Diego in 1774. When he reached Monterey and founded Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, Serra remained there as "Father Presidente" of the Alta California missions. In 1771, he relocated this 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 21 April, 1782, but was prevented from locating the mission there because of the animosity of Governor Felipe de Neve, with whom he often quarreled over the issue of the treatment of the natives.

Controversies

Serra was well acquainted with the writings of Bartolomé de Las Casas, who argued that native peoples deserved to be treated a full human beings with all attendant rights. These views, however, put him at odds with the Spanish military government, which often took the view that human rights were a luxury they could not afford to grant to the natives. Serra thus grew increasingly frustrated with the abuse of the Indians by Spanish soldiers and the corrupt leadership of the military governor of New California, Pedro Fages. In 1773, Serra to traveled to Mexico City to argue before Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursua for the removal of Fages as the governor and to set forth, in effect a bill of rights for the natives.

He drew up a Representación consisting of 32 articles, and Bucareli ruled in Serra's favor on 30 of the charges, removing Fages from office in 1774. Serra then returned to California, and in 1778, he was authorized to administer the sacrament of confirmation for the new faithful, having the effect of conferring on his converts the rights of Spanish citizens. After he had exercised his privilege for a year, however, Governor Felipe de Neve directed him to suspend administering the sacrament until the matter could be resolved by the Vatican. For nearly two years Serra refrained, until Viceroy Martín de Mayorga Ferrer determined that Father Serra was within his rights.

Last years and death

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 also in his chest, but he would use no remedies. He is recorded as having confirmed 5,309 persons, who, with but few exceptions, were Indians converted during the 14 years from 1770.

On August 28, 1784, at the age of 70, Father Serra died of a snake bite at Mission Carmel and was buried there under the sanctuary floor.

Legacy and Veneration

A statue of Father Junípero Serra blessing a Juaneño Indian boy, sculpted by Tole van Rensalaar. The work was commissioned in 1914 by Father St. John O'Sullivan to depict the meeting of the two cultures; it was dedicated on the 201st anniversary of Serra's birth.

Junípero Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988, this being the first step towards canonization, or promotion to sainthood, in the Roman Catholic Church. Some Native American groups are opposed to this, claiming that the missions mistreated their people and seriously disrupted native culture.

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 acted as priest, presiding over the confirmations of 213 people on October 12 and October 13, 1783.

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.

Numerous monuments have been erected to Father Serra in California:

• A bronze 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 Monterrey.

• 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.

• 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. There is also a statue of Serra along the freeway in Hillsborough, California. The statue stands on a hill on the northbound side and has a large pointing finger facing the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Pacific.

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

• Santa Barbara, California, has a street named Alameda Padre Serra (Father Serra's Street) that runs from the Mission Santa Barbara along the foothills in the city.

• San Diego, California, has a street named Father Junipero Serra Trail that runs through the Mission Trails Regional Park to Santee, California.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13730b.htm

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Junípero Serra

• 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, and prayer for canonization.
• Padre Serra Parish in Camarillo, California, official website
• Serra Retreat Center in Malibu, California
• Colegio Fray Junipero Serra, Catholic School in Ensenada, Baja California
• Serra Club of Charleston, W. Va. in Charleston, West Virginia
• Fray Junípero Serra, mallorquín universal

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Junípero Serra  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Junípero Serra"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.