They can bury me wherever they wish and I shall gladly be left among the pagans, if it be God's will." The Christian Indians from Baja who remained with the Spaniards did not know the Kumeyaay language. The Carmel Mission, as it is known today, became the headquarters of mission operations in Alta California. At the capital of Mexico, by order of Viceroy Bucareli, he printed up Representación in 32 articles. The missions established by Fr. "[124], Catholic writers maintain that the attacks on Serra impose modern judgments about the appropriateness of Christian evangelization of non-Christians, and that much of the criticism leveled against Serra results from ahistorical value judgments and from ideologies that deny the validity of Christianity and Catholicism as a legitimate social and cultural force. The more zealous Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries did likewise. "[57], Two servantsâone named José MarÃa Vergerano, a 20-year-old from Magdalena, the other a soldier guardâaccompanied Serra on his journey from Loreto, as he rode on a feeble mule. Serra rebuffed both Portolá's and Palóu's doubts. [69], The Portolá/Serra party, having trekked 900 miles (1450 kilometers) from Loreto and suffered dwindling food supplies along the way, arrived in San Diego on July 1, 1769. Serra’s first baptism in California which took place on 26 December 1770. But few took it to the extremes that Serra did. (/huËËniËpÉËroÊ ËsÉrÉ/; Spanish: [xuËnipeɾo Ësera], Catalan: JunÃper Serra i Ferrer; November 24, 1713 – August 28, 1784), was a Roman Catholic Spanish priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. In these last days a certain Cayetana, a very clever Mexican woman of said mission, married to one Pérez, a mulatto, has confessedâshe, being observed and accused of similar crimes, having been held under arrest by us for some days pastâthat in the mission there is a large congregation of [Christian non-Indians], although some Indians also join them, and that these persons, ... flying through the air at night, are in the habit of meeting in a cave on a hill near a ranch called El Saucillo, in the center of said missions, where they worship and make sacrifice to the demons who appear visibly there in the guise of young goats and various other things of that nature. For I was there [at mission Loreto] a whole year, in economic matters, as a mere guest to receive the crumbs of the royal soldier commissioner, whose liberality at my departure did not extend beyond the aforementioned articles. Royal officials provided horses for the 20 Franciscan friars to ride up the Camino Real. [citation needed], On Pentecost Sunday, June 3, 1770, Serra, Portolá and the whole expedition held a ceremony at a makeshift chapel erected next to a massive oak tree by Monterey Bay, to found mission San Carlos Borromeo. No Indians were in sight. So the San Antonio also turned south, anchoring in San Diego Bay on March 23. He still had seven years to go to become an ordained Catholic priest. It also boasts over 1,000 chapters in 44 countries. [citation needed], JunÃpero Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988. While he gave control of the church to Serra, Portolá controlled the living quarters and rationed out food to the friars, charging their costs to the mission. "The Life of Padre Serra.". But no more than half of them reached San Diego. They now had less than 80 miles (130 kilometers) to reach San Diego. I think you really come up with a benevolent, hard-working person who was strict in a lot of his doctrinal leanings and things like that, but not a person who was enslaving Indians, or beating them, ever. The natives appeared healthy, robust and friendly, immediately repeating the Spanish words they heard. and the other by 'Long live the King!' You can't put a smoking gun in his hand. "[134], Biographer Gregory Orfalea wrote of Serra: "I see his devotion to Native Californians as heartfelt, plain-spoken and borne out by continuous example." Saturday night, July 4, protesters in Sacramentoâs Capitol Park tore down a longstanding statue of St. Junípero Serra, our nationâs first Hispanic saint, one of the founders of the modern ⦠This project was intended both to Christianize the extensive California Indian populations while serving Spain’s strategic interest by providing additional security for the Manila Galleon trade. He is buried there under the sanctuary. After Mass, four soldiers went down to the beach to bring padre Fernando Parrón back from the San Carlos, where he had been celebrating Mass. [44], During other sermons on the theme of repentance, Serra would hoist a large stone in one hand and, while clutching a crucifix in the other, smash the stone against his chest. Fr. At the request of Viceroy Bucareli, he drew up a proposal document (Representación) with 32 articles. Some danced for the party, offering them fish and mussels. [109] The group was among an estimated 200 protestors who marched through the streets of Sacramento. [citation needed], The viceroy, Spain's highest official in Mexico, suspended the intrusive colony. [107], On June 20, 2020, a crowd of indigenous elders and young people gathered in downtown Los Angeles to witness the toppling of Serra's statue at Father Sera Park near Olvera Street. [104], On November 3, 2017, the statue of Serra located at the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was vandalized with red paint and suffered damage during an decapitation attempt with a reciprocating saw. Jesuit priests had developed 13 missions on that long and arid peninsula over seven decades. You can't put a whip in his hand. It was a field of missionary endeavor that required patience, perseverance, and humility, as well as vision and courage. He travelled on foot to the other missions along the California coast to supervise mission work and to confer the sacrament of Confirmation. [20], Serra wrote a letter in August 1778 to Fernando Rivera y Moncada explicitly instructing the colonial commander to whip and shackle Indigenous men who escaped from Mission San Carlos.[120]. Men on shore from the San Antonio, which had arrived three weeks earlier, had to board the San Carlos to help its surviving crew ashore. Arriving at a farm at day's end, he could hardly stand. Serra intervened on the soldiers' behalf, and the two did not get along. [72] Despite the efforts of Doctor Prat, many of the ill men died in San Diego. [58], After leaving Mission Santa MarÃa, Serra urged Portolá to move ahead of the slow pack train, so they could reach Velicatá in time for Pentecost the next day. "They [my parents] will learn to see how sweet is His yoke," Serra wrote, "and that He will change for them the sorrow they may now experience into great happiness. [citation needed], In the 18th century, most Catholic speculation regarding the ultimate end of unbaptized infants was still in line with the early Church Fathers such as Augustine of Hippo, who believed that unbaptized infants would receive the mildest chastisements in Hell, but no reward. Vila agreed to stay in the harbor until the relief ship arrivedâand to welcome Serra and Crespà aboard if they got stranded by Portolá's departure. If such evil is not attacked, the horrible corruption will spread among these poor [Indian] neophytes who are in our charge. A life-size bronze statue of Serra, which was removed in June 2020, overlooked the entrance to Mission Plaza in San Luis Obispo, near the façade of Old Mission San Luis Obispo. And that is true. 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. Economically, the missions produced all the colony’s cattle and grain, and by the 1780’s, were even producing surpluses sufficient to trade with Mexico for goods. "[82], Meanwhile, the land expedition departed from San Diego on April 17 under the command of Portolá. The variety he planted, presumably descended from Spain, became known as the Mission grape and dominated California wine production until about 1880. From the description of Letter: to Governor Felipe de Neve /by Junípero Serra, 1779 Sep17. Into the vacuum created by the Jesuits' expulsion from Mexico, stepped Franciscan missionaries. Where mission workers could dam small streams, they managed to grow wheat, corn, beans, fruits and cottonâalways depending on the availability of water. "[39], According to modern Franciscan historians, this report by Serra to the Inquisition is the only letter of his that has survived from eight years of mission work in the Sierra Gorda. [104], On September 12, 2017, Santa Barbara police reported a statue of Serra located at southern California's Santa Barbara mission had been decapitated and covered with red paint. This also helped to limit Russian explorations and claim to North America’s Pacific coast. Palóu supervised the farm labor of men of the mission; the women learned spinning, sewing and knitting. The next morning his leg was raw and bleeding. A bronze and marble sarcophagus depicting Serra's life was completed in 1924 by the sculptor Jo Mora, but Serra's remains have never been transferred to that sarcophagus. "[129][needs context], In July 2015, Mendoza testified at a hearing on a proposal to remove a statue of Junipero Serra from the U.S. Capitol. [61], Through a Christian Indian interpreter, Serra told the Indians that de la Campa would stay at the mission to serve them. Among his students were fellow future missionaries Francisco Palóu and Juan CrespÃ. Hence, he has been called the "Father of California Wine". Junipero Serra, like many religious people, genuinely believed he knew the path to salvation and eternal lifeâand that was something he dedicated much of his adult life to sharing with Californians. Serra countered that "God ... has given me the strength to come so far. They reported large populations of Indians living along the coast who seemed friendly and docile, ready to embrace the gospel. [155], In 2019, Stanford Universityâs Serra House where the Clayman Institute for Gender Research is located was renamed the Carolyn Lewis Attneave House. All accepted the offer, except for Serra and one companion, a friar from Andalusia. Or he would humbly carry trays and wait on tables with the lay brothers. Many groups among them, adopting mobile guerrilla tactics, had eluded conquest by the Spanish military. Added to this was the clangor of the bells, the volleys of the muskets, and the cannonading from the ship. Under his presidency were founded:[citation needed], Serra was also present at the founding of the Presidio of Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, California) on April 21, 1782, but was prevented from locating the mission there because of the animosity of Governor Felipe de Neve. Serra, clutching a Jesus figurine in one hand and a Mary figurine in the other, prayed to God to save both sides from casualties. The anguished Serra, along with friar Juan CrespÃ, insisted on staying in San Diego in the event of the Portolá group's departure. Even after the burning of the mission in San Diego, he did not want those Indians punished. [50] Jesuit priests had developed 13 missions on that long and arid peninsula over seven decades. Many of his listeners feared that he would strike himself dead. Serra, in the role of Jesus, washed their feet and then, after the service, dined with them. Junipero Serra is known as the Father of the Missions. He was given the religious name of JunÃpero in honor of Brother Juniper, who had been among the first Franciscans and a companion of Francis of Assisi. Yet Serra wrote six months later, in a letter to the guardian of the college of San Fernando, that "both our men and theirs sustained wounds"âwithout mentioning any Indian deaths. Leaving mission San Diego in the hands of friars Fernando Parrón and Francisco Gómez, Serra rode a launch out to board the San Antonio. Following Serra's death, leadership of the Franciscan missionary effort in Alta California passed to FermÃn Lasuén. But the claim by Palóu that Serra translated the catechism into the Pame language is questionable, as Serra himself later admitted he had great difficulties learning indigenous languages. Even though I should die on the way, I shall not turn back. [77], Over six months dragged on without a single Indian convert to mission San Diego. [33], Serra also tackled the practical side of mission administration. After he had exercised his privilege for a year, Governor Felipe de Neve, asserting his authority, directed him to suspend administering the sacrament until he could get approval from Rome. "[128], Ruben Mendoza, an archeologist of Mexican Mestizo and Native Yaqui descent who has extensively excavated missions in California, stated during a March 2015 interview with the Los Angeles Times that "Serra endured great hardships to evangelize Native Californians. [citation needed], The Indians now encountered by the party near the coast appeared well-fed and more eager to receive cloth than food. "Then I saw what I could hardly begin to believe when I read about it," wrote Serra. Applying to the colonial bureaucracy in Madrid, Serra requested that both he and Palóu embark on a foreign mission. He was also present at the founding of the presidio of Santa Barbara (1782). Serra was assigned to the missions to the Pame Indians located 90 miles north of the city of Querétaro in the town of Jalpan, nestled in the rugged Sierra Gorda mountains. His discomfort caused him to stay over at the farm another night, during which he scratched his foot and leg to excess, desperately trying to relieve the itch. The famous historian of missions Herbert Eugene Bolton gave evidence favorable to the case in 1948, and the testimony of five other historians was solicited in 1986. It is estimated that Serra travelled more than 6,000 miles in the Alta California missions. There are public elementary schools in San Francisco and Ventura, as well as a K-8 Catholic school in Rancho Santa Margarita. This wound plagued Serra for the rest of his life. [71] Doctor Pedro Prat, who had also sailed on the San Carlos as the expedition's surgeon, struggled to treat the ill men, himself weakened from scurvy. Serra and the missionaries were primarily motivated by the religious purpose of converting the Indians to Christianity, but they were also charged with fulfilling the secular ⦠Sources. [73], On August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, Serra and padre Sebastian VizcaÃno celebrated Mass at the new mission chapel, to which several Hispanics had gone for confession and Holy Communion. [110], The New York Times noted that some "Indian historians and authors blame Father Serra for the suppression of their culture and the premature deaths at the missions of thousands of their ancestors. Geiger, Maynard. The mission lands were our ancestral homes. He was the head of the Spanish mission in California for many years, and he founded the first eight missions. "[80], On April 16, 1770, the San Antonio set sail from San Diego Bay, carrying Serra, doctor Pedro Prat, engineer Miguel Costansó and a crew of sailors under captain Juan Pérez. He wore a sackcloth spiked with bristles, or a coat interwoven with broken pieces of wire, under his gray friar's outer garment. Spanish Franciscan priest, explorer and colonist of California, and founder of the missions of California, Saint Junípero Serra is known as the “Apostle of California” and “The Father of the California Missions”. Francis P. Guest, "Junipero Serra and His Approach to the Indians,". [55] Gálvez chose Serra to head the missionary team in the California expedition. Strictly following the rule of his patron saint Francis of Assisi that friars "must not ride on horseback unless compelled by manifest necessity or infirmity," Serra insisted on walking to Mexico City. "[111] George Tinker, an Osage/Cherokee and professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado,[112] cites evidence that Serra required the converted Indians to labor to support the missions. Bernardino de Jesus, 5 year old local Indian boy, was Fr. The missions were primarily designed to bring the Catholic faith to the native peoples. 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