Franciscan Junipero Serra (1713-1784), one of the founders of Catholicism in California, should he miraculously walk the paths of California today (on tired, sore, bare feet, for he believed in the practice of mortification), would be astonished at the vitriol and condemnations of his efforts at bringing the Great Commission among the native people of California.
In recent years, progressives have joined on the bandwagon of hating Franciscan missionaries such as Fray Serra, who have become a symbol of the evils of the Spanish missionary experience in colonial California. Serra has been accused of outrageous actions in books such as Bad Indians by Deborah Miranda (2013) and in petitions to condemn his memory, such as the following:
Serra is not the historical hero people thought when this landmark statue to him was erected [in Ventura], one of many throughout California, as a historical emblem, he is toxic and should be removed. As a community we cannot and will not support the dehumanization of the Native American community any longer. We are calling for restorative justice and are petitioning for his statue to be removed immediately.
In response, Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, declared:
The real St. Junipero fought a colonial system where natives were regarded as “barbarians” and “savages,” whose only value was to serve the appetites of the white man. For St. Junipero, this colonial ideology was a blasphemy against the God who has “created (all men and women) and redeemed them with the most precious blood of his Son.” [Fray Serra] lived and worked alongside native peoples and spent his whole career defending their humanity and protesting crimes and indignities committed against them.
Junipero Serra sacrificed his life for others, serving and defending them—not the other way around.
A native of Majorca, he was an intellectual and expert on the Medieval philosopher John Duns Scotus. A Franciscan devoted to the Great Commission, Fray Serra responded to Jesus’ commandment to leave family and friends and, in 1749, journeyed to America. Upon landing at Veracruz, he traveled to Mexico City by foot in an act of humility and mortification. Arriving, he stopped to pray at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, then joined the faculty of the College of San Fernando, where he spent years working as a missionary to the people of the Querétaro region, northwest of Mexico City.
In 1767, Fray Serra was appointed presidente of Franciscan missions in California. So, Fray Serra traveled to Baja California, where the Spanish had established numerous missions, before turning his attention to the north, Alta California, in 1769. He journeyed overland through Baja California, halting in April 1769 between Mission Purisima Concepción and Mission Guadalupe, where he found the local Cochimi tribe suffering from lack of food. He wrote in his diary:
When night came on I tarried on the ground. There I talked with some ten families of Indians, and when I asked them for the reason of their being there, they told me with much sorrow that they were of the mission of Guadalupe; and that the Father, for want of provisions, had found himself obliged to send them out to the mountains to seek their food; and that as they were not accustomed to this, their hardship was great, particularly in seeing their babies suffer and hearing them cry. I felt sorry enough, and though it was somewhat unfortunate that the pack-train was behind and could not arrive that night, they were not left without some alleviation; for with a portion of pinole which I carried they made themselves a dish of good atole, which was for the women and children. Afterwards the process was repeated for the men. At this they were consoled, the more so, when I told them that they should go to their mission; that already corn was on the way to the Father by sea from Mulegé by order of the most illustrious inspector. I took my rest, and had them pray together. They concluded by singing a very tender song of the love of God; and as those of that mission have justly the fame of singing with especial sweetness, I had a good deal of consolation in hearing them.
(Quoted in Engelhardt, The Missions and Missionaries of California, 1: 349-350)
A month later, on May 15th, still on the road in northern Baja California, Fray Serra encountered many whom he called “gentiles,” meaning they had not yet heard the Good News. “And I praised God,” Serra wrote, “for allowing me to encounter such humble creatures for whom there appear to be no obstacles that would prevent them from receiving the light of the Holy Gospel.” In June, Serra wrote: “The time we have spent with them has been most pleasurable. Their beautiful physique, comportment, friendliness, and happiness have won all our hearts.” And on June 26th, “one of the women wanted me to hold the infant she was nursing. I held him in my arms for a while, so wishing that I could baptize him.” (Quoted in Beebe and Senkewicz, Junipero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary, pgs. 186, 194, 197)
On his many journeys, usually on foot, Fray Serra often incurred leg sores that became chronic, so much so that his friends were worried for his health. Arriving at San Diego in July 1769, Serra’s leg unexpectedly began to heal—and so too did the people under his charge at the new mission he founded, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, where he spent about nine months tending to the sick.
In July 1770, he moved north, founding Mission San Carlos de Monterey on the Carmel River (renamed Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo), a place from where Fray Serra would direct his missionary activities in Alta California. He founded Mission San Antonio de Padua, near Monterey in the Santa Lucia Mountains, in July 1771. Two months later, Fray Serra founded Mission San Gabriel, named for the archangel. In 1772 he founded Mission San Luis Obispo de Toloso.
In November 1776, Fray Fermin Francisco de Lasuén founded Mission San Juan Capistrano on the San Juan Creek. A month later, Fray Serra was journeying with Fray Lasuén on the path from Mission San Carlos on the Carmel River to the new Mission San Juan Capistrano. Caught in a terrible rainstorm, the two Franciscans and their military escort were confronted by warriors from the Chumush tribe, who were often aggressive toward the Spanish; indeed, Fray Lasuén the previous year had narrowly escaped death at their hands. But this time, the Chumush came to the aid of the Franciscans, carrying Fray Serra through a difficult, muddy passage. In return, Fray Serra stayed with the people, getting to know them, praying and singing with them. “And for me,” he wrote in his diary, “this served to deepen the compassion I have felt for them for quite some time” (Quoted in Beebe and Senkewicz, Junipero Serra, 19).
At some of the many missions founded by Fray Serra, such as at San Diego, the local Native Americans, the Kumeyaay, rebelled against the Spanish presence, especially of the soldiers at the local presidio. On several occasions, they attacked the mission. The 1773 attack killed the resident Franciscan missionary, Fray Luis Jayme, who ironically had been a champion of Indian rights against the presidio soldiers. Fray Serra made the decision not to avenge his death, but rather to capture, briefly imprison, and set free the Kumeyaay warriors, hoping by such generosity to bring them closer to the Faith.
Fray Serra followed the dictates of the Franciscans and other missionaries in America, who believed that Christianity and civilization were linked. Because of this, they believed that converts must be catechized and learn the sign of the cross before baptism, learn to farm, and live in missions directed by the missionaries, who thought of the Indians as spiritual children. According to their dictates, the missionaries believed that the body must oftentimes be mortified in order to embrace the spirit; hence corporeal mortifications were used, sometimes even self-inflicted. As he wrote in 1778:
I maintain that settlements populated by fine Spanish citizens who are models of good behavior can be established only after the gentiles who are scattered across the territory have become Christians and have been brought together in their respective [missions]. (Quoted in Beebe and Senkewicz, Junipero Serra, 357)
In Fray Serra’s missions, every day the people of the mission came together for morning Mass, which involved the homily and hymns of praise to God. He continues to describe the daily schedule:
Then they go to breakfast on the mush (atole) which is made for all, and before partaking of it they cross themselves and sing the Bendito [hymn of praise]; then they go to work at whatever can be done, the padres inclining them and applying them to the work by setting an example themselves; at noon they eat their soup (pozole), which is made for all alike (de comunidad); then they work another stint; and at sunset they return to recite doctrine and end by singing the Alabado, [an evening hymn of praise].
(Quoted in Elliott Coues, ed. and trans., On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer: The Diary and itinerary of Francisco Garcés (Missionary Priest) in His Travels through Sonora, Arizona, and California, 1775-1776, vol. 1, pg. 262.)
Junipero Serra was a teacher, a man who gave his life to Christ in obedience to the Great Commission. He believed in establishing missions for the Indians to follow the examples of St. Benedict and St. Francis, who, according to Pope Francis, believed in “combining prayer and spiritual reading with manual labor (ora et labora).” Pope Francis explains:
Seeing manual labour as spiritually meaningful proved revolutionary. Personal growth and sanctification came to be sought in the interplay of recollection and work. This way of experiencing work makes us more protective and respectful of the environment; it imbues our relationship to the world with a healthy sobriety. (Pope Francis, On the Care for Our Common Home, section 126)
Junipero Serra taught others to believe what he believed—that work and prayer are the keys to a successful life.
Image from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through prayer
