Rediscovering Junipero Serra

serraUSA
R E D I S C O V E R I N G
J U N I P E R O
JULY 2006
S E R R A
Blessed Junípero Serra’s cell at Mission Carmel.
e hear it said that you cannot understand a man until you
get into his skin. I don't know how to get into a man's
skin, but I can get into his clothes — the Franciscan
habit in this case — then maybe into his skin, and finally,
perhaps, into his soul.
Junípero Serra's skin, by the way, was of a swarthy complexion.
He had scant beard with dark hair and eyes. He was 5 feet, 2 inches
tall and of slim build.
Father Francisco Palóu, Serra’s companion and biographer, said
of him: "He was serious from childhood, which seriousness he
retained all his life, so that on the surface he appeared to be austere
and almost unapproachable. But as soon as one talked and dealt with
him, one had to change his opinion and consider him gentle, amiable
and attractive, for he won the hearts of all."
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JUNÍPERO
SERRA
Apostle to California
The following is a talk given by Serran Carl Sundell to the
Serra Club of Lubbock on Jan. 27, 2006. For the occasion
Carl wore a Franciscan robe and toted a walking stick such
as Serra would have used as he traveled up and down the coast
of California.
he man we know as Blessed Junípero
Serra was born in 1713 to illiterate parents of the laboring class, both of them
members of the Third Order of Saint
Francis, in Mallorca, Spain. His mother
was especially influential in cultivating his early spirituality. His birth name was Miguel José. Later, when ordained
a Franciscan priest, he would choose the name Junípero,
after Saint Francis's friend and loyal comrade.
By way of setting the stage, it is interesting to note
the political intrigues at work in Europe and Mexico when
Serra was a young man. There was a ferment of intellec-
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tual, spiritual, and political revolution throughout Europe
and the Americas. The French philosopher Voltaire and
others mocked the authority of the church and the crown.
Atheism and skepticism were rife throughout Europe.
Charles III was king of Spain. The Jesuits were the
dominant missionary force in the New World. Their influence had become so powerful and feared by enemies of
the church that an ambitious member of the king's court,
the atheist Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count Aranda,
conspired to make it appear that the Jesuits wanted to
unseat the king by questioning his legitimate birthright to
the throne. Furious at this news, the king suppressed the
Jesuits and recalled them from Mexico. This left a huge
spiritual vacuum, into which stepped the Dominicans and
the Franciscans to compete in the missionary fields of the
New World.
Now entered our own Junípero Serra.
Querétaro Portrait of Blessed Serra. This well-known image of Serra is a copy by Father José Mosqueda (1870-1954) of
a lost original by an unknown 18th-century artist.
nspired by the recently canonized
Saint Francis Solano, who had
almost single-handedly converted to
Christ 100,000 Indians of South
America, Serra dedicated himself to
become a missionary in Mexico at the age of 36.
Upon leaving Spain, many who had heard Serra in the
pulpit and read his writings expressed their regret that
they were going to lose a potentially great philosopher,
theologian, and preacher.
Serra's three-month voyage from Spain to
Mexico tested his physical, psychological and spiritual endurance. At one point the crew and passengers
were rationed to half a pint of water every 24 hours.
Junípero later told of moments when he would have
been gladly willing to drink slime. He claimed to have
saved his own saliva, and possibly his life, by eating little and talking hardly at all.
I
When Serra arrived in the New World, he traveled from the port of Vera Cruz to Mexico City by
foot, in obedience to the rule of Saint Francis. During
this 250-mile trek he was bitten in the leg by a mosquito. Constant scratching left his skin raw, bloody,
and infected, which caused the limp and chronic pain
he suffered in that leg for the rest of his life.
Father Palóu recorded the following apocryphal
story of Serra’s trip: "Serra and his companion, on a
lonely road in the desert at nightfall, saw a house nearby, whose only vegetation besides cactus and thorn
bushes was three cottonwood trees. Going there to ask
for lodgings, they found a venerable man with his
young wife and child, by whom they were given the
most kind welcome. In the morning they thanked their
hosts and continued their journey until they met some
muleteers who asked them where they had spent the
night. Upon being told, they exclaimed: 'There is no
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one had tried to poison him. Offered a diuretic to relieve
house within leagues of here!' Serra and his companion
his discomfort, Junípero declined, replying in Latin from
returned to have another look at this humble house, and
the passage from Mark 16:18 where Jesus spoke of the
found the three cottonwood trees easily enough, but no
powers he conferred upon his apostles: Si mortiferum quid
habitation of any kind. The two friars, remembering the
biberent, non eis nocebit; “If they drink any deadly thing, it
cordiality with which they had been received into so poor
will not harm them.” Later that same morning, Junípero
but so clean and neat a place, could only believe that they
resumed his regular schedule of hearing confessions.
had been entertained by Jesus, Mary, and Joseph."
After several years
For the next 20
spent near Mexico
years Serra would
City,
Serra
was
preach and teach in
marked by his superithe area surrounding
ors to become a misMexico City. He
sionary to Texas. The
became famous for his
Franciscans had a mistireless efforts and sacsion in Apache counrifice, often praying
try in a region someuntil 4 o'clock in the
where north of San
morning.
Meat
Antonio. The padres
became repulsive to
stationed there had
him. He mainly surbeen given assurance
vived on vegetables
by the leaders of the
and fish. Sometimes,
Apache tribe nearby
spied upon by other
that they would confriars, he was observed
vert to Christianity,
flogging himself and
but first they had some
tearing his body with
unfinished business to
rough hair shirts
settle with another
woven either with bristribe. Later, an army of
tles or with pieces of
2,000 Indians, mostly
metal wire.
Comanches in war
Of
Serra’s
paint, arrived at the
preaching,
Father
mission. When the
Palóu noted, "Not
monks opened the
content to mortify his
gate to let them in, all
body for its own
were
slaughtered
imperfections and sins,
except for the one who
he also did penance for
escaped to tell the tale.
the sins of others. By
Junípero Serra’s personal woodblock used for imprinting holy cards
One of the priests,
strong censures he
with the image of his religious namesake, Blessed Juniper.
Father Santiestevan,
would move his listenwas beheaded near the altar as he prayed. Thankfully,
ers to sorrow and penance for their sins; he struck his
Padre Serra was spared to go another direction . . . to
breast with the stone, in imitation of Saint Jerome; in imiCalifornia.
tation of Saint Francis Solanus, to whom he was devoted,
he used the chain to scourge himself; he used the burning
he Spanish had decided to make a last
torch, applying it to his uncovered chest, burning his flesh
attempt to hold onto its California terriin imitation of Saint John Capistran and other saints. All
tory, increasingly coveted by the English,
this he did with the purpose not only of punishing himself,
the French, and the Russians. By the cusbut also of moving his hearers to penance for their own
tom of those days, no European nation
sins."
could make legal claim to a territory without first estabOn one occasion, while celebrating Mass, after drinklishing permanent settlements. Missions would qualify as
ing the Precious Blood, Serra visibly changed color and
such.
was rendered partly speechless. Carried to the sacristy and
At first, in 1767, Father Serra was made president of
examined, those in attendance were convinced that some-
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Palóu Woodcut Serra Portrait, a frontispiece
from Francisco Palóu’s 1787 biography of
Serra. Serra is shown in Franciscan habit, holding a
crucifix, and a stone in his right hand representing a
life of penance undertaken for his sins and the sins of
others. Tears signify pathos for the souls he left unredeemed and the birds above him those he helped
redeem. He is surrounded by his European and
Indian congregation, and at his feet: a skull (mortality); lighted candle (immortality); chain (self-mortification); scallop shell (attribute of Saint Augustine of
Hippo, on whose feast day Serra died, and of Saint
James the Greater, patron of Serra’s Spanish homeland); chalice with snake (attribute of Saint John the
Evangelist, in reference to his miraculous escape
from death by poisoning, as did Serra in the Mexican
Sierra Gorda) . . . The engraving, featured in Palóu’s
Historical Account of the Life and Apostolic Labors of
the Venerable Father Fray Junípero Serra, was first
published in Mexico City in 1787. Authored by
Serra’s longtime friend and fellow Mallorcan, this
was the first book written in California . . . The
Spanish legend translates: “True portrait of the
Venerable Father Fray Junípero Serra, son of the holy
province of Our Seraphic Saint Francis on the Island
of Mallorca; Doctor and Ex-Professor of Theology,
Commissary of the Holy Office, Missionary of the
Apostolic College of San Fernando and Mexico,
Founder and President of the Missions of Upper
California. He died with great fame of holiness on 28
August 1784 at the age of 70 years, nine months,
four days, having spent half of his life as an apostolic
missionary.”
-- From Junípero Serra: A Pictorial Biography,
by Martin J. Morgado (Siempre Adelante Publishing, 1991)
all the 15 missions earlier established by the Jesuits below
San Diego. Then he proceeded to personally found nine of
the 21 Franciscan missions that would be built in upper
California, from San Diego to San Francisco.
Let us picture Junípero approaching a spot for building a mission. He would be accompanied at most by several laborers, soldiers, pack animals, supplies, and a single bell
from Spain. When the mission spot was picked, the bell
would be hung from a tree limb and clanged long and loud.
Sooner or later, curious American Indians would emerge
from the wooded areas.
Serra would encounter many different Indian tribes
during his ministry in California — among them were the
Yuma, Chumash, Pomo, Costanoan and Esselen, to name
a few. He joyfully recorded in his diary that he exchanged
gifts with the first unconverted natives he met in California,
at the frontier outpost of San Fernando de Velicatá on May
15, 1769. “I was convinced that, before long, they would be
caught in the apostolic and evangelical net,” he wrote. Soon
he would come to love these strangers as if they were his
own family.
Early on it was discovered that the padres' authority
could be sustained by giving gifts to the Indians, who would
come and stay at the missions with the padres if they were
treated well and received corn and trinkets along with the
blessings and the sacraments. Since the Indians had no use
for the Spanish language, the padres had no choice but to
learn the native languages. A permanent bi-lingual culture
quickly emerged at the missions, with a few younger Indians
learning Spanish and becoming translators for the others.
Once the Indians became a part of the community to
help build and sustain the missions, the padres had authority over them, except in the case of punishment for serious
and violent crimes, which was administered by the
Spanish military and civil authority.
The Franciscans, of course, insisted on clothing for
the Indians (who wore comparatively little), and much of
it at first was imported from Mexico. Later the Indians
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were taught to weave their own clothing from sheep's wool.
The Indians highly prized leather clothing, as it made them
look more like the Spanish soldiers, whose clothes they
admired. They were rewarded with leather garments
according to their willingness to yield to other areas of
Spanish customs and values.
According to Serra biographer and historian Father
Maynard Geiger, OFM, the work schedule of the Indians
at the missions was never more than four to five hours a
day, and in the summer afternoon they never worked more
than 90 minutes. They ate well under the padres, enjoying
three warm meals daily. Everyday, each Indian received
eight pounds of food plus whatever he could gather on his
own. The elderly and the sick were given whatever they
desired. In the time spent with the Franciscans, the Indians
learned to treasure Christian music and took considerable
interest in playing European instruments. (During his tour
of California after the missions were closed in the 1850s,
writer Robert Louis Stevenson heard Indians still singing
Gregorian chant.)
Serra discovered, from papers left behind by the
Jesuits, that they had been given permission by a previous
pope to administer the sacrament of confirmation in the
absence of a bishop. Junípero then applied to the Vatican
for the same permission, which was granted. But when talk
was heard of his friends in Mexico City wanting to use their
connections to make him a bishop, he stopped the effort in
its tracks for fear that by becoming a bishop he would be
denied the opportunity to serve the Indians in the missionary fields.
or as many successes as they enjoyed,
these were not easy times for Serra and
his padres. To his great and constant frustration, many of Serra's accomplishments were undermined or sabotaged by
various military and civil authorities. Finally disgusted, in
1773 Serra drafted a long letter that petitioned Viceroy
Antonio Maria Bucareli in Mexico City with a series of
demands, nearly all of which were granted. Here are just a
few of them: that the military authorities should stop abusing and exploiting the Indians; that the hundred cows
promised to the missions should be duly delivered instead
of being secretly held by the soldiers; that he (Serra) be
relieved of the bureaucratic records he was required to keep
because half his time was wasted on paperwork; that the
corn packed should no longer be sent to the missions "in
bags with holes in them," and that false weights should no
longer be used in measuring the bags; and finally, that the
Dominican friars must be admonished to stop intercepting
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and confiscating supplies intended for the Franciscans!
In addition, Serra urged the military authorities to
send him only married soldiers with their families, because
the single men took advantage of the Indian women.
Moreover, after their discharge from military service, these
same soldiers and their families would help to provide the
nucleus of a community that would build a new civilization
throughout California.
Only two years later, Serra would have to write another long letter to the viceroy, this time one of sorrow.
Founded by Serra in 1769, Mission San Diego de
Alcalá was sometimes referred to as the Plymouth Rock of
California because it was the first Californian settlement
and is regarded as the birthplace of Christianity in the far
West. By 1775 the number of Indian converts was 470. On
the single day of Oct. 3 that year, 60 baptisms were performed. This infuriated those Indians who had refused to be
baptized, and a month later, about 1,000 warriors descended upon the mission at San Diego, destroying its buildings
and their defenders. They knifed and pulverized beyond
recognition the mission's chaplain, Father Francisco Jayme.
Junípero wrote in his report to the viceroy: "If I
should die a martyr's death at the hands of the native peoples, I ask that no revenge or retaliation for my death be
taken. What would be gained for our cause by such an
action? Instead, show them and teach them the love and
forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . As for the murderers, let them live, so as to make it possible for them to save
their souls. It is for this that we have come here; this is the
only reason that justifies our presence . . . After inflicting
upon the guilty man a moderate punishment which he will
understand, send him home forgiven. He will know that
you do it in order to carry out the word of the Gospel,
which obliges you to forget injuries, and he will only be
more drawn toward that religion of goodness and kindness
which we have come to bring him."
On a trip from Mission San Gabriel to San Juan
Capistrano, Junípero’s words to the viceroy almost came
true. Accompanied by one soldier and a Christian Indian,
he was rapidly approached by a band of armed Indians
painted for battle and ready to attack. The Christian Indian
warned the menacing band that a troop of soldiers following not far behind would chase and kill them all if any
harm came to the padre. The Indians were pacified, whereupon Serra blessed them and presented them with glass
beads. Serra would later confide to Father Palóu that at the
time he thought his end had surely come.
Considering the danger that naturally came with
bringing the faith to a remote, unknown land and its people, it is no surprise that one of the greatest hardships the
padres faced was the shortage of Franciscan priests recruit-
ed from Spain. Often there would be, at most, only one
priest per mission. (Sound familiar?) Yet in the few short
years he had left to give this ministry, Serra effected many
positive changes on the lives of the Indians. They were
required to abandon their weapons in order to be baptized.
They were educated in the trades, taught to farm, and to
raise livestock. Some were taught to read. Junípero knew
that this process of converting the Indians, not only in faith
but also in their way of life, would take much longer than
his own lifetime.
hortly before Serra died, the Dominicans
made a bid to take over the missions he
had established. In this they were prevented, much to his relief.
Father Palóu’s writings bring us the
scene of Serra's approaching death: Sensing that his condition was fatal, Serra experienced a number of anxiety
attacks resulting from his fear that he was unworthy of the
kingdom to come. He called his monks around him to pray
with him, and very soon he was at peace with himself . . .
and with our Lord.
By the time Father Serra died in 1784, he had
marched on foot well over 5,000 miles, had established
nine California missions, had laid the foundations for 11
more, and had personally baptized and confirmed nearly
6,000 Indians — about 10 percent of California's Indian
population. Records indicate that the missions together
produced 140,000 cattle, 130,000 sheep, 12,000 horses and
mules, not to mention other livestock, vineyards, and
orchards. (Incidentally, it was Serra who sent for the first
grapevines from Spain that were planted in California and
which became for later generations a huge industry.)
Serra's monks had done well. Records show that within 20
years of Junípero's death nearly all the Indians of Old
California had been baptized.
But these glory days would last only 50 years.
By 1821 Mexico was celebrating its independence
from Spain and entering its own dark night of atheism and
anarchy. Later, President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
decided to plunder the California territory and allowed his
vice president, the anti-Christian secularist Gomez Farias,
to manage the job. Farias decreed the suppression of the
300-year-old University of Mexico, abolished the vows of
religion, expelled all Spaniards who remained in Mexico,
and most disastrous of all for the Indians, secularized all
the missions of California. Like the Jesuits 70 years before
them, the Franciscans were ordered back to Spain and the
missions looted. To give just one example of the looting,
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Artist Fray Andres Caymari’s depiction of Serra shortly before his
death. Pictured to Serra’s right is Palóu, reading the “Commendation
for a Departing Soul” and sprinkling Serra’s cell with holy water.
the mission at San Juan Capistrano alone was estimated to
be worth $150,000. The secularists appointed by the government, who said they would compensate the Indians
who had been supposedly "retarded" by the padres, distributed a mere $8,500 to them. No accounting was made
for what happened to the rest of the money. The Indians
were left without a church and retreated back into the
wilderness.
A Protestant observer of the scene, Alexander
Forbes, who had no particular liking for priests and their
methods, noted that the missionaries had been most kind
in their treatment of the Indians — an observation made
all the more clear when the friars were ordered back to
Spain. "The irrefutable proof of this," the British traveler
and businessman wrote, "lies in the affection, the attachment, the unimaginable veneration which the neophytes
manifested toward their ministers. Not only did they obey
them like children, but their devotion bordered on adoration. When, as recently happened, priests have been
removed for political reasons, the distress of the Indians at
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parting with them has been extreme. They have entreated with tears and
lamentations to be allowed to follow them in their exile. There never was a
more perfect resemblance between a pastor and his disciples and a shepherd
and his flock."
Junípero left behind a heroic record of his service to God. The Catholic
faith of the Indians he served may have faded with the passing of the centuries, but Serra was the sower of Catholic California, many of whose great
cities are named after the missions he founded, and he laid the bedrock for
Catholicism in this country.
ope John Paul II declared Junípero to be "Venerable" in
1985. The cause for beatification would require a miracle.
On July 8, 1987, the medical board of the Congregation for
the Causes of Saints affirmed unanimously that they could
not find any medical or scientific reason for the cure from
lupus of Sister Boniface Dyrda of St. Louis, Mo. On July 23, 1987, the theological board of experts of the same Congregation unanimously judged this
cure as miraculous. In 1988, Pope John Paul II declared Junípero "Blessed."
Brother Timothy Arthur, OFM, director of Father Serra's cause, says
that church law requires a miracle after beatification. Of 22 cases of possible
miracles, four have surfaced that have aroused serious consideration. One is
of a man from California who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and
who, after praying before a hospital chapel window depicting Serra, showed
no signs of cancer five years later. Another case involved a girl referred to as
Baby Rebecca whom doctors recommended to be aborted when they discovered risk of severe birth defects. Her parents and grandparents prayed to
Serra for intervention. Each year since Rebecca's birth they have flown to
Mission San Carlos to leave a rose on Serra's grave for the healthy 10 yearold child. A woman from the East Coast has survived 20 brain tumors after
praying to Serra. Her artwork now hangs in the Vatican and the Holy Land.
The fourth candidate for a miracle is a handicapped monk with a severe respiratory distress syndrome who has prayed to Serra since his youth. He is still
handicapped, but his general health is now good.
The single objection I have heard to the canonization of Blessed
Junípero is one that has been raised by critics of his treatment of the Indians
under his watch. After considerable research, I have found no instance or
proof that Junípero personally abused any of the Indians or beat them. There
is a letter of his in which he justified the practice of harsh discipline administered by civil authorities to punish wrongdoers. He reminded the recipient
of this letter that the conqueror Fernando Cortez had himself flogged in the
presence of the Indians to prove to them that there would be no favoritism in
the application of harsh punishment. But did Serra not punish himself more
mercilessly than the Indians? Certainly it was in the culture of his day that
flogging was part of the business of reconciliation . . . a sort of purgatory on
earth.
From this we may deduce what we like. Perhaps Serra was not perfect.
The apostle Peter denied our Lord three times, and Paul put early Christians
to the sword. Saint Peter. Saint Paul. Saint Junípero Serra? P
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Serra's Legacy and the Serran Mission
ome time ago I told a good friend that I had joined
the Serra Club. “Oh no!” he protested. “You're
going to be a tree hugger?” “No,” I said. “You’re thinking of Sierra, not Serra. I'm not into hugging trees. I'm
into beating bushes — to see if there are hiding in
those bushes some candidates for the consecrated religious life!” If the rest of you are like me, you've had a
similar experience explaining the Serra Club. It must
be the best kept secret in the Catholic Church —
maybe in the whole world.
Our organization is named after Junípero Serra.
Why Serra? Because he exemplified in his person and
mission the need for a dedicated priesthood. We do
not measure the worth of Serra's legacy by whether it
succeeded or failed. We measure it by the fact that
Junípero dutifully answered the call to service.
Perhaps we should think of each parish the way
Serra thought of each chosen spot along the California
coast, as a place to build a mission. Serra's missions
could not have been built without the help of his
priests. We are in the same situation. We need our
priests’ support in the building of Serra "missions" in
our parishes so that we may fulfill our goals and ministry to the fullest potential, and in turn offer our
priests, brothers and sisters more than just prayers and
good wishes.
We could give more if we had more resources, but
only if we have more members. This was true for the
Knights of Columbus when they were founded in
1882. The flourishing of their organization in the
1890s only happened when the bishops and priests,
after a period of lukewarm interest, finally gave their
hearty endorsement of the fraternity. We do not need
to compete with the Knights; they do good work in
many fields, but they do not focus on vocations the
way we do. Like the Knights, who enjoy great fame for
their good works, Serrans ought to be widely known
for promoting vocations. Our members should be, like
Junípero Serra, missionaries scouting for vocations in
every parish. To do this, we need to work closely with
the bishops and pastors. The new approach has to go
far beyond those tried and tired ball games and hot
dogs with altar servers. I do sincerely hope and pray
that all of those who are living the consecrated religious life will help Serrans to transform the image
some of us have of ourselves as one of the best kept
secrets in the Catholic Church.
S
— Carl Sundell, Serra Club of Lubbock, Texas