Junípero Serra

From Hispanopedia
Saint Junípero Serra O.F.M.
Father Serra, apostle of California
Confessor
BornMiguel José Serra Ferrer
November 24, 1713
Petra, Majorca, Spain
DiedAugust 28, 1784 (aged 70)
Monterey, Alta California, New Spain
Venerated inCatholic Church
BeatifiedSeptember 25, 1988 by John Paul II
CanonizedSeptember 23, 2015 by Francis[1]
FeastAugust 28

Junípero Serra Ferrer O.F.M. (Petra, Majorca, November 24, 1713 – Monterey, Alta California, August 28, 1784), baptized Miguel José Serra Ferrer and traditionally better known as Fray Junípero Serra, was a Spanish Franciscan friar.

A doctor of philosophy and theology, he moved to America, where he founded nine Spanish missions in Alta California and presided over another fifteen[2] as father president. The first of the missions he founded was San Diego de Alcalá, on July 16, 1769;[3] the mission lies within the present-day municipality of San Diego. He established his headquarters at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo,[2] which he founded in 1770.[3]

In July 1771 he founded Mission San Antonio de Padua, and in August San Gabriel, the latter in what is now the metropolitan area of Los Angeles.[3] On September 1, 1772, he founded Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.[3] He also took part in the founding of the Mission of San Juan Capistrano in 1776 and that of San Buenaventura in 1782. He is known to have visited the missions of Santa Clara de Asís and San Francisco de Asís, the latter in the town of San Francisco.

The Missions were created primarily to evangelize the natives. Another aim was the integration of the indigenous people into Hispanic society and their training to take on the ownership and management of the land. As head of the Order in California, Serra clashed not only with some religious officials, but also with other Spanish authorities in Mexico City and with several local military officers who guarded the nearby garrisons.

He was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on September 28, 1988, and on September 23, 2015, he was canonized by Pope Francis in the city of Washington, D.C. From that moment on he has also been known to many Catholics as Saint Junípero Serra.

Biography

Studies

He was born on November 24, 1713, in Petra (Majorca), a town of stonecutters and farmers, to the married couple Antonio Serra and Margarita Ferrer.[4] His baptismal name was Miguel José.[5][6]

His parents were illiterate,[7] but they enrolled their son in the school of the Franciscan convent of San Bernardino in Petra, and from there he went on to further his studies at the Convent of San Francisco in Palma de Mallorca. At 16 he became a friar and took the name Junípero. His interest in philosophy was nourished by Ramon Llull. He taught philosophy from 1740 to 1743 at the Convent of San Francisco,[7] and then held the chair of Scotist Theology at the Lullian University.[4]

Apostolate

Illustration published in the work Relación histórica de la vida y apostólicas tareas del venerable padre Fray Junipero Serra, written by Fray Francisco Palou in 1787.

Together with his friend, Father Francisco Palou, he set sail on April 13, 1749, bound for Málaga, and then for Cádiz. However, logistical and bureaucratic delays forced them to wait 8 months before undertaking the voyage.[4]

In 1749, together with twenty Franciscan missionaries, he departed for the Viceroyalty of New Spain. They made a stop in Puerto Rico, where they took the opportunity to preach among the natives. On the crossing to New Spain the ship nearly sank,[4] but they finally reached the port of Veracruz on December 7, 1749.

While his companions continued on to Mexico City in carriages, Fray Junípero and an Andalusian religious decided to make the journey on foot, a distance of 500 kilometers. As a result of that journey he contracted an ailment in one leg that stayed with him for the rest of his days.[4]

He drove his missionary work from the Missionary College of San Fernando in the capital of Mexico. Within six months he received the approval of the Viceroy to begin a mission in the Sierra Gorda, a mountainous territory where some Franciscans had already failed. While all the missions were concerned with the promotion of Christianity, in Serra's case the material activities of subsistence, such as livestock farming and agriculture, were also an essential bond between men and God.[4] In the missions, Serra also educated the Amerindians in various fields of knowledge and built churches.[4]

Fray Junípero's first post was Santiago Xalpan (today Jalpan de Serra) in the Sierra Gorda, in present-day Querétaro, where he remained for nine years devoted to converting the Pame natives of the area, while teaching them the rudiments of agriculture, of raising draft and work animals, as well as spinning and weaving.

Fray Junípero's next post was to have been the inhospitable Apache territory on the San Sabá River, a tributary of the Colorado, in Texas. However, the death of the viceroy halted the departure of the missionary group for those lands, so the friar had to wait in Mexico City for several years before receiving his next missionary post. From the missionary college of San Fernando he attended to various missions of New Spain, served as master of novices, and held the office of commissary of the Inquisition.[4]

In California

In 1767, Charles III decreed, through the Pragmatic Sanction of 1767, the expulsion of the Jesuits from all the dominions of the Crown, which included the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This expulsion was due to the suspicion that this religious order was attempting to interfere in affairs of State.

The Jesuits, who ministered to the indigenous and European population of the Californias, were replaced by 16 missionaries of the Franciscan order headed by Fray Junípero. The party left Mexico City on July 14, 1767, and embarked at the port of San Blas bound for the Baja California peninsula. After a short crossing they arrived at Loreto, seat of the Mission of Our Lady of Loreto, which is considered the mother of the missions of Alta California and Baja California.

Once the party had reached the peninsula, they resolved to continue exploring Alta California in order to bring the Gospel to the indigenous population. He also taught them to farm and to make various clay crafts since, unlike the population of central New Spain, they did not know agriculture and their diet was limited to gathering wild fruits and roots and acorns, hunting deer, moose and rabbits, and fishing. They were not accustomed to wearing clothing, and to protect themselves from the cold they covered their bodies with deerskins, feathers, capes of otter skin, and mud.

The coasts of California had been explored and mapped in 1542–1543 by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo who, setting out from the port of Colima, traveled northward along the Baja California peninsula, finding San Diego Bay, and then headed to the area of Los Angeles and Santa Monica.[8] Although Spain had taken possession of the Pacific coast, which was part of the Empire, the French possessions of Louisiana and the English colonies in America could pose a threat to Spanish hegemony. In the far north, the Russian expedition of Vitus Bering discovered in 1741 a passage between the Slavic country and Alaska, an area that proved profitable for the fur trade. It was therefore essential for Spain to keep intensifying settlement toward the north.

Fray Junípero Serra. Sculpture in the National Statuary Hall of the United States.

The Visitor General José de Gálvez promoted the occupation of Alta California. Between October 31, 1768, and January 10, 1769, Gálvez and Junípero Serra carefully weighed every aspect of four expeditions that were to be planned.[3] The first three would take place at the beginning of 1769. The fourth would take place by land. It would be commanded by the explorer Gaspar de Portolá and would take Junípero as chaplain and diarist.[3] The march began on March 28, 1769,[3] with a party bringing cattle, pigs and horses. On reaching the bay of San Diego they found the ships San Carlos and San Antonio at anchor, which had arrived before them. There he would found Mission San Diego de Alcalá on July 16, 1769.

On July 3, the Mission of San Carlos de Borromeo was erected. In July 1771 Mission San Antonio de Padua was established, and in August that of San Gabriel, which lies in the present-day metropolitan area of Los Angeles. On September 1, 1772, he founded Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.

In August 1770 Pedro Fages replaced Portolá as head of the Californian settlements. Serra considered that the order was suffering growing oppression from Fages and, since the Governor controlled the mail, he decided to go to Mexico City himself to speak with the viceroy.[3] He suffered bouts of exhaustion that left him prostrate in Guadalajara and Querétaro, but he finally reached the College of San Fernando in 1773. He drew up a report for Viceroy Bucareli. This text was the Representación sobre la conquista temporal y espiritual de la Alta California, also known as the Representation of 1773, and it has been described as a Bill of Rights for the Indians.[9] It asked that responsibility for governing those baptized Indians rest with the missionaries. He asked for the removal of Pedro Fages as governor and his replacement by Sergeant José Francisco Ortega, although because of Francisco's low rank he was not chosen; Pedro Fages was replaced by Fernando Rivera y Moncada, who did not arrive until 1774, and Francisco Ortega was promoted to lieutenant and appointed commander of the presidio of San Diego from 1773 to 1781.[10]

He left Mexico City in September 1773 and took the frigate Santiago to San Diego, arriving on March 13, 1774. On the 22nd, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza arrived at the mission of San Gabriel with a party, thus inaugurating an overland route between Sonora and California, which Serra had recommended to the Viceroy.

After visiting San Gabriel, San Luis and San Antonio, Junípero entered his residence at Carmel in early May 1774. Fernando de Rivera y Moncada, recently appointed Governor, presented himself at Monterey (a Spanish town that was the capital of Alta California at that time and whose full name was San Carlos del Monte Rey) on the 23rd of that month. On November 4, 1775, the natives attacked the mission of San Diego and destroyed it, killing some, such as Fray Luis Jaime.[11]

All the missions the Spaniards were founding were linked by a route known as the Camino Real.[3] His friend Palou, together with Pedro Cambón, founded Mission San Francisco de Asís in 1776. In 1777 Fray Junípero visited the Mission of San Francisco and that of Santa Clara de Asís, founded in January of that year. Fray Junípero was also connected with the founding of Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776 and also attended the founding of the Mission of San Buenaventura in 1782, the latter located in the Californian town of Ventura.

Ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano, California

Junípero Serra and his collaborators followed the course of action established during his stay in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro. When they reached a suitable place, they built a chapel, some huts to house the friars, and a small fort for protection against possible attacks. They welcomed the natives who approached out of curiosity and, once they had won their trust, invited them to settle near the mission.

There, while catechizing the natives, the missionaries taught them the basics of agriculture, livestock raising and masonry, provided them with seeds and animals, and advised them in working the land. Some of them also learned the techniques of carpentry, masonry or blacksmithing, as can be seen in the ruins of a Catalan forge that still exist at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The women received training in cooking, sewing and making textiles. The change in way of life likewise affected indigenous culture and religion, giving rise to a syncretism that endures to this day.

He died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo (Monterey, California) on August 28, 1784. His remains rest in the Basilica of the Mission of San Carlos Borromeo, a mission he himself founded.

Legacy

He is the only Spaniard with a statue in the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol, seat of the legislative branch of the United States, and the place where the most illustrious figures of that nation are represented. Each federated State of the country is entitled to propose only two names of illustrious figures to be immortalized with a monument. The statue of Fray Junípero stands in the main hallway and was proposed by the state of California.

Likewise, to him is owed the scientific name of the shrubby conifers or junipers, popularly known as enebros, owing to the great number of subspecies discovered during his participation in the exploration and conquest of the territory of California.

The United States dedicated a 44-cent postage stamp to Fray Junípero in 1986.[12] In Spain 3 stamps have been dedicated to him: one of 2 pesetas in 1963,[13] another of 40 pesetas in 1984[14] and another of 92 euro cents in 2013.[15]

However, Mexico, the country where he carried out most of his mission of aid to the indigenous peoples, has few visible testimonies of or tributes to his memory, since he barely appears in textbooks, and in the Regional Museum of Querétaro, in Santiago de Querétaro, as well as in statues. In 1992, the government of the State of Querétaro published a series of screen-printed posters by TPGmorelia on the missions of the Sierra Gorda, which were exhibited in the Vatican pavilion at the Universal Exposition of Seville, in a joint tribute to Fray Junípero Serra with the government of California. The posters have been exhibited, as part of collections of Mexican posters, in more than 25 countries.

Noteworthy are the statue erected to him, together with others in tribute to the founders of the city, in the well-known "Plaza de los Fundadores" outside the Temple of the Holy Cross in Querétaro, highlighting above all his work in the various missions of the Sierra Gorda, and the statue placed by the Serra Club in a garden beside the new Basilica of Guadalupe. Even so, Father Serra was commemorated in a biography in the series "Vidas mexicanas" (Cf. Fr. Junipero Serra. Civilizador de las Californias. México: Ediciones Xochitl, 1943).

He was also a promoter of the settlement of Alta California, a territory of New Spain (later Mexico), which the independent Mexican government later lost to the United States through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

In 2013, the 300th anniversary of Fray Junípero's birth, the Princes of Asturias visited the Carmel mission in Monterey, and also went to the Mission of San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo to leave a floral offering at his tomb.[16] The governments of Spain and the United States held a series of commemorative events for the tercentenary.[17]

Fray Junípero's house in Petra is today a museum dedicated to him.[18] There are also associations devoted to honoring him, such as the Asociación de Amigos de Fray Junípero Serra (Association of Friends of Fray Junípero Serra), founded in 1955,[19] or the Junípero Serra Foundation, created in 2002.[20]

In 2018, the animation producer Pedro Alonso Pablos made a medium-length animated film devoted to the life and work of Fray Junípero titled La llamada de Junípero (Junípero's Calling), and although the Catholic Church had no involvement in the process of creating the film, the view of the religious that the film offers coincides with that of the Church.[21]

Beatification

On September 14, 1987, Pope John Paul II held a meeting with the Indians of Phoenix in Arizona, where he praised Serra's efforts to protect the Indians from exploitation, and on September 17 he visited the friar's tomb at the Mission of San Carlos Borromeo, recalling Serra's Representation of 1773 on behalf of the Californian Indians.[9] John Paul said that Fray Junípero and his missionaries shared the belief that "the Gospel is a matter of life and salvation. They believed that in offering Jesus Christ to the people, they were doing something of immense value, importance and dignity," and that this conviction sustained them "in the face of every vicissitude, disappointment and opposition."[9]

Thus, John Paul II beatified him on September 25, 1988.[9]

Canonization

It is widely accepted that Serra was esteemed by the Indians among whom he lived, and that he was not a conquistador or colonizer; on occasion he even confronted political power in order to defend the natives. Besides leaving an important legacy that American economic development enjoys today.[22] However, the announcement of this canonization upset some associations that claim to represent the natives of California, which went so far as to accuse the missionary of having brought diseases and torture with him, among other things.[23] For his part, Steven Hackel, professor of History at the University of California, considered Junípero Serra an "extraordinary" figure who would rival Washington or Jefferson in importance when it comes to explaining the U.S.[23] Finally, on September 23, 2015, he was canonized by Pope Francis in the city of Washington, D.C.,[24] making him the second saint native to the Balearic Islands, after Saint Catalina Tomás. It was through an "equipollent canonization," that is, without the need to approve a miracle and owing to proven popular veneration. He is also included among the saints of the United States and Mexico.

In addition to the protests against his canonization,[25] in 2017[26] and 2020 there were several acts of vandalism against the friar's statue, which even led to it being torn down.[27]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "El papa aprueba el decreto de canonización de Fray Junípero Serra" (in español). La Vanguardia. May 7, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Blessed Junípero Serra 1713-1784". Serra Club of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Fundación Junípero Serra FundacionSerra.com. "Bosquejo bibliográfico y perfil espiritual del Siervo de Dios" (in español). Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Muñiz, Gabriel (2014). "El evangelizador. Fray Junípero Serra, un misionero español en California". Historia de Iberia Vieja (in español) (107). {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ↑ "Beato Junípero Serra (1713-1784), Apóstol de Sierra Gorda y California". Directorio Franciscano. Santoral Franciscano. (in español). Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  6. ↑ Claudio Leonardi, Andrea Riccardi, Gabriella Zarri (2000). Diccionario de los Santos (Dictionary of the Saints) (in español). Volumen II. Madrid: Editorial San Pablo. p. 2272. ISBN 9788428522571.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Salustiano Vicedo Franciscanos.org. "Beato Junípero Serra (1713-1784), Apóstol de Sierra Gorda y California" (in español). Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  8. ↑ The coasts of California were explored and mapped by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602 and, possibly, by the Englishman Drake in 1579. See: Fundación Consejo España (2014). "Junípero Serra y las misiones de California" (in español). Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Franciscanos.org. "Beato Junípero Serra (1713-1784) (del cuaderno distribuido en su beatificación)". Directorio Franciscano - Santoral Franciscano (in español). Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  10. ↑ Cronología Histórica.com. "Año 1773" (in español). Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  11. ↑ Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala: Mission History
  12. ↑ "Fray Junipero" (in español). ABC. January 6, 1986. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  13. ↑ Sellosmundo.com. "FRAY JUNÍPERO SERRA" (in español). Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  14. ↑ Philateca.com. "España II Centº de Fray Junipero Serra" (in español). Archived from the original on May 15, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Correos emite un sello en homenaje a fray Junípero Serra" (in español). Diario de Mallorca. February 23, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Los Príncipes Felipe y Letizia rinden homenaje al evangelizador de California" (in español). ABC. August 11, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  17. ↑ "España y EE. UU. se proponen estrechar lazos en 300 aniversario de Fray Junípero" (in español). El Confidencial. April 2, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  18. ↑ Spain.info. "Museo de Fray Junípero Serra" (in español). Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  19. ↑ Más Mallorca.es. "Mallorca celebra en 2013 el Año Fray Junípero Serra" (in español). Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Fundación Junípero Serra" (in español). Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  21. ↑ Mallorcadiario.es. "La vida de Fray Junípero Serra en una película de animación" (in español). Archived from the original on April 4, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  22. ↑ http://es.aleteia.org/2015/09/28/fray-junipero-serra-no-fue-un-conquistador-o-colonizador/.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Ximénez de Sandoval, Pablo (March 20, 2015). "El problema del santo conquistador" (in español). España: El País.
  24. ↑ Fray Junípero Serra será canonizado en septiembre por el Papa en Estados Unidos
  25. ↑ Sandoval, Pablo Ximénez de (March 20, 2015). "El problema del santo conquistador". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  26. ↑ Sandoval, Pablo Ximénez de (September 17, 2017). "La furia contra las estatuas en Estados Unidos salpica a la herencia española". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Derribada en EE.UU. la estatua del misionero español Fray Junípero Serra". Nius Diario (in español). June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

Bibliography

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