Saint of the Day

JULY 1
BLESSED JUNIPERO SERRA

Junipero Serra was born in Petra, Spain, on November 24, 1713. The boy
became a student at the Franciscan school in Palma, twenty-five miles away.
He joined the Franciscan order on September 14, 1730, a few months before
his seventeenth birthday. During the novitiate, Junipero read a biography of
Franciscan saints. The saint whose life captivated him most was St. Francis
Solano, who had lived from 1549 until 1610. This missionary priest to South
America had just been declared a saint in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. The
young novice decided that, if it was God's will, he too would be a
missionary.
Junipero was ordained a priest in 1736. He became a professor of philosophy.
After he had been in the order twenty years, he was given a wonderful
opportunity. Franciscan friars were asked to volunteer for the mission
territories called "New Spain" (Mexico and California). Junipero and his
close friend, Friar Francisco Palou, joined the missionary band at Cadiz,
Spain, a seaport city. From there they sailed the Atlantic Ocean to Vera
Cruz, Mexico. They landed on December 6, 1749. Junipero and another friar
walked the next part of the journey from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, a
distance of 240 miles. They began on December 15, 1749, and arrived on
January 1, 1750. From Mexico City, Junipero and Friar Francisco Palou were
sent to work among the Pame Indians at the Franciscan Mission of the Sierra
Gorda.
Several of the friars were then assigned to missions in Lower California.
Junipero, Francisco and a handful of other Franciscans were asked to bring
the Gospel to the native peoples in Upper California. Junipero started
Mission San Diego on July 16, 1769, when he was fifty-six years old. The
mission was an open invitation to his beloved people to come and meet Jesus.
Gradually, they trusted the friars. Some people were baptized and began to
live the Christian faith. Father Serra and the friars loved and protected
their people. The golden chain of new missions grew: Mission San Carlos in
Monterey on June 1, 1770; Mission San Antonio de Padua on July 14, 1771;
Mission San Gabriel Archangel, September 8, 1771; Mission San Luis Obispo,
September 1, 1772; Mission San Francisco de Asis, October 9, 1776; Mission
San Juan Capistrano, November 1, 1776; Mission Santa Clara de Asis, January
12, 1777; Mission San Buenaventura, March 31, 1782. Eventually, six thousand
native peoples were baptized.
Blessed Junipero made his final tour of the missions in Upper California
from the last part of 1783 until July of 1784. He died peacefully at Mission
San Carlos on August 28, 1784, and is buried there. In 1988, Pope John Paul
II declared Father Junipero Serra "blessed."

"All my life I have wanted to be a missionary. I have wanted to carry the
gospel message to those who have never heard of God and the kingdom he has
prepared for them."-Bl. Junipero