CHAPTER VII
JUNIPERO SERRA
THE oustanding figure of his time in California was Junipero Serra, President of the California Missions. Born November 24, 1713, in the village of Petra on the island of Majorca, one of the Balearic Isles, off the east coast of Spain, and baptized Miguel Jose, he took the name of Junipero upon entering the Franciscan Order. His selection of a name is an index to his nature. It was that of a lay brother, who was a disciple and associate of St. Francis at Assisi, and had become renowned for his devotion to the poor.
Father Serra early developed a deep religious fervor, and with the consent of his superiors, dedicated his life to missionary work. In 1749, at the age of thirty-six, with the spirit of a crusader highly developed, and with a considerable reputation for appealing eloquence, he went to New Spain. Twenty years later, at the age of fifty-six, after several years at the Franciscan college of San Fernando at Mexico City, and a number of years at the Missions of northeastern Mexico, he was appointed President of the California Missions, and as such, joined
Portola in the Monterey expedition.
In Serra was centered a rare combination of religious zeal of almost fanatical intensity, a gift of persuasive speech, high intellectual endowment, untiring and ceaseless energy, sound and practical judgment, and executive ability of a high order. Naturally kind and gentle in manner and speech, he was none the less bold and courageous in asserting and maintaining his missionary rights against secular encroachment. To this man,
thus endowed,
fell the mighty
task of
bringing into obedient subjection a numerous native race, without the aftermath of hatred and revenge that usually flows from military conquest. The presence of soldiers
in California
was
deemed
essential,
but
the
great civilizing influence exerted by Spain over the native population was through her missionaries. The Presidio stood guard, but its active aid was seldom invoked. Spain had learned the value of the spiritual appeal. The Mission as a means of conquest and civilization was a plant of slow growth. It had its feeble and unorganized origin in the closing years of the sixteenth century, gradually developed in the Spanish provinces of America, with most rapid growth in Paraguay, and in 1769 had reached full flower, and was recognized
and
utilized as the most effective agency for the civilization of the natives of Spanish America, and for the winning
of their good will.
Two
distinct motives actuated the
movement, and combined to accelerate its development.
The aim and purpose of the Catholic priesthood were to convert the native, and to save his soul; that of the gov-
ernmental authorities, to civilize and control him.
Thus
the Presidio, while deemed an essential factor, became second in importance to the Mission.