1713-1784 Catholic Missionary

Early Zeal.

As the leader of the Spanish missionary effort in California, Junipero Serra laid the foundation for a strong Roman Catholic presence in the early American religious landscape. Serra was born on 24 November 1713 on the island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean Sea off the Spanish coast. Serra was baptized with the name Miguel Jose but changed it to Junipero in 1731, when he became a member of the community of religious men, originally called friars, founded by St. Francis of Assisi. As a Franciscan brother, Serra pledged complete obedience to the Roman Catholic Church, and promised to live a life of poverty and chastity devoted to God. He was well educated at a Spanish university and became a professor of philosophy. His intense piety left him feeling dissatisfied with an academic career, however, and in 1750 he arrived in Mexico to take up missionary...