U. S. Mission Trail / The Mission Trail Today - The Spanish Missions in California
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Select photographs of my many visits to The Missions of the United States South and Southwest built by Spain and Mexico between 1565 and 1823.
All photographs taken by Kenneth A. Larson. All rights reserved. © 2008 - 2013.

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Fray Junípero Serra

1713-1784
Petra, Spain

Miguel Joseph Serra was born November 24, 1713 at Petra, Majorca, in Spain's Balearic Isles. On taking his religious vows in 1730, Serra took the name Junípero, after a beloved disciple of St. Francis of Assisi. Junípero Serra and Governor Portola developed the plan to extend the chain of missions northward into Alto California and secure the Spanish domain as far north as modern day Sonoma.

Father Serra first came to California in 1769 at the age of 55. He believed his life’s work was to convert the native people to Christianity.

Miquel Joseph Serra was born on November 24, 1713 in the Village of Petra on the Spanish Island of Mallorca among the Balearic Isles in the western Mediterranean. He grew up working on his parents’ farm and attending Franciscan school. Serra began studying for the priesthood at an early age and joined the Franciscan Order taking the name Juinipero to honor an early follower of Saint Francis. He rose through the ranks to become a professor of Theology at Lullian University.

Serra and several others departed for Mexico in 1749 to be missionaries, arriving in Mexico City on January 1, 1750. Serra spent the next eight years in the Sierra Goda region of northern Mexico overseeing five established Missions and adding new structures. In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled and in 1768, Serra found himself reorganizing the former Jesuit Missions of Baja California. Spain feared Russian and other Europeans from settling the coast of Alta California. Serra was sent north to establish Missions at San Diego, Monterey and other sites between. Serra, other Franciscans, and soldiers began the trip north. The first Mission in what is now California was established on July 16, 1769 in San Diego. A Mission was established near Monterey on June 3, 1770.

Serra would establish nine Missions before he died at Mission San Carlos (in Carmel, near Monterey) in 1784. He is buried at Mission San Carlos.

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This page last updated: Saturday, 20-Apr-2019 00:23:55 CDT
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