That Fray Junípero Serra (1713-1784) is the only Spaniard with a statue in the Capitol in Washington (rather than a niche in the altars) and that it was Pope Francis who on September 23, 2015 inscribed his name in the catalog of saints, is more than enough to clear the good name of this illustrious Spanish friar against any stubborn and fallacious activism or ignorance bent on spurious interests unrelated to historical truth.
Miguel José Serra Ferrer was born in the village of of Petra (Mallorca), on November 24, 1713, of peasant parents. And if from his his mother's lips he came to know Christ, the Virgin, the creed and the first prayers, in the convent prayers, in the convent that the children of St. Francis of Assisi have in Petra, he learned the rudiments of the Petra learned the rudiments of grammar and Latin, which she perfected with those of humanities in the convent of of humanities in the convent of Palma de Mallorca. When he was sixteen years old years he entered novitiate and on September 16, 1731 he made profession of the Rule, receiving, as a sign of new life, the as a sign of his new life, he received the name of Junípero, in memory of the naive companion of St. Francis. naïve companion of St. Francis. Endowed with the necessary gifts and intelligence and intelligence, he finished his doctorate in Philosophy and Theology at the Lullian University of Palma. theology at the Lullian University of Palma. Thus, after his ordination to the priesthood in 1737, he was able to dedicate himself to preaching and to to devote himself to preaching and teaching, occupying from 1743 the chair of Scoto at the university. Scoto at the aforementioned university.
In Friar Junípero and other companions of the habit of his first biographer, Fray Francisco Palau, among others, the desire to leave for New Spain to to leave for New Spain to expand the work founded by the Twelve Apostles of Mexico thanks to the Mexico, thanks to the efforts of Hernán Cortés, they began the necessary steps to obtain a license and to gather what was necessary to embark in Cadiz on August 28, 1749. August 28, 1749. Arriving at the port of Veracruz, they made their way on foot to Mexico City, where they arrived. Mexico City, where they arrived on January 1, 1750. After five months of missionary of missionary formation at the San Fernando College of Propaganda FideiJunípero and seven companions were assigned to an inhospitable terrain in the Sierra Gorda de Querétaro an inhospitable terrain in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro, inhabited by Pame Indians, whose traditions and language Pame, whose traditions and language survive to this day thanks to Spanish protection. Spanish protection. As there were already settlements in the region directed by Dominicans and Augustinians and Augustinians, our people headed for the most unknown parts of the territory, among nomadic peoples still unenlightened by the faith.
They remained there until 1758, when they returned to the they returned to San Fernando College to take charge of the towns north of the Rio Grande in Texas. north of the Rio Grande River in Texas. When they failed to do so, Palau returned to Sierra Gorda, while Serra remained in Mexico as a Visitor. Sierra Gorda, while Serra remained in Mexico as Visitor of the friars and missions under the the friars and missions dependent on the aforementioned college. When in 1767 the Jesuits were expelled from Jesuits were expelled from Spain and their dominions in the West Indies, the missions of the the missions of Baja California, an arid territory occupied by predator peoples, were entrusted to the the missions of Baja California, an arid territory occupied by predatory peoples, were entrusted to our friars of the San Fernando College. Fernando College, and Junípero and fourteen friars set out for them on March 23, 1768. 1768.
They arrived in Alta California shortly thereafter, although it was necessary to transfer some peninsular enclaves to the Dominicans. The occasion came when the general visitor José de Gálvez y Gallardo (1720-1787), in the name of Charles III, decided to establish settlements along the Pacific coast, with the the Pacific coast, with the idea of averting the danger that the subjects of the Russian tsar would descend Russian tsar would descend from Alaska along the coast to the south and attack the Spaniards and their missions, or and their missions or endanger the free movement of the important Manila Galleon. important Manila Galleon. To the series of so-called Spanish townsguarantee of freedoms not recognized by Russia or England. the Indians neither by Russia nor by England, Fray Junipero and our people were alternating settlements or reductions of Indians, in accordance with the laws and methods of evangelization and and methods of evangelization and culture. These are the nine famous missions of the Camino Real, some of which have given California and the U.S.A. populous cities. The nine famous missions of the Camino Real, some of which have given California and the U.S. populous cities, began in 1769 with the founding of San Diego and others that the Order the Order planted after the death of the wanderer, penitent and hard-working Mallorcan the death of the hard-working, penitent Mallorcan, who died at the mission of San Carlos Borromeo on August 28, 1784. 1784.
The settlements of Indians encouraged by Junípero were never forced, nor was the baptism of those Junípero were never forced, nor was the baptism of those beings, whose ingenuity and goodness he always sang of. whose ingenuity and goodness he always sang of; although, to the mentality of the time, certain customs, practices and and horrifying certain customs, customs and sacrifices that today, ignoring them, we today, ignoring them, we dismiss them with the simple label of "our own culture". culture". It was more than a century ago that the laws of the Spanish Crown freed the Indian from slavery and slavery. from slavery and mistreatment or abuse, although the delinquents or rebels - the Indians also rebels - the Indians were also the protagonists of notorious attacks and massacres, would be judged and punished as any subject of the Crown on both sides of the ocean. of the ocean. Introduced to farming (mainly in the wine-growing and the wine industry, which gives luster to present-day California), respect for the laws and social life, hygiene and hygiene social life, hygiene and personal cleanliness, or in handicrafts and any sign of civilization, the natives any sign of civilization, the natives were not massacred or annihilated by Spain. annihilated by Spain.
This was advocated at the beginning of the last century by the American humanist and historian Charles F. Lummis, disgusted American humanist and historian Charles F. Lummis, disgusted by the ignorance in which his the ignorance in which the historiography of his country was plunged: "As for their behavior with the Indians, it must be recognized that those who resisted the Spaniards were treated with much less cruelty than those who were the Spaniards were treated with much less cruelty than those who found themselves in the way of other European colonizers. in the path of other European colonizers. The Spaniards did not exterminate no aboriginal nation -as our ancestors, the English, exterminated dozens of them-. ancestors, the English - and, moreover, each first and necessary bloody lesson was followed by a was followed by humane education and care. The fact is that the Indian population of the former Spanish possessions in the Americas is today larger than it was in the time of the than it was at the time of the conquest, and this astonishing contrast of conditions and the lesson it teaches conditions and the lesson it teaches about the contrast of methods, is the best answer to those who have the best answer to those who have perverted history". (Spanish explorers of the 16th century, 2012, p. 27).
Conclusion also reached by the Spanish jurist and academic Santiago Muñoz Machado in Spanish jurist and academic Santiago Muñoz Machado, in Civilize or exterminate the barbarians (Barcelona Crítica, 2019): "The Spanish method of integration and miscegenation facilitated the implantation of European European knowledge and industries, the education of the population and the preservation of their languages and those and the preservation of their languages and customs that did not clash with Catholic doctrine. Catholic doctrine. The method of the English colonists led to the indigenous people being the Indians were compelled to abandon their lands or, in case of resistance, to suffer wars of extermination, to suffer wars of extermination".
Junípero -under the slogan Always forward, never backward- dedicated his intelligence and energy to inculcating human dignity and energy to inculcate human dignity in the natives of Querétaro and the two Californias, by means of evangelical doctrine, civilizing Californias, by means of evangelical doctrine, civilizing progress and the exemplary life of patience, humility, poverty and enormous exemplary life of patience, humility, poverty and enormous sacrifices that consumed his body. his body. He did not cease to confront the civil authorities when he understood that his his action harmed the innocent: before them he begged for mercy for the Indians he had burned in 1717. Indians who had set fire to the mission of San Diego in 1775, torturing and martyring Father Luis Jaime. Luis Jaime: "As far as the guilty are concerned, their offence should be pardoned after offense should be pardoned after subjecting them to a light punishment," he said. "By by doing so, they could see that we are putting into practice the rule we taught them: that of giving back well. rule that we taught them: that of returning good for evil and forgiving our enemies. enemies." And for them, old and limping, he walked thousands of miles to read before the Audience the Representation of the temporal and spiritual conquest of Baja California. Californiaprecedent of the charter on the rights of rights of the Indians, in the tradition of the School of Salamanca.
If having plucked them from the mire of their primary and imperfect, sometimes criminal, uses, the and imperfect, sometimes criminal, uses, today's activists call cultural genocide is cultural genocide is that we are not speaking the same language, nor measuring with the same yardstick, nor measuring with the same yardstick, nor reasoning with method and intelligence. intelligence.
Degree in Modern History
