Junipero Serra: The Illustrated Story of the Franciscan Founder of California's Missions

by Don DeNevi, Noel Francis Moholy

From this vivid biography, Junipero Serra, the Franciscan who founded the oldest of the West Coast missions, emerged to take his rightful place in the American hall of a man of faith as unfaltering as the Pilgrims, of courage as unflinching as Lewis and Clark, and possessed of a spirit that was never satisfied with less than the most he could achieve for himself, his fellow humans, and his God.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1985

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Junipero Serra covers the life of the man who built the California Mission system and established Spain as the dominant power driving back the Russian and British advances into that section of the west coast of North America. This book looks at the organization of the missions and the Spanish government which did come into conflict with Serra’s missions at various points in time. His devotion and faith does radiate throughout the book and his dedication to the mission he was under.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors present a warm and convincing account of Serra's life with particular emphasis on his last 15 years as a missionary in Alta California, but the natives, the geography, and the secondary figures get very little recognition: "Don Gaspar de Portola, that pleasant, genial man who had been assigned the dreadful task of carrying out the royal orders expelling the Jesuits from Baja, was to lead the overland expedition to Monterey." (p. 72) Plainly a man you'd like to know more about, but for the rest of the book, there are only dates of meetings with Serra. Most of the illustrations are from the 19th century, so convey neither a sense of Serra's time nor of the present state of the missions. Care is taken to explain place and mission names, and the rationale for situating the missions. The index is very short but useful.
Moholy is a Franciscan priest, and the book can be seen as an appeal for Serra's beatification by Pope John Paul in 1988. Though I wished for more, there are a number of striking passages, this one describing a scene at Carmel 4 days before Serra's death:
"...while Palou and Serra were seated outside the mission church, an Indian woman, about eighty years old, slowly walked up and asked Serra for some cloth. Serra rose, hobbled to his cell, and returned with an old blanket. Palou smiled and commented, probably in the Majorcan dialect, 'Is she going to pay for the chickens?' Serra chuckled, and together they recalled the time during the first days of the mission when the woman, not yet a Christian, had almost destroyed the fledgling poultry industry. At that time, Serra and Crespi had only one hen and her brood of chicks. This same woman, then almost seventy, had her nephew chase and kill the fowl so the two could have a tasty meal." (p. 202)

[Aaron Cummings · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant hagiographical account of Serra's life. Certainly a good introduction to early California history. Since this is a biography and defense of Serra, he takes center stage. I find it encouraging to see that the Church was so instrumental in founding civilization in California. Additionally, it is striking to consider that at the same time medieval modes of life continued unimpeded on the west coast, Unitarians and modern men were fashioning a new mode of civilization on the east. One might wish that the west had won. Final note: unless you know California and Mexican geography like the proverbial, back of your hand, read with map at the ready.

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having grown up in the land of Junipero Serra, I finally got to read a bio. Very interesting life in a very interesting time. While the Colonies were rebelling against the British King, Serra was establishing missions up and down the coast of California at the behest of the Spanish King. Not a complete bio of Serra, this is a good one nevertheless. What is left out is much insight into the Native Americans that he was sent to convert.