Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary (Volume 3)

Before Gold: California Under Spain and Mexico #3

by Rose Marie Beebe, Robert M. Senkewicz

Franciscan missionary friar Junípero Serra (1713–1784), one of the most widely known and influential inhabitants of early California, embodied many of the ideas and practices that animated the Spanish presence in the Americas. In this definitive biography, translators and historians Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz bring this complex figure to life and illuminate the Spanish period of California and the American Southwest.

In Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary, Beebe and Senkewicz focus on Serra’s religious identity and his relations with Native peoples. They intersperse their narrative with new and accessible translations of many of Serra’s letters and sermons, which allows his voice to be heard in a more direct and engaging fashion.

Serra spent thirty-four years as a missionary to Indians in Mexico and California. He believed that paternalistic religious rule offered Indians a better life than their oppressive exploitation by colonial soldiers and settlers, which he deemed the only realistic alternative available to them at that time and place. Serra’s unswerving commitment to his vision embroiled him in frequent conflicts with California’s governors, soldiers, native peoples, and even his fellow missionaries. Yet because he prevailed often enough, he was able to place his unique stamp on the first years of California’s history.

Beebe and Senkewicz interpret Junípero Serra neither as a saint nor as the personification of the Black Legend. They recount his life from his birth in a small farming village on Mallorca. They detail his experiences in central Mexico and Baja California, as well as the tumultuous fifteen years he spent as founder of the California missions. Serra’s Franciscan ideals are analyzed in their eighteenth-century context, which allows readers to understand more fully the differences and similarities between his world and ours. Combining history, culture, and linguistics, this new study conveys the power and nuance of Serra’s voice and, ultimately, his impact on history.

Genres: History, Biography, Biography Memoir, American History

530 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 2015

Reviews

[Drtaxsacto · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the points of every child growing up in the last several decades in California was to learn about Fr. Junipero Serra and his founding of missions in California. In recent years, his story has been clouded by political correctness. This summer, a statue of Serra was destroyed in the park in the State Capitol.

In order to understand Serra as a historical figure one must understand his interactions with the tribes in California and his sincere attempts at proselytizing his faith. Indeed, some of the Spanish administration of Alta California could be brutal but the story of Serra seems to have been much more positive - at one point in a fight with the political/military authorities he travelled mostly by foot back to Mexico City to argue his case for better treatment of the indigenous people of California.

One can argue, whether in current terms, there was an arrogance of the Spanish to try to convert indigenous peoples to the Catholic faith. Serra had uncertain results in his efforts. But some of his ministry offered indigenous skills which would serve them well as Europeans came into the state.

At the time of Serra, this was mostly a Spanish story. As time evolved all sorts of other settlers flocked to California.

What is great about this book is that it contains a lot of Serra in his own words. He seems like a very religious man with good instincts and an ability to confront bureaucrats to protect what he saw as him mission.

In a fair world Serra would be taken in context - he helped advance California very early in its history. Many of the changes he produced improved life for all people.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz and have read many of their works on early California history including the translated History of Alta California by Antonio Maria Osio and the Lands of Promise and Despair. This book was so different in style from their earlier works I question whether they had full editorial control over the publication. It may be that it is targeted to a wider audience then those interested in early California history but it has the feel of something that was rushed to publication for the canonization announcement and isn't up to the standard of their earlier works. As members of the faculty of a Jesuit institution they have always had some deference to the Jesuit contribution to the founding of the California missions starting with Loreto in Baja California by Juan Maria de Salvatierra. It seems there could have been many more references to their own works which cover many of the same topics and time periods. I counted only two insignificant references to their prior work. Certainly some explanation of the Jesuit expulsion should have been included for it had a catastrophic affect on the missions as documented in their own previous works. It was the expulsion of Jesuits that required the recruitment of Junipero Serra to continue the work the Jesuits had begun in Baja California into Alta California. In terms of style there is a description of the letter followed by the translation of the letter which resulted in a redundancy that became annoying. This technique was used throughout the book and was never employed in their previous works. In their other works a translated letter would be followed by an explanation or correction if need for instance if the name places were not referring to their current locations but never the redundancy found in this book. The best part of the book is found in the appendix instead of the beginning of the book where the sermons of Junipero Serra in Mallorca are described. The sermons are much better than the description found in the body of the work and reading them in the beginning would have been more appropriate in understanding Serra than at the end. Besides the annoying redundancy of description followed by translation there are actual errors for example on page 222 some letters are out of sequence or there are typos on the years. The images are many of the same used in their earlier works. The boat names were familiar to me since they were used for the exploration of the Northwest coast by Bodega y Quadra as documented in the excellent book At the Far Reaches of Empire. The Life of Juan Francisco de la. Bodega y Quadra .by Freeman M. Tovell. The introduction describing his life in Mallorca as a philosophy instructor would benefit by the explanation of the rediscovery of Greek philosophy in Spain where it was translated from Arabic back to Greek by the Spanish bishops which Serra would have been well aware. This rediscovery is documented in a excellent book Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages by Richard E. Rubenstein. The miracle of Junipero Serra is that he was able to accomplish so much against so much opposition and at such an advanced age. He left Mallorca at age 35 and didn't begin his mission until age 50. When an entire crew dies of scurvy it is a miracle that he lived so long even overcoming typhoid fever on his way to Mexico City from Alta California. If you get this book begin by reading the four sermons of Junipero Serra found in the Appendix without even a decent header between sermons. Then you can skip the indecipherable descriptions of these sermons found in the body of the work. Overall the material is excellent but the work was poorly organized and edited.

[Jim McIntosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Junípero Serra in His Own Words

This book presents St. Junípero Serra by using his own letters, journals and sermons. Instead of hearing what others think of Serra, this book allows one to meet the man and form one's own opinion. All texts are from the original and have the authors' own translations.

The book ende, "...Serra’s struggle was his own. His attempt to live out his religious ideals as a missionary among the peoples of America gave his own life its deepest meaning. He profoundly believed that encounters with missionaries would prove more advantageous to eighteenth-century indigenous peoples than the other possibilities that he thought were realistically available to them, specifically domination by soldiers or settlers. In the New Spain of the mid-eighteenth century, this belief was quite reasonable."

[Megan Dukett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Serra biography out today. Amazing inclusion of the primary source letters and writings of Serra within a narrative explaining the setting and time period of an interesting historical figure.

[Mills College Library]

Biog S487b 2015