Last Mass

by Jamie Iredell

I am a Catholic. I was baptized Catholic as a baby, and Mom raised me as such. The priests baptized Miquel Josep Serra a Catholic, born 1713 in Petra, Mallorca. Dad converted, and became Catholic. Twenty years before Serra’s birth, the Spanish Inquisition held autos de fé in Palma, Mallorca’s capital, and Jews were burned at the stake. My brother and sister are Catholics. Four more Jews were burned in 1720, when Miquel was seven. Grandma and Grandpa were Catholics. For his Holy Orders, Miquel Josep adopted the name of Father Fray Junípero Serra, and later still he came to what we know today as California, state where I was born and raised a Catholic.

In Last Mass Jamie Iredell navigates the complex history of colonial California, his own personal history as a Catholic growing up in that state, and the process of writing itself, with all its pitfalls and revelations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

214 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2015

About the author

Jamie Iredell lives in Atlanta. He is the author of Prose: Poems, a Novel, and The Book of Freaks.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has some great lines, but it's the structure that I really love. A single arc comes together from individual paragraphs covering Iredell's formative years as a young Catholic in California, the history of Father Junípero Serra (a significant force in the early missionization of California), problems while trying to write the book, and larger reflections on the Church and world. I wasn't expecting something that differently put together, and loved how it comes off. It kept me right in the moment on every page, engaged without being forced. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book immensely useful, as I am working on a long personal essay in a similar vein. It's arrangement is simple and hypnotic. This book felt like finding a textbook glued to the underside of your desk in 10th grade history class, penned by your local fuck-up/hero/wizened historian from a generation back..

[Christopher Bundy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what creative nonfiction can be when it's firing on all cylinders - personal, political, social, and historical all woven together in one clever book-length essay.

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book greatly. The author is a few years older than myself, but growing up in a catholic family in California, I felt there were many experiences he shared that I could identify with.
I was particularly interested in the stories of Father Serra and the connections between where the missions were founded and the current character of the cities that grew around them.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hard book for me to review. The author is 7 years older than I, but we had mutual acquaintances growing up, and went to the same school (for the record, I also fucking hated that school). I'm pretty sure I was in the same church hall as him during some of the events he remembers. I'm also a historian specializing in 17th century Catholicism. (Perhaps there's something in our mutual experience that won't let either of us put this history down...) So reading this book felt uncannily like someone had reached into the back of my mind and pulled out the mess that's there and made it beautiful. Mr. Iredell, you've captured the emotional truth of my central Californian childhood, and it's aftermath, and my "God problems." wow.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was simply amazing. I think I may need to buy a copy of this.