Fray Junipero Serra (1713-1785) created California’s mission system and spread the Church’s mission by working in unsettled territories and working to gain new converts. He left a comfortable teaching position in Mexico City to pursue the difficult work of expanding the Catholic Church into a region where it had no foothold. The result was a system of missions and forts (or presidios) that lasted well after Serra died.Fray Serra is important to California history because he helped create some of the state’s first permanent settlements. Large cities later grew up around several missions, such as Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco, all sites of missions that Serra founded. These missions also helped give Spain an important foothold in California, which other nations wanted to claim and settle.
Serra also helped bring some organization to California as well, because he ran the mission system until his death.The most inspiring thing about Serra’s life is his dedication to his faith, which made him leave an easy job and take on a very difficult one in what was then a wilderness. Because he was a devout Franciscan, he did not want riches or material comfort, but to serve the Church as faithfully and constructively as possible. Also, his toughness is admirable, because Serra endured a great deal of pain and ill health during his time in California, showing how he would endure great difficulties to achieve his purpose.Giving up a comfortable life for extreme hardship is admirable because it shows determination and ability.
My impression of Serra is one of seriousness and devotion. He did not live a happy, easy life but a serious one dedicated to his studies, his faith, and his task of building missions and winning converts to the Church. His life would be far too harsh and difficult for many, but the fact that he took on such a large burden demonstrates his toughness and determination.
