The History of Father Junipero Serra Bl. Junipero Serra: Departure for the New World

Mar 2, 2015

Editor's note: This is part 4 of a series on the life of Bl. Junipero Serra in anticipation of his canonization. To read other articles in the series, click here.

LATE in 1748, after much prayer and deliberation, Fray Junípero Serra wrote to the Commissary General of the Indies, asking permission for himself and Fray Francisco Pa1óu to become apostolic missionaries. On Palm Sunday, a special messenger arrived at the Convento de San Francisco with official authorization for the two friars to join a group of missionaries bound for the West Indies.

Two weeks later, the friars bade farewell to their confreres, and made their way to Palma's harbor, where they boarded an English ship for the first leg of their lengthy journey. On May 2nd, they left Malaga and cruised along the hill-fringed coast of southern Spain, passing the formidable rock of Gibraltar. Five days later, they rounded the peninsula on which Cadiz is located and entered the historic harbor.

There, the friars met the others who had responded from all parts of Spain to the call for evangelizing the New World. It was while waiting at Cadiz that Fray Junípero Serra wrote a letter to the parish priest at Petra, asking that he inform his parents about his becoming a missionary.

That letter, referred to by one writer as the "magna carta of Serra's apostolate," reveals the friar at life's crossroads, a man who in strength of character, assisted by grace, made the irrevocable decision to leave aging parents, beloved homeland, associations of youth, cloister and community, books and university, honor and future renown for a spiritual motive based on the Gospel. By absorbing the message of that letter, one can understand the Junípero of the future.

Serra asked the priest to tell his parents about the "great joy" that filled his heart at becoming a missionary. Knowing that, "surely they would always encourage me to go forward and never to turn back. Let them remember that the office of an apostolic preacher, especially in its actual exercise, is the greatest calling to which they could wish me to be chosen."

"Since they are advanced in years, let them recall that life is uncertain and, in fact, may be very brief. . . . Since this is true, it will be very much to the point and most conformable to the holy will of God if they will not emphasize the very little help that I could give them with regard to the needs of this life. Rather they should strive to merit from God, our Lord, that if we see each other no more in this life, we may be joined forever in future glory."

"Let them rejoice that they have a son who is a priest, though an unworthy one and a sinner, who daily in the holy sacrifice of the Mass prays for them with all the fervor of his soul and on many days applies the Mass for them alone, so that the Lord may aid them .... If I, by the grace of God, succeed in becoming a good religious, my prayers will become more efficacious, and they in consequence will be the gainers."

"The same I say to my beloved sister in Christ, Juana, and to my brother-in-law, Miquel. Let them not be concerned about me now, but rather let them commend me to God that I may be a good priest and a holy minister of God."

"In this we are all very interested and this alone matters. I recall the occasion when my father was so ill that extreme unction was administered to him. I, being a religious, was at home at the time, and thinking that he was going to die, we two being alone, he said to me: 'My son, let me charge you to be a good religious of your Father, St. Francis."

"Now, dear father, be assured that those words are as fresh in my memory as when they proceeded from your lips. Realize, too, that in order to become a good religious, I have set out on this course."