The History of Father Junipero Serra A Pause for Reflection

May 21, 2015

This is part of a series on Junipero Serra. To read the full series, click here.

DURING 1776, a significant year in American history when political and social experiments were being tested on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Juan Bautista de Anza expedition marched north through the mission territory of Alta California and occasioned a survey of the development up to that time. 

The mission system in California was only seven years old in 1776. For the moment, San Juan Capistrano did not exist. San Diego lay in ruins, awaiting resurrection; because of its poor resources for agriculture, many of its converted Indians still lived in their rancherias and were often Christian in name only. San Luis Obispo, San Antonio, San Carlos and San Gabriel were relatively prosperous. 

Though the early days at San Gabriel had been difficult, by 1776 the mission was flourishing. It was built in the midst of broad plains; abundant water was at hand; pasture was plentiful; forests of live oaks provided timber for firewood and building. The mission had horses, cows, pigs, sheep and chickens. 

In his diary, Fray Pedro Font says that the cows were fat, the milk rich and the mutton finer than any he had ever tasted. Another friar had called San Gabriel the Promised Land and Font echoed him. In 1776, all roads led to San Gabriel; southeast the overland route was now open all the way to Mexico City; north to San Francisco; south to San Diego and Baja California. This was the gateway to coastal California. 

The buildings at San Gabriel were still rather primitive. Some were made of adobe, but most were built of logs and tule. The friars lived in a long shed where grain was also stored. The church was a rectangular edifice. Eight soldiers lived in the guardhouse. About five hundred Indians resided in native huts close to the mission, an aqueduct running between their homes and the mission. 

The mission system which Font found in operation at San Gabriel was the pattern upon which all the other missions were based, a system begun in Texas, followed in the Sierra Gorda and then transmitted to Alta California. Attracted to the missions by the padres, the Indians lived as catechumens until they were ready for baptism. During this period, they were taught the elements of the Catholic faith, were fed and clothed, taught to work and to follow the routine of mission life. 

If, after several months they had learned the catechism and desired to become Christians, they were baptized. Thereafter they were required to live permanently at the mission and to learn to live a fuller Christian life in the pattern of Spanish culture. Converts were given permission to visit their pagan relatives for a few days at a time; it gave the Indian a change of routine and the mission Indians often brought more of their relatives and friends to the mission. Runaways who had been baptized were sought out and returned to the mission. 

After sunrise, the Indians assembled at the sound of the bell, assisted at Mass, and recited with the padre the doctrina a compendium of Christian doctrine and prayers. At the conclusion, the Alabado was sung. Breakfast, preceded by grace, consisted of atole (porridge). Afterwards, the morning's labors were assigned, each Indian going to his work under the supervision of a padre who often worked alongside. At noon, the Indians ate their pozole (a stew of barley, beans and other ingredients) in common. A short period of labor in the afternoon was concluded with the Indians assembling again to recite the doctrina. 

This was the California of 1776.