The History of Father Junipero Serra The Ball Begins Rolling

Jun 1, 2015

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

FRAY Junípero Serra supervised the rebuilding of San Diego Mission during the deep fall of October 1776. It was necessary to put the 7,000 adobe bricks into place ahead of the approaching rainy season. 

On October 25, 1776, with Fray Gregorio Amurrio, eleven soldiers and an equal number of mules bearing packs and provisions, Serra set out for the valley of Capistrano. There he found the cross erected earlier by Lasuén still standing. He had the bells which were buried, unearthed and hung from beams, ready to call the heathens to their new Christian home. An enramada was set up and an improvised altar placed within it. There, on November 1, 1776, the feast of All Saints; Serra sung a High Mass and declared California's seventh mission founded. 

Serra described Capistrano as a "place with abundant water, pasture, firewood and timber," as well as an area containing plentiful Indian rancherias. The Presidente selected Amurrio and Fray Pablo de Mugartegui as the missionaries for the place, declaring that both were men of "zeal, talent and religious spirit." As a result of their labors, he hoped to see rapid progress made. 

On November 3rd, Serra set out for San Gabriel to get a few Christian Indians to serve as interpreters and preceptors of the pagan Indians at Capistrano and to bring provisions and a herd of cattle for the new foundation. While returning to San Juan Capistrano, Serra had a narrow escape. With a single soldier and a San Gabriel Indian, he was ahead of the pack train. Suddenly they came face-to-face with a hostile group of natives, painted and armed, ready to strike. The Gabrieleno Indian yelled out to them in their own tongue, telling them not to kill the padre and warning them that there were soldiers close behind. The ruse worked and the Indians desisted. 

Serra did not shun the attackers. When they had been pacified, he called to them, traced the sign of the cross over them all, and gave them glass beads. Later, when the Presidente related the incident, he said that he thought surely the end had come. After the establishment at San Juan Capistrano was firmly rooted, Serra returned to San Gabriel and then moved on northward to San Luis Obispo with Fray Fermin de Lasuén as his traveling companion. 

Passage along the Santa Barbara Channel at that time of year was even more a problem than usual. The winds blew and the rains came down in torrents. The sea was rough and the surf rolled over the sands to the very foot of the mountains. As a result, the friars and their party had to take to the hill trail along the cliffs above it. 

Serra related how kind the Indians were to him. Physically weak, he was unable to walk and had to be carried. Of this assistance he wrote: "I could not and cannot repay their charity and their labors as I desire." All of this increased the love he had long had for the Canaliños. The Presidente probably spent Christmas at San Luis Obispo. He later convinced Lasuén to take on the post of missionary at San Diego. Though at first reluctant, Lasuén eventually "bowed his neck to the yoke." 

Early in January, Serra reached his headquarters at San Carlos Borromeo. During his absence, the friars there had baptized twenty-three more persons, bringing the total number of christenings at San Carlos to 441. Also during that time, the presidio of San Francisco and Missions San Francisco and Santa Clara had been founded. 

There were now eight rungs on the mission ladder.