Day 4: St. Junípero Serra — Siempre Adelante

He was born Miquel Josep Serra i Ferrer on the island of Mallorca on November 24, 1713, the son of farmers who cultivated wheat and beans and tended cattle. By the age of seven, young Miquel was working alongside his parents in the fields. But even then, he was drawn to something beyond the horizon. The local Franciscan friary at the Church of San Bernardino stood within a block of the Serra family home, and the boy visited it constantly, captivated by the friars' devotion and their stories of the world beyond Mallorca.

At sixteen, he entered the Franciscan Order. He took the name Junípero—after Brother Juniper, one of St. Francis's original companions, a man so simple and so holy that Francis himself once said, "Would that I had a whole forest of such Junipers." The name was a declaration of intent: this was a man who wanted to be hewn from the same wood as the saints.

Serra proved to be brilliant as well as devout. He earned a doctorate in theology, held a prestigious teaching chair at the Lullian University in Palma, and was regarded as one of the finest preachers in Mallorca. He had every reason to stay. But in 1749, at the age of thirty-six, he abandoned his academic career and sailed for the New World.

The Walk That Changed Everything

When Serra arrived at Veracruz, Mexico, he refused to ride the mule provided for him and set out to walk the 250 miles to Mexico City. During the journey, he was bitten by an insect—some accounts say a snake—and the wound on his leg never properly healed. For the remaining thirty-five years of his life, he walked on a leg that caused him constant, agonizing pain. He never complained. He never slowed down. He simply kept walking.

Serra spent seventeen years in Mexico—nine in the rugged Sierra Gorda mountains, eight more preaching in coastal villages and mining camps. Then, in 1768, when King Charles III expelled the Jesuits from all Spanish territories, the Franciscans were asked to take over the missions of Baja California. Serra, now fifty-five years old and suffering from both his damaged leg and chronic chest problems, was appointed Father Presidente.

The following year, he joined the Portolà expedition to Alta California. On July 16, 1769, he founded Mission San Diego de Alcálá, the first of what would become twenty-one missions stretching along the California coast. Over the next fifteen years, despite unrelenting physical suffering, conflicts with military authorities, shortages of supplies, and the sheer enormity of the task, Serra personally established nine missions and confirmed more than 5,300 people.

Serra and the Pueblo of Los Angeles

Though Serra did not personally found the Pueblo of Los Angeles—it was a civilian settlement established under Governor de Neve—his mission system made the pueblo possible. It was Serra's Mission San Gabriel, the "Godmother of Los Angeles," that served as the staging ground for the settlers. It was the Franciscan infrastructure—the roads, the agriculture, the church—that gave the pueblo its foundation. And it was the Franciscan spirit that gave it its name and its identity as a Catholic community under the protection of Our Lady of the Angels.

Serra himself visited the region, walking the dusty pathways of the pueblo and celebrating Mass at the missions. Historical accounts note that he traveled more than 600 miles in the final three years of his life to confirm all who had been baptized—a staggering feat for a man in constant pain.

On August 28, 1784—thirty-five years to the day after he left Spain for the missions of the New World—Junípero Serra died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel, at the age of seventy. He was buried beneath the sanctuary floor, where his remains rest to this day.

Canonization: A Saint for Our Time

On September 23, 2015, Pope Francis canonized Junípero Serra during the papal visit to the United States—the first canonization ever performed on American soil. The ceremony took place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

In his proclamation, the pope called Serra "one of the founding fathers of the United States, a saintly example of the Church's universality and special patron of the Hispanic people of the country."

Reflection for Today

Serra's life is a rebuke to comfort. He had every worldly advantage—intellect, position, security—and he gave it all away to walk on a broken leg into the unknown. His motto, "Siempre adelante, nunca atrás," is not a slogan for a motivational poster. It is the battle cry of a man who believed that the Gospel was worth any suffering, any distance, any sacrifice.

What is God asking you to walk toward today? What comfort is He asking you to leave behind? Siempre adelante. Always forward.

Prayer

St. Junípero Serra, Apostle of California, you who walked on wounded feet to carry the light of Christ to a new world, intercede for us. Give us your courage to go forward when the way is hard. Give us your perseverance when the task seems impossible. Give us your faith that the God who called us will sustain us. Siempre adelante. Amen.

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