Kids growing up in California spend their 4th grade history classes learning about the history of their state—from its inception as a Spanish colony to the Bear Flag Revolt to becoming the modern-day 8th largest economy in the world. A major part of the curriculum is devoted to the Spanish Mission system—a system of 21 religious and military outposts that stretch from San Diego up to Sonoma (just north of San Francisco) started by the “Columbus of California,” Blessed Junipero Serra. Pope Francis has recently announced that the Franciscan Father Serra will be canonized in September 2015 during the Holy Father’s trip to Washington DC.
In announcing his decision, Pope Francis described Father Serra as a man with saintly virtues, who exemplified piety and perseverance in his determination to evangelize the Native Americans who inhabited California. The PBS series The West describes Father Serra’s devotion in the following way: “His Herculean efforts subjected him to near-starvation, afflictions of scurvy, and hundreds of miles of walking and horse riding through dangerous terrain. Moreover, he was notorious for his mortifications of the flesh: wearing heavy shirts with sharp wires pointed inward, whipping himself to the point of bleeding, and using a candle to scar the flesh of his chest. His sacrifices bore fruit for the missionaries; by his death in 1784, the nine missions he had founded had a nominally converted Indian population of nearly 5,000.”
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