FRAY JUNIPERO SERRA AND THE CALIFORNIA CONQUEST

by Winifred E. Wise ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 1967

From reading the lives of the saints (according to Serra's colleague), ""there arose in him a warm desire...to imitate [those saints] who had labored for the conversion of souls, especially among pagans and uncultured peoples...even to the point of offering his life and shedding his blood"": here is the fervent friar from humble origins in Mallorca to university professorship, the New World, Mexico and then California. Although the Indians seemed especially interested in the food and clothing offered at the Spanish missions, Fray Junipero never lost hope in the power of the word of God, and he worked for ""this multitude of poor naked people who...are so docile and tractable"" by establishing nine mission houses along the California coast, marching ""with the sword of the spirit""--and the soldiers of the King of Spain. Closely following the many excerpts from contemporary Journals, this is less sanctimonious and more detailed than Bolton's Father Junipero Serra but nevertheless cliched, fawning and without perspective.

Pub Date: Oct. 23, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION