OUR PATRON SAINT

St. Junipero Serra

Not only because of his place in American history as the founder of a chain of missions in Mexico and California, but also because of his life of priestly zeal and heroic virtue, Fray Junípero Serra, OFM, was chosen as the patron of our apostolate. This gifted Franciscan friar had occupied the Duns Scotus chair of philosophy in Mallorca, Spain, until he felt the call to commit himself further to the service of Christ as a missionary in the New World. Departing from Cadiz, Spain, in 1748, he made the perilous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a small ship, landing at Veracruz on the southern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. From there, he journeyed on foot to Mexico City, where tradition has it that he prayed at the church built over the famous site where the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531.