![]() Hackel and fellow UC Riverside associate history professor Catherine Gudis co-curated an exhibit called "Junipero Serra and the Legacies of the California Missions" for The Huntington Library in San Marino, which runs through Jan. People like Serra and the world he came from were entirely convinced there was one true religion. You have Spain that is militantly crusading Catholicism. "The context is that you have Mallorca, Spain, that is very much invested in the agricultural lifestyle that Serra tries to transfer to California. "Yes, missions did exact a toll on California Indian cultures, much of that was through disease," Hackel said. Hackel said those who wish to celebrate or condemn Serra must first consider the complexities of the man, the time into which he was born and Spanish society at the time. He did not come here to set up a new economy and society. "His whole purpose was to share that with the Native Americans here. ![]() "We view him as a person that was obviously endeared with the love of Christ in his soul," Elewaut said. "We were stripped of our language, we were used as slaves, we were stripped of our culture," said Chumash descendant Eleanor Arellanes, 52, of Ventura. The Spanish missionaries and military nearly wiped the Chumash out with diseases such as smallpox, the common cold and influenza, and coerced them into building the missions and discouraged them from following their cultural traditions. Serra and his missionaries and soldiers brought agriculture, ranching, cattle and horses to the region along with Catholicism, but there was a dark side to the agricultural and spiritual conversion. The rest were established by the Franciscan missionaries who came to Alta California with Serra with the intent to colonize the area for Spain and convert the native Californians to Catholicism. San Buenaventura Mission was the ninth and last mission Serra established before his death on Aug. ![]() I don't think there is a specific color designated for a 300th (birthday)." he said with a grin. "The lights will be gold and yellow for the Golden State," said Father Tom Elewaut, pastor of San Buenaventura Mission. Gold and yellow lights on the cypress trees on either side of Mission San Buenaventura will be lit this weekend in honor of Serra's birthday, and all four masses on Sunday will be about the California missions. Sunday marks the 300th birthday of the Franciscan missionary who would change the people and the very landscape of California by establishing the first nine of 21 Franciscan missions from San Diego to San Francisco. ![]() "The Serra cause is still very much alive," said Steven Hackel, UC Riverside associate history professor. Three hundred years after his birth and 229 years after his death, many Catholics still hope for sainthood for Father Junipero Serra. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |