Junípero Serra

Junípero Serra was born on November 24, 1713 in Petra, a small village in the Mediterranean island of Majorca, in Spain. According to the church records, he was baptized as Miquel Joseph Serra on the same day of his birth.

His parents, Antonio Nadal Serra and Margarita Rosa Ferrer, were small farmers. Apart from Miquel, they had two more elder children, who died in infancy. There is also the record of another child named Juana Maria. Their native tongue was Catalan. Later Miquel picked up Castilian Spanish; it became his second language.

By the age of seven, Miquel began to help his parents in their fields, where they grew wheat and beats. He also tended the cattle. However, his interest in religion was evident from an early age. He often visited the local Franciscan friary.

Later, he began to attend the school at the friary, where he was taught reading, writing, mathematics and Latin. There he also learnt to sing liturgical song and was especially good in Gregorian chants. As he had good voice, he was often asked to join the choirs.

At the age of fifteen, he went to Palma de Majorca, the capital city of the island. There he was enrolled at a school run by the Franciscan order. Finally on November 14, 1730, Serra became a novice under the Alcantarine branch of the Friars Minor.

At the Friars Minor, Miquel was given the religious name of Junipero and put under a rigorous training program. Besides, he was required to make a vow of celibacy and also of scorning property and comfort. Letters and visits by parents were not encouraged.

At the academy, Junipero’s days were spent in prayers, meditation, spiritual reading and choir singing. Besides, they also received instruction on various subjects and had to undertake different physical core. He spent his spare time reading about Franciscan friars and their travel around the world.

The training lasted for seven long years and finally, Junipero was ordained as Catholic priest sometime in 1738. In 1740, he received his ecclesiastical license to teach and started teaching philosophy at the Convento de San Francisco. In 1742, he received doctorate in theology from the Lullian College

From 1743, he began to teach at the Lullian College and occupied the Duns Scotus Chair of Philosophy until 1749. However, he did not totally abandon his parents and often visited them. Before he finally set sail for the New World, he wrote a letter to his college requesting them to console his parents as he was their only son.