ST JUNIPERO SERRA, PRIEST - 1 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 1st of July

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST JUNIPERO SERRA, PRIEST

[His memorial is on July 1 in the United States.] Born at Petra, Island of Majorca, Saint Junipero Serra entered the Franciscan Order in 1730. He was appointed lector of philosophy before his ordination to the priesthood. Later he joined the missionary college of San Fernando, Mexico (1749). 

While travelling on foot from Vera Cruz to the capital, he injured his leg in such a way that he suffered from it throughout his life, though he continued to make his journeys on foot whenever possible. 

HE LEARNED THE LANGUAGE OF THE LOCAL NATIVE AMERICANS

At his own request he was assigned to the Sierra Gorda Missions some thirty leagues north of Queretaro. He served there for nine years, part of the time as superior, and learned the language of the local native Americans (Pame). 

A MOST FERVENT AND EFFECTIVE PREACHER

Recalled to Mexico, he became famous as a most fervent and effective preacher of missions. His zeal frequently led him to employ extraordinary means in order to move the people. He would pound his breast with a stone while in the pulpit, scourge himself, or apply a lighted torch to his bare chest. Early in 1769, he founded the first of the twenty-one California missions. 

HE WOULD USE NO REMEDIES

He suffered intensely from his crippled leg, yet he would use no remedies. Besides extraordinary fortitude, his most conspicuous virtues were insatiable zeal, love of mortification, self-denial, and absolute confidence in God. 

St Junipero died at Monterey, California, August 28, 1784. 

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)