Rightly to understand the history of the Missions of the
California of the United States, it is imperative that the
connection or relationship that exists between their history and
that of the Missions of Lower California (Mexico) be clearly
understood.
As I have already shown, the Jesuit padres founded fourteen
Missions in Lower California, which they conducted with greater or
less success until 1767, when the infamous Order of Expulsion of
Carlos III of Spain drove them into exile.
It had always been the intention of Spain to colonize and
missionize Alta California, even as far back as the days of
Cabrillo in 1542, and when Vizcaino, sixty years later, went over
the same region, the original intention was renewed. But intentions
do not always fructify and bring forth, so it was not until a
hundred and sixty years after Vizcaino that the work was actually
begun. The reasons were diverse and equally urgent. The King of
Spain and his advisers were growing more and more uneasy about the
aggressions of the Russians and the English on the California or
rather the Pacific Coast. Russia was pushing down from the north;
England also had her establishments there, and with her insular
arrogance England boldly stated that she had the right to
California, or New Albion, as she called it, because of Sir Francis
Drake’s landing and taking possession in the name of “Good Queen
Bess.” Spain not only resented this, but began to realize another
need. Her galleons from the Philippines found it a long, weary,
tedious and disease-provoking voyage around the coast of South
America to Spain, and besides, too many hostile and piratical
vessels roamed over the Pacific Sea to allow Spanish captains to
sleep easy o’ nights. Hence it was decided that if ports of call
were established on the California coast, fresh meats and
vegetables and pure water could be supplied to the galleons, and in
addition, with presidios to defend them, they might escape
the plundering pirates by whom they were beset. Accordingly plans
were being formulated for the colonization and missionization of
California when, by authority of his own sweet will, ruling a
people who fully believed in the divine right of kings to do as
they pleased, King Carlos the Third issued the proclamation already
referred to, totally and completely banishing the Jesuits from all
parts of his dominions, under penalty of imprisonment and
death.
I doubt whether many people of to-day, even though they be of
the Catholic Church, can realize what obedience to that order meant
to these devoted priests. Naturally they must obey it—monstrous
though it was—but the one thought that tore their hearts with
anguish was: Who would care for their Indian charges?
For these ignorant and benighted savages they had left their
homes and given up all that life ordinarily means and offers. Were
they to be allowed to drift back into their dark heathendom?
No! In spite of his cruelty to the Jesuits, the king had
provided that the Indians should not be neglected. He had appointed
one in whom he had especial confidence, Don José Galvez, as
his Visitador General, and had conferred upon him almost
plenary authority. To his hands was committed the carrying out of
the order of banishment, the providing of members of some other
Catholic Order to care for the Indians of the Missions, and later,
to undertake the work of extending the chain of Missions northward
into Alta California, as far north as the Bay of Monterey, and even
beyond.
To aid him in his work Galvez appealed to the Superior of the
Franciscan Convent in the City of Mexico, and Padre Junipero Serra,
by common consent of the officers and his fellows, was denominated
as the man of all men for the important office of Padre Presidente
of the Jesuit Missions that were to be placed henceforth under the
care of the Franciscans.
This plan, however, was changed within a few months. It was
decided to call upon the priests of the Dominican Order to take
charge of the Jesuit Missions, while the Franciscans put all their
strength and energy into the founding of the new Missions in Alta
California.
Thus it came to pass that the Franciscans took charge of the
founding of the California Missions, and that Junipero Serra became
the first real pioneer of what is now so proudly denominated “The
Golden State.”
The orders that Galvez had received were clear and positive:
“Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monterey for God and the King
of Spain.” He was a devout son of the Church, full of enthusiasm,
having good sense, great executive ability, considerable foresight,
untiring energy, and decided contempt for all routine formalities.
He began his work with a truly Western vigor. Being invested with
almost absolute power, there were none above him to interpose
vexatious formalities to hinder the immediate execution of his
plans.
JUNIPERO SERRA
Founder and First Padre Presidente of the Franciscan
Missions of California From the Schumacker crayon
Map of the Coast of California
Map originally made for Palou’s Life of Padre
Junipero Serra, published in Mexico in 1787.
In order that the spiritual part of the work might be as
carefully planned as the political, Galvez summoned Serra. What a
fine combination! Desire and power hand in hand! What nights were
spent by the two in planning! What arguments, what discussions,
what final agreements the old adobe rooms occupied by them must
have heard! But it is by just such men that great enterprises are
successfully begun and executed. For fervor and enthusiasm, power
and sense, when combined, produce results. Plans were formulated
with a completeness and rapidity that equalled the best days of the
Conquistadores. Four expeditions were to go: two by land and
two by sea. So would the risk of failure be lessened, and practical
knowledge of both routes be gained. Galvez had two available
vessels: the “San Carlos” and the “San Antonio.”
For money the visitor-general called upon the Pious Fund, which,
on the expulsion of the Jesuits, he had placed in the hands of a
governmental administrator. He had also determined that the
Missions of the peninsula should do their share to help in the
founding of the new Missions, and Serra approved and helped in the
work.
When Galvez arrived, he found Gaspar de Portolá acting as
civil and military governor, and Fernando Javier Rivera y Moncada,
the former governor, commanding the garrison at Loreto. Both were
captains, Rivera having been long in the country. He determined to
avail himself of the services of these two men, each of them to
command one of the land expeditions. Consequently with great
rapidity, for those days, operations were set in motion. Rivera in
August or September, 1768, was sent on a commission to visit in
succession all the Missions, and gather from each one all the
provisions, live-stock, and implements that could be spared. He was
also to prevail upon all the available families he could find to go
along as colonists. In the meantime, others sent out by Galvez
gathered in church furniture, ornaments, and vestments for the
Missions, and later Serra made a tour for the same purpose. San
José was named the patron saint of the expedition, and in
December the “San Carlos” arrived at La Paz partially laden with
supplies.
The vessel was in bad condition, so it had to be unloaded,
careened, cleaned, and repaired, and then reloaded, and in this
latter work both Galvez and Serra helped, the former packing the
supplies for the Mission of San Buenaventura, in which he was
particularly interested, and Serra attending to those for San
Carlos. They joked each other as they worked, and when Galvez
completed his task ahead of Serra he had considerable fun at the
Padre Presidente’s expense. In addition to the two Missions named,
one other, dedicated to San Diego, was first to be established. By
the ninth of January, 1769, the “San Carlos” was ready. Confessions
were heard, masses said, the communion administered, and Galvez
made a rousing speech. Then Serra formally blessed the undertaking,
cordially embraced Fray Parron, to whom the spiritual care of the
vessel was intrusted, the sails were lowered, and off started the
first division of the party that meant so much to the future
California. In another vessel Galvez went along until the “San
Carlos” doubled the point and started northward, when, with
gladness in his heart and songs on his lips, he returned to still
further prosecute his work.
The fifteenth of February the “San Antonio,” under the command
of Perez, was ready and started. Now the land expeditions must be
moved. Rivera had gathered his stock, etc., at Santa Maria, the
most northern of the Missions, but finding scant pasturage there,
he had moved eight or ten leagues farther north to a place called
by the Indians Velicatá. Fray Juan Crespí was sent to
join Rivera, and Fray Lasuen met him at Santa Maria in order to
bestow the apostolic blessing ere the journey began, and on March
24 Lasuen stood at Velicatá and saw the little band of
pilgrims start northward for the land of the gentiles, driving
their herds before them. What a procession it must have been! The
animals, driven by Indians under the direction of soldiers and
priests, straggling along or dashing wildly forward as such
creatures are wont to do! Here, as well as in the starting of the
“San Carlos” and “San Antonio,” is a great scene for an artist, and
some day canvases worthy the subjects should be placed in the
California State Capitol at Sacramento.
Governor Portolá was already on his way north, but Serra
was delayed by an ulcerated foot and leg, and, besides, he had not
yet gathered together all the Mission supplies he needed, so it was
May 15 before this division finally left Velicatá. The day
before leaving, Serra established the Mission of San Fernando at
the place of their departure, and left Padre Campa in charge.
Padre Serra’s diary, kept in his own handwriting during this
trip from Loreto to San Diego, is now in the Edward E. Ayer Library
in Chicago. Some of his expressions are most striking. In one
place, speaking of Captain Rivera’s going from Mission to Mission
to take from them “whatever he might choose of what was in them for
the founding of the new Missions,” he says: “Thus he did; and altho
it was with a somewhat heavy hand, it was undergone for God and the
king.”
The work of Galvez for Alta California was by no means yet
accomplished. Another vessel, the “San José,” built at his
new shipyard, appeared two days before the “San Antonio” set sail,
and soon afterwards Galvez went across the gulf in it to secure a
load of fresh supplies. The sixteenth of June the “San José”
sailed for San Diego as a relief boat to the “San Carlos” and “San
Antonio,” but evidently met with misfortune, for three months later
it returned to the Loreto harbor with a broken mast and in general
bad condition. It was unloaded and repaired at San Blas, and in the
following June again started out, laden with supplies, but never
reached its destination, disappearing forever without leaving a
trace behind.
SERRA MEMORIAL CROSS, MONTEREY, CALIF
SERRA CROSS ON MT. RUBIDOUX, RIVERSIDE, CALIF.
Under which sunrise services are held at Easter and Christmastide.
SERRA STATUE.
Erected by Mrs. Leland Stanford, at Monterey
STATUE TO JUNIPERO SERRA.
The gift of James D. Phelan, in Golden Gate Park San Francisco.
The “San Antonio” first arrived at San Diego. About April 11,
1769, it anchored in the bay, and awakened in the minds of the
natives strange feelings of astonishment and awe. Its presence
recalled to them the “stories of the old,” when a similar
apparition startled their ancestors. That other white-winged
creature had come long generations ago, and had gone away, never to
be seen again. Was this not to do likewise? Ah, no! in this vessel
was contained the beginning of the end of the primitive man. The
solitude of the centuries was now to be disturbed and its peace
invaded; aboriginal life destroyed forever. The advent of this
vessel was the death knell of the Indian tribes.
Little, however, did either the company on board the “San
Antonio” or the Indians themselves conceive such thoughts as these
on that memorable April day.
But where was the “San Carlos,” which sailed almost a month
earlier than the “San Antonio”? She was struggling with
difficulties,—leaking water-casks, bad water, scurvy, cold
weather. Therefore it was not until April 29 that she appeared. In
vain the captain of the “San Antonio” waited for the “San Carlos”
to launch a boat and to send him word as to the cause of the late
arrival of the flagship; so he visited her to discover for himself
the cause. He found a sorry state of affairs. All on board were ill
from scurvy. Hastily erecting canvas houses on the beach, the men
of his own crew went to the relief of their suffering comrades of
the other vessel. Then the crew of the relieving ship took the
sickness, and soon there were so few well men left that they could
scarcely attend the sick and bury the dead. Those first two weeks
in the new land, in the month of May, 1769, were never to be
forgotten. Of about ninety sailors, soldiers, and mechanics, less
than thirty survived; over sixty were buried by the wash of the
waves of the Bay of Saint James.
Then came Rivera and Crespí, with Lieutenant Fages and
twenty-five soldiers.
Immediately a permanent camp was sought and found at what is now
known as Old San Diego, where the two old palms still remain, with
the ruins of the presidio on the hill behind. Six weeks were
busily occupied in caring for the sick and in unloading the “San
Antonio.” Then the fourth and last party of the explorers
arrived,—Governor Portolá on June 29, and Serra on July 1.
What a journey that had been for Serra! He had walked all the way,
and, after two days out, a badly ulcerated leg began to trouble
him. Portolá wished to send him back, but Serra would not
consent. He called to one of the muleteers and asked him to make
just such a salve for his wound as he would put upon the saddle
galls of one of his animals. It was done, and in a single night the
ointment and the Father’s prayers worked the miracle of
healing.
After a general thanksgiving, in which exploding gunpowder was
used to give effect, a consultation was held, at which it was
decided to send back the “San Antonio” to San Blas for supplies,
and for new crews for herself and the “San Carlos.” A land
expedition under Portolá was to go to Monterey, while Serra
and others remained at San Diego to found the Mission. The vessel
sailed, Portolá and his band started north, and on July 16,
1769, Serra raised the cross, blessed it, said mass, preached, and
formally established the Mission of San Diego de Alcalá.
It mattered not that the Indians held aloof; that only the
people who came on the expedition were present to hear. From the
hills beyond, doubtless, peered and peeped the curious natives. All
was mysterious to them. Later, however, they became troublesome,
stealing from the sick and pillaging from the “San Carlos.” At
last, they made a determined raid for plunder, which the Spanish
soldiers resisted. A flight of arrows was the result. A boy was
killed and three of the new-comers wounded. A volley of
musket-balls killed three Indians, wounded several more, and
cleared the settlement. After such an introduction, there is no
wonder that conversions were slow. Not a neophyte gladdened the
Father’s heart for more than a year.
