Skip to main content

Saint Junipero Serra

Saint Junipero Serra: Feast Day July 1st


Happy Feast Day, Saint Junipero Serra! In 2014, when my husband and I were dating, we were blessed with the opportunity to visit the Basilica in Carmel, California that Saint Junipero founded and where he is buried. Below are some photos I took from our 2014 trip as well as the front of the visitor’s brochure that I kept. Seeing one of the missions that Saint Junipero founded, and where Pope Saint John Paul II also visited, was an amazing experience! Gazing upon the heritage of the Catholic faith in the United States, the beautiful architecture, and experiencing the serenity of the basilica's surroundings, was surreal! 

It saddens me, however, that Saint Junipero Serra, who was canonized a saint in 2015 by Pope Francis, is sometimes viewed negativity. During his life, Saint Junipero treated the Native peoples in the missions with a care and dignity that others often did not exhibit towards Native peoples at the time. He learned their language and defended their rights against non-native settlers. Yes, he believed in and utilized corporal punishment, since he viewed himself as a father to the native peoples he loved (Saint Junipero Serra, USCCB), but we cannot judge the past based upon a contemporary context. We must consider the past and all it’s people and events in the context of that particular time period of history. No one is perfect. Yet God takes us in our imperfections and sins and transforms us into his saints. In every time period that they have lived, the people the Church recognizes as saints have sought to grow in holiness and make the world and time in which they lived grow closer to God. All of us are called to be saints, and we all do the best that we can to become the saints that God seeks to make of us. The Church does not canonize evil people. It canonizes sinners, for we are all sinners, who love the Lord and try to do the best they can in the circumstances and times in which they live.  In the words of Saint Junipero Serra, "Siempre adelante!" Keep moving forward!   

Bibliography:

St. Junípero Serra. Carmel Mission. (2021, July 27). https://carmelmission.org/visit/st-junipero-serra/#:~:text=Father%20Serra%20had%20a%20motto,growing%20numb%2C%20from%20being%20anesthetized.

Saint Junipero Serra. USCCB. (n.d.). https://www.usccb.org/offices/general-secretariat/saint-junipero-serra






Celebrating with Food: 

Today, celebrate Saint Junipero Serra, missionary to California, with a multicultural meal. Make Spanish-inspired Paprika seasoned chicken with roasted sweet potatoes (native to the Americas) and broccoli. And since Saint Junipero Serra was born on the Spanish island of Mallorca,  serve Ensaimada—a Mallocran spiral sweet-bread with Arab influences for dessert. Here is my Spanish-inspired Paprika Chicken Recipe (I just dabbled with ingredients I had on hand):

 

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 chicken breasts 
  • 3 large sweet potatoes 
  • 2 broccoli crowns 
  • 3 garlic cloves or jarred minced garlic 
  • Paprika
  • Salt 
  • Pepper 
  • Olive oil 

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit 
  • Line a sheet pan pan with aluminum foil 
  • Peel and slice sweet potatoes in circles, then quarter the circles 
  • Cut broccoli crowns into florets 
  • Place broccoli and sweet potatoes in a large boil and drizzle with olive oil (about 2-3 tablespoons). Then season with garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.
  • Place chicken breasts in the center of the sheet pan and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on them. Season with paprika, salt, and pepper to taste. 
  • Pour vegetables around the chicken.
  • Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

                                       

Here is the recipe for "Mallorca Ensaimadas" I used from the website “The Spruce Eats.” The modifications I made are as follows: I used about two-three table spoons of softened butter instead of vegetable shortening, and I did not let my dough rise over night.


Celebrating with a Craft/Activity: 

Today, you and your children can practice some cartography skills. Help your kids plot the various Spanish Missions that were founded by Saint Junipero Serra in California, and those that were founded with Saint Junipero Serra present. You can even have your children plot geographic landforms like mountains and rivers too! Here are a variety of printable maps of California from the website "Coloring Home," and a list of missions started by Saint Junipero Serra from the "Carmel Mission Basilica" website.  Here also is a map, from the California Missions Foundation, showing the locations of California's 21 missions you can use as a reference. 


 Saint Junipero Serra, patron of vocations, pray for us! 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Make a Rosary Garden—Planting Flowers and the Seeds of Prayer

Make a Rosary Garden—Planting Flowers and the Seeds of Prayer:  On the lawn outside of my family's parish, there is a stepping-stone Marian-Rosary garden. Often, after attending daily Mass, on warm or non rainy days, my children love to run around the rosary stones, encircling the statue of Mary, and sit upon the garden's benches. The days when they would run around, only able to exclaim the words, "Hail, Mary! Hail, Mary! Hail Mary!" for each stone, are precious treasured memories I hold within my heart. When we entered the pandemic shutdown, in the spring of 2020, I didn't realize just how much I missed the rosary garden tradition my children and I had after Mass. When my husband and I scheduled confession with our pastor, twelve days into the shutdown, we took turns waiting with our children and letting them play and pray in the rosary garden, while we participated in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I'd always desired to make a Mary/Rosary garden in our ba...
Post a Comment
Read more

Invite Your Parish Priest Over for Dinner:

Invite Your Parish Priest Over for Dinner: Four months after moving into our new house, my husband and I decided to invite our parish priest over for dinner and to bless our new home. We still had piles of unpacked boxes, our toddlers were bouncing off the walls with excitement, and my husband and I were a little nervous. Was our home clean enough? Would we be able to engage in good conversations with our guest? When the doorbell rang, our children raced to the door, and began bouncing around, welcoming Father inside. During dinner, we found that the conversations flowed easily. We shared stories about where we grew up, our families, and various other details as we got to know one another outside of church. We laughed as our daughter spilled the beans that my husband and I were expecting our third child, and when we shared our due date, our priest began enthusiastically sharing all sorts of common, as well as some crazy sounding, saint names for days on and near our due date.  Afte...
1 comment
Read more

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Feast Day: Nov. 17th  Saint Elizabeth of Hungary has always held a special place in my heart since she is my confirmation saint. If I'm being honest, when I was reading about saints back in the eighth grade, trying to choose which saint I wanted to take as my patron, my requirements were as follows: (1) She couldn't die a horrible death, (2) She was married with kids, (3) and her life was pretty good allowing her to serve God and others through the blessings she'd been given. In hindsight, my list of "requirements" was probably a little superficial, but now as an adult I focus more on the virtues and saintly qualities of Saint Elizabeth, and find inspiration in how she lived. She was humble, a kind and loving wife and mother, and very generous to the poor. She also made plenty of time to pray and grow in her relationship with the Lord. On her wedding day, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who was a princess, did not wear a crown. Instead she s...
Post a Comment
Read more