The Man Who Founded California

The Man Who Founded California:  The Life of Saint Junipero Serra This work is a popular but thorough biography of St. Junipero Serra (1713- 1784), the tireless Franciscan missionary who came to California in the eighteenth century to evangelize the Native Americans. Well known for the historic missions that he helped establish all along the coast from San Diego to San Francisco (21 in all), Father Serra is even recognized by the secular society of the United States government as the “Founder of California”. As one of the pioneers who created the United States of America, his larger than life-size statue stands in the hall of the U.S. Capitol. Archbishop Couve de Murville presents an historical and spiritual biography of Serra from his childhood and student days in Majorca, Spain, to his time in Mexico, and to his great missionary work in California. Regarded as a great teacher by his order, his superiors initially made Serra a professor of theology at the Lullian University in Palma,