Pope Francis has recently proposed the canonization of Father Junipero Serra into sainthood based upon his missionary work in colonial Mexico and the colony of Alta California. Normally, the process of canonization to achieve sainthood within the Catholic Church requires two ‘verified’ miracles. Serra has previously been credited with one by Pope John Paul II. Pope Francis has stated that he is willing to make an “exemption and waive the rules” for a required second miracle so that the process toward sainthood can move forward.

Before designating Serra a saint for his religious work in early California, an impartial discussion needs to be held to evaluate the impact that these efforts had upon the indigenous peoples that he interacted with and evangelized to.

For many people today, the issue of Father Serra’s role in the development of the California mission system and its harsh methods of conversion is difficult to confront and discuss in an objective and logical manner. Many academics and religious apologists have re-stated the worn-out phrase that we cannot assess and compare 18th century concepts, practices and any misconduct by California’s missionaries through the use of 21st century standards. This is fundamentally incorrect as this confused approach and form of denial would mean we cannot use present historical methods to record, analyze and evaluate any individuals or events from the past because we live in the present.

The spread of European capitalism, colonialism and religious dogma.

An evaluation of Father Serra’s actions and their effect upon the native people of California needs to be done through an historical analysis and not through a subjective religious perspective.

As a historical figure Serra’s past activities must be viewed within the context of an expanding European colonialism, capitalism and mercantilism that was led by Spain which was then a world power. The dominant economic perspective during this formative-capitalist period in Europe viewed the acquisition of colonies as a source of increased wealth for monarchs, the nobility and their developing merchant capitalist classes.

The military conquests of new colonies were followed by Catholic missionaries whose role was to expand Spanish civilization, religion, social practices and racial castes within these conquered regions.

This process of pacification and conversion also included remolding the outlook and lives of indigenous peoples to resemble those of Europeans. It was within this historical context that Junipero Serra and the other Franciscan missionaries arrived in California with their Euro-centric perspective and feudalistic values.

Colonization and the mission system resulted in a clash of civilizations.

During the 1700’s the Spanish crown viewed the colonization of Baja and especially Alta California as an urgent priority in order to block the encroachment from the north by colonial rivals Britain and Russia.

This plan was to be carried out through the establishment of a string of military presidios and missions within California which were to be the foundation for future Spanish towns most of whom would be named after Catholic saints such as San Diego, San Francisco and so on.

The newly arrived pobladores of these new settlements were comprised of Spaniards, Mestizos and Afro-Spaniards. The indigenous population of Alta California during the 1700’s ranged from two to three hundred thousand people who existed in a hunter-gatherer civilization of about 100 different communal tribes. This new system of colonization within California had soldiers from the presidios subjugate and round up the inhabitants of indigenous villages and force them onto the newly-created missions where they would be confined and forced to labor.

It was at these missions where Serra and his priests carried out their religious work of ‘civilizing’ about a fourth of the state’s indigenous population by converting them to Catholicism and supervising their labor. In addition to religious indoctrination and coerced labor the priests also tried to eliminate the culture, language and identities of the “mission Indians” through a system of pressure and punishment.

This remolding process even involved changing the physical appearance of the indigenous peoples through the forced use of European clothes, hair styles and Spanish names. The use of flogging by the mission priests was a normal procedure that was used as a form of punishment against individuals who broke the rules or who were accused of committing ‘sins’ and therefore in need of harsh spiritual enhancement through whipping. Others who attempted to escape from the missions were caught by soldiers and severely punished which at times meant having a foot cut off. While not classified formally as slaves, the strict control, lack of freedom and forced exploitation of native labor were in essence the characteristics of slavery.

Should armed colonial expansionists and harsh rulers be viewed as saints?

The question of whether Father Serra was a kindly saint, or merely a key representative of an oppressive colonial system who only carried out orders, needs to be based upon factual results and not the vagueness of faith or even the denial of harsh reality.
A fundamental question needs to be asked in order to evaluate Serra and the results of his colonizing work and arrive at a firm conclusion. This question is whether the lives of the majority of indigenous people within the state were actually improved economically, socially and even democratically by Spanish colonialism and Serra’s Catholic mission system and did his religious work assist the existing civilizations to progress? Or was it the opposite and did he and his Franciscans along with the Spanish military assist in undermining and extinguishing a civilization native to California, its culture and thousands of lives?

A positive aspect of these California settlements is that the Spaniards implanted a more advanced economic system and certain social rules and norms while their nascent pueblos led to the development of the state’s present towns and cities. With the emergence of the Californios under subsequent Mexican rule the missions were dismantled and a system of ranchos was expanded throughout the state as a growing Mestizo population began to develop.

In order to objectively evaluate Serra’s missionary work we can’t rely solely on an organization that is based upon subjective faith and a belief in miracles such as the Catholic church. This would be similar to asking the police to investigate themselves in an impartial manner. Serra is viewed and promoted by the Catholic Church through a narrow religious prism as a prospective saint based upon his missionary work of recruiting more converts and expanding the power of the church into the Americas. However, in the real world of historical facts, his role and actions played a leading role in a colonial system that forcefully dismantled a civilization, culture and languages and devastated a population that never fully recovered. While Serra may have had good intentions and in certain instances lessened the harsh rule of the military, such well-meaning intent and misguided efforts often create an opposite and negative result.

In conclusion, Serra deserves to be designated as primarily being a willing and aggressive tool of European colonialism and a harmful one at that.