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The Feast of Saint Junipero Serra

Today, the church celebrates The Feast of Saint Junipero Serra, who died in the year 1784. He was from Maiorca, Spain, and a member of the Franciscan order. He arrived in New Spain (or Mexico) in 1750, and established nine of the California Missions, baptizing over 6,000 native peoples, and recognized as a builder of the State of California. Pope John Paul II described him as “an exemplary model of the selfless evangelizer.”

Let us pray. O God, who by Your ineffable mercy, have been pleased through the labors of Your priest Saint Junipero Serra, to count many American peoples within Your church, grant by His intercession that we may so join our hearts to You in love, as to carry always and everywhere before all people the image of Your only begotten Son, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.