El incansable caminanteJunípero Serra. Aproximación documental a su itinerario vital y misionero
- Valenzuela Van Moock Chaves, Sonia de
- Pedro Riquelme Oliva Director
- Bernardo Pérez Andreo Director
Defence university: Universidad de Murcia
Fecha de defensa: 19 July 2024
- José Antonio Molina Gómez Chair
- Belén Navajas Josa Secretary
- Rafael Ramis Barceló Committee member
Type: Thesis
Abstract
Objectives This paper, which covers Saint Junípero Serra's entire life, sets out to develop a synthesis of his biographical profile with the following objectives: • To document that Serra was raised in a Christian family with a Franciscan spirit that led him to enter the Convent of Jesus outside the walls of Palma in 1730. He took the three vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity, and went to the Convent of San Francisco in Palma, where he studied Philosophy and Theology. He was promoted to minor orders before receiving the rank of subdeacon and deacon, and was licensed to preach in 1738. He was a lecturer of Philosophy and professor of Theology at the Luliana and Literary University of Mallorca. He spent his time between the convent, the pastoral university in Palma, and villages in Mallorca. • To document his departure to America, at the age of thirty-five, where he committed to the spiritual and material government of the Pame Indians in Sierra Gorda. In Alta California, he founded nine missions prior to his death on 28 August 1784. • To document the personality and mission of Serra, as well as his spiritual and professional journey, influenced by the parameters of his time, his Mallorcan roots, and his dedication to the "salvation of souls". • To provide a different reading of the current perspective that obscures Serra's missionary mysticism and confuses it with the logic of the implantation of the Spanish Empire among American Indians. The beatification of Saint Junípero Serra in 2015 highlighted a previously initiated movement of criticism and questioning of the work of this Mallorcan Franciscan who launched the chain of twenty-one missions, was revered as a promoter of California's identity, and was proposed as one of the fathers of the American Union. Hence the presence of his statue in the Capitol in Washington D.C. • To propose a documented study, through the letters of Saint Junípero Serra, to shift from a vision idealised by the indigenous positions to a more realistic vision in which the kindest dimension of his work can be perceived. • To contextualise the fact that Serra was a missionary sustained and driven by the Crown of Spain and that he had to keep a balance between the precepts of this, his culture marked by the Christian faith, and the fundamental value of belonging to the Church as the path to fulfilment and salvation. • To explain how a learned professor of Theology and Philosophy in Mallorca would leave everything to become a missionary, as well as the influence on this decision of characters such as Ramón Llull or Duns Scotus. Results or conclusions This paper has shown that Serra was born into a family with medium purchasing power in which most of the members were close to the Franciscans. The dates of Serra's religious profession have been contrasted and the periods as a student of Philosophy and Theology have been delimited, as have the periods in which he was a lecturer of Philosophy and the periods in which he was a professor of Theology. His pastoral preaching has been documented. A physical description of Serra has been obtained. An outline of the missionary action of Llull, precursor of that of Junípero, has been made. The birth and development of Propaganda Fide schools has been documented. His personality has been documented through the insight of Palóu, contrasted with other sources, as has the family genealogy through writings and entries. The documentation and study of his letters has demonstrated Serra's method of missionary work; his ability for the temporal and spiritual government of missions, centred on his concern for the promotion of American Indians and his love for them; his desire not to secularise missions in view of their progress; the defence of their rights and his savviness for this, standing up to the civil and military authorities; and his evangelical method that fused the dimension of human promotion with proclamation of the faith.