from Life of Junipero Serra (1787), CHAPTER XVII, The Founding of the Second Mis
from Life of Junipero Serra (1787), CHAPTER XVII, The Founding of the Second Mission [the First in Alta or Nueva California], That of San Diego, and What Happened in It.
from Life of Junipero Serra
by Francisco Palou (1787)
Translation by George Wharton James (1913)
CHAPTER XVII
The Founding of the Second Mission [the First in Alta or Nueva California], That of San Diego, and What Happened in It.
That ardent zeal which ever burned and consumed the heart of our Venerable Father Fr. Junipero did not permit him to forget the principal object of his coming. And it was this which impelled him, on the second day after the departure of the expedition, to make a beginning toward the preaching of the gospel in this Mission and port of San Diego, which had been discovered since the year 1603, and which had been so named by the Admiral Don Sebastian Vizcaino. He made the service for the foundation of the Mission to consist of High Mass and the other ceremonies, which were also celebrated in the founding of the Mission of San Fernando, on the 16th of July, the day on which we Spaniards celebrate the Triumph of the Most Holy Cross. For he hoped that exactly as through the power of that sacred emblem the Spaniards had gained a great victory over the barbarous Mohammedans, in the year 1212, they might also win a victory by raising the standard of the Holy Cross, and, putting to flight all the army of hell, bring under subjection to the gentle yoke of our Holy Faith all the savage tribes of pagans who inhabited this New California; and besides, he implored the special patronage of the Most Holy Mary, who on this day is honored by the Universal Church under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Moved by this ardent faith and zeal for the saving of souls, the Venerable Father Junipero raised the standard of the Holy Cross, fixing it in the place which seemed to him most appropriate for the building of the city, within sight of the harbor. The Missionaries in charge were our Venerable Father and Fr. Fernando Parron. The few men who were well enough to be about, in the intervals when not called upon to attend the sick, were kept busy in the construction of little shacks. As soon as a place had been prepared and dedicated for the provisional church they tried to attract to it with gifts and expressions of affection the pagans who came about; but as they could not understand our language they paid no attention to anything but the receiving of gifts from us, and they took everything with eagerness except food, which on no condition would they touch, so that if any little boy happened to put a piece of sugar in his mouth he would spit it out as if it were poison. They naturally attributed the sickness of our men to the things they ate, as they were things they had never seen. This was, indeed, a singular Divine Providence, for if they had had the same desire for our food which they had for our clothing, the little group of Spaniards in the colony would surely have been