Question: The Franciscan Missions of the Sierra Gorda are credited to a Roman Catholic Spanish priest and friar of the Franciscan Order who founded how many of the 21 Spanish missions in California?
Context: Junípero Serra y Ferrer, O.F.M., ( ; ] , Catalan: "Juníper Serra i Ferrer" ) (November 24, 1713August 28, 1784) was a Roman Catholic Spanish priest and friar of the Franciscan Order who founded a mission in Baja California and the first nine of 21 Spanish missions in California from San Diego to San Francisco, in what was then Alta California in the Province of Las Californias, New Spain. The Sierra Gorda is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the Mexican state of Querétaro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí.  Within Querétaro, the ecosystem extends from the center of the state starting in parts of San Joaquín and Cadereyta de Montes municipalities and covering all of the municipalities of Peñamiller, Pinal de Amoles, Jalpan de Serra, Landa de Matamoros and Arroyo Seco, for a total of 250 km of territory.  The area is extremely rugged with high steep mountains and deep canyons.  As part of the Huasteca Karst, it also contains many formations due to erosion of limestone, especially pit caves known locally as sótanos.  The area is valued for its very wide diversity of plant and animal life, which is due to the various microenvironments created by the ruggedness of the terrain and wide variation in rainfall.  This is due to the mountains’ blocking of moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico, which generally makes the east side fairly moist and the west semiarid scrub brush.  Most of the region has been protected in two biosphere reserves, with the one centered in Querétaro established in 1997 and the one centered in Guanajuato established in 2007.  The Sierra Gorda is considered to be the far west of the La Huasteca region culturally and it is home to the Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda World Heritage Site. Maynard J. Geiger, O.F.M., Ph.D. (August 24, 1901 – May 13, 1977) was an American Friar Minor and Roman Catholic priest, who was a major historian of the Spanish missions in California founded by the Franciscan Order. The Franciscan Missions of the Sierra Gorda in the Mexican state of Querétaro were declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2003.  They are credited to Junípero Serra of the Franciscan Order, who also founded important missions in Alta California. The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in today's U.S. State of California.  Founded by Catholic priests of the Franciscan order to evangelize the Native Americans, the missions led to the creation of the New Spain province of Alta California and were part of the expansion of the Spanish Empire into the most northern and western parts of Spanish North America. Father Gregório Amúrrio, O.F.M. was a Catholic priest of the Franciscan Order, and a Spanish missionary in California during the 18th century.  A member of the Franciscan Province of Cantabria, Spain, he was one of twenty Franciscans who set out from the missionary College of San Fernando de Mexico in October, 1770 to labor in the Spanish missions in Baja California. Father José Barona, O.F.M. was Catholic a priest of the Franciscan Order, and a Spanish missionary in California during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Born in July, 1764 at Villa-Nueva del Conde, in the archdiocese of Burgos, Old Castile, Father Barona entered the Order of St. Francis at the Villa de Velorado in the Province of Burgos on July 18, 1783.  He arrived at the missionary College of San Fernando de Mexico on August 24, 1795, and set out from there in 1798 to labor in the Spanish missions in California.  Upon arrival in San Diego, Fray Barona performed his first baptism at Mission San Diego de Alcalá on August 4 of that same year. Father Vicente Fustér, O.F.M. was Catholic a priest of the Franciscan Order, and a Spanish missionary in California during the 18th century.  A member of the Franciscan Province of Cantabria, Spain, he was one of twenty Franciscans who set out from the missionary College of San Fernando de Mexico in October, 1770 to labor in the Spanish missions in Baja California.  On November 24, 1771 he arrived at Loreto with fourteen of his colleagues.  In the summer of 1773 the Franciscans surrendered all missions on the Baja Peninsula to the Dominicans, after which Father Amúrrio along with five other friars volunteered to work the new missions in Upper California.  Upon arrival in San Diego on August 30, Fray Fustér was assigned to Mission San Diego de Alcalá to take the place of Father Tomás de la Peña. The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California.  The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish missions in California.  San Gabriel Arcángel, named after the Archangel Gabriel and often referred to as the "Godmother of the Pueblo of Los Angeles", was designed by Antonio Cruzado, who hailed from Córdoba, Spain.  Cruzado gave the building its strong Moorish architectural influence.  The capped buttresses and the tall, narrow windows are unique among the missions of the California chain. Fermín de Francisco Lasuén de Arasqueta (Vitoria (Spain), June 7, 1736 – Mission de San Carlos (California), June 26, 1803) was a Basque Franciscan missionary to Alta California president of the Franciscan missions there, and founder of nine of the twenty-one Spanish missions in California.
Answer: nine