The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-02-01
CALIFORNIA; MISSIONS.
Bryan J. Clinch Lectures Upon
That Entertaining Sub.
ject.
FATHER YoRKE WILL SPEAK.
The Next Session of the Educational
Union, Monday Night, to Be
Favored.

Last nights literarya entertainment of
the Catholic Educational Union mid
winter series in Metropolitan Temple was
lecture by Bryan ]. Clinch on "The Mis-
sions of California
ut has always seemed to me that the
original pioneers of California were bet
ter type of men than the pioneers of any
other part of the Am erican continent"
said the speaker in referring to the men
who came 10 California in the early part
of the eighteenth century. "Jesuits or
Franciscans, they came here not for their
own sake but for the sake of Others"
The lecture began with the missions of
Lower California. The old Spaniards who
came to America in the sixteenth century
were acquainted with the peninsula of
California, but the land to the north was
unknown. The first expedition to Lower
California resulted in report to the Vice
roy of Mexico that. in plain. terse language,
California was mo good" After review
ing the political aspect of the expedition
Mr.. Clinch came down to his subject. The
Lower California Indians were the poorest
ON the Nor tn American continent.
Father Kuhn, one of the missionary
priests. discovered the Colorado and was
the first man to set foot in California. For
seventy years Jesuit missionaries la6ored
among the Indians of Lower California
1897 to 1757-and in that time 1000 converts
were made. Those same missionaries
stood high in the scientific circles of Eu-
rope, yet they came to the new land and
worked there, at the risk of their own
lives, for the sake of others. To-day may
be found in Lower California what is left
of those converted Indians, as good men
as may be found in civilized communities.
When in the end the Jesuits were ex-
PEELED from Mexico no charge was made,
no crime alleged; only the King of Spain,
in a jealous fit, ordered them driven out.
The Franciscans then came upon
the scene and took up the missions of
California. Father Junipero Sierra as
sumed the task, although he did so in face
The lecturer said he had felt that Sierra
was much the same kind of a man as the
fist Archbishop. of San Francisco-Most
Rev. Joseph Alemany. Padre Sierra the
age of 40 started from his home in Majorca
for the Indian missions in Mexico. The
Spanish Government arranged with the
Franciscans to establish missions in Cali
fornia on the understanding, as demanded
by the priests, that the converted Indians
should be free men and their holdings in
land inviolable.
In 1867 the missionaries came to Califor-
MA. how san francisco received Its name
proved to be an interesting point in the
lecture. The Franciscans had determined
to call Monterey after their patron saint,
but King Charles of Spain wanted the spot
called San Carlos de Monterey, after him
self, observing, 'If the Franciscans want
mission named after their patron saint
let them find a port for it," And the
padres trudged northward until they found
the bay OF San Francisco.
The politicians of Mexico did for the
Franciscans what the King of Spain had
done for the Jesuits.
They said to the padres: you have
done your work in California and we have
no further use for you. You may CO."
So the missions were secularized." There
were then twenty-one missions scattered
throughout California, and 10000 Indians.
Rev. j. Byrne announced at the close of
the lecture that the next meeting of the
Educational Union and its friends would
be on Monday night, when the Rev.
Peter C. Yorke will address the audience
At the mention of Father Yorke's name a
tumult of applause burst from the house.
The handclapping was enthusiastic and
did not cease even while people were leav-
ing the hall.