Province of Girona
Tapis was born in Santa Coloma de Farners in the Catalan Province of Girona, and entered the novitiate of the Order of Friars Minor at Girona on 22 January 1778. He was sent to New Spain in 1786, where he attended the Colegio San Francisco in Mexico City to train for missionary work among the Native Americans. He then was assigned to Alta California, arriving in 1790, where he worked at the following missions: