Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Serna was born to Marco Antonio Serna and Anna Judith Díaz in San Vicente Ferrer in Antioquia, Colombia. On 20 June 1950 he entered the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in San Pedro, Antioquia, where he discovered his love for natural sciences. From 1956 to 1958 he studied in San Antonio de Prado. On 10 January 1962 he made his perpetual profession at the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (La Salle Brothers).