Journey to the sun
Subtitle: Junipero Serra's dream and the founding of California
By: Gregory Orfalea
Edition: First Scribner hardcover edition.
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 465
ISBN-13: 9781451642728; 9781451642735
Subjects: Missions; Spanish Missions; Biography; Explorers; Franciscans; History
Description: The narrative of the remarkable life of Junipero Serra, the intrepid priest who led Spain and the Catholic Church into California in the 1700s and became a key figure in the making of the American West. In the year 1749, at the age of thirty-six, Junipero Serra left his position as a highly regarded priest in Spain for the turbulent and dangerous New World, knowing he would never return. The Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church both sought expansion in Mexico--the former in search of gold, the latter seeking souls--as well as entry into the mysterious land to the north called "California." By his death at age seventy-one, Serra had traveled more than 14,000 miles on land and sea through the New World--much of that distance on a chronically infected and painful foot--baptized and confirmed 6,000 Indians, and founded nine of California's twenty-one missions, with his followers establishing the rest.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 383-442) and index.