Junipero Gilbert Summary

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Steven W. Hackel, the author of Junipero Serra, offers a very descriptive biography of Miquel Josephs who would later become Junipero Serra. Hackel, provides vivid and organized information to his readers by introducing the birthplace of Serra and the hardships many faced living in Mallorca. As a result, this caused Serra and his parents to allow him to commit himself to god, however, as mentioned by Hackel his parents would have never imagined the goals and accomplishment their son would fulfill in New Spain. Serra was excited and determined to introduce the Catholic religion to the natives and bring them under his protection to guide these natives into the correct and civilized life. Hackel, spends a significant amount of time describing …show more content…

Not only does he base his information on letters but he also has one of the most important sources in my opinion, the biography that was written by his great companion Francisco Palou, Relacion Hisotrica. Palou managed to write a pious biography of Serra and as mentioned by Hackel these men were very fond of each other, they both fulfilled their desires of leaving Palma and traveling to New Spain together to spread Catholicism to gods lost children. Through these letters and the biography of Palou, we get a better understanding of who Serra was as well as what was occurring throughout the missions in Baja and Alta Dena California. We learn that communication was a big issue in New Spain since Serra would receive letters months after they were sent or vice versa. However, miscommunication did not stop Serra from accomplishing his goals of creating missions. In my opinion, Serra felt that his power was being questioned not only by the viceroy but by Neve. Serra wanted the natives to remain on the mission territory under the Franciscans command and he fought for clarity over the authority the Franciscans presumed to have. It’s understandable for Serra to react this way because according to him Franciscans were the most adequate to introduce civilization to these natives and he constantly fought for this because he felt this was his

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