Pope Francis intends to make him a Catholic Saint, a process called "canonisation." Does he deserve that honor? Read this fascinating story in The Guardian magazine about the pros and cons of canonisation for Padre Serra.
The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/23/pope-francis-junipero-serra-sainthood-washington-california
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Generations of American schoolchildren have been taught to think of Father Junípero Serra as California’s benevolent founding father, a humble Franciscan monk who left a life of comfort and plenty on the island of Mallorca to travel to the farthest reaches of the New World and protect the natives from the worst abuses of the Spanish imperial army.
Under Serra’s leadership, tens of thousands of Native Americans across Alta California, as the region was then known, were absorbed into Catholic missions – places said by one particularly rapturous myth-maker in the 19th century to be filled with “song, laughter, good food, beautiful languor, and mystical adoration of the Christ”.
What this rosy-eyed view omits is that these natives were brutalized – beaten, pressed into forced labour and infected with diseases to which they had no resistance – and the attempt to integrate them into the empire was a miserable failure. The journalist and historian Carey McWilliams wrote almost 70 years ago the missions could be better conceived as “a series of picturesque charnel houses”.
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6 comments:
Interesting!
Both Kevin Starr and Jose Gomez are right when they defend Serra because more than several decades have passed therefore you can't blame an older man for his mistakes at youth when even Starr himself has acknowledged the 'misdeeds' and wrong decisions he had made. At this point in time, we the people need to progress. Progression is about forgiveness and overcoming.
when even Serra** himself
Interesting news article, an article quote of being sainthood doesnt neccesssary mean a perfect man
good comments guys
"When Native American women were caught trying to abort babies conceived through rape, the mission fathers had them beaten for days on end, clamped them in irons, had their heads shaved and forced them to stand at the church altar every Sunday carrying a painted wooden child in their arms."
that part is so intense to me. like ohmygoodness.
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