Junipero Serra - Oceanside, CA - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

Located in the San Luis Rey Mission Cemetery...near the entrance to a crypt for the Mission's friars, this smaller than lifesized statur of Junipero Serra depicts him standing in his Franciscan friar robes holding a staff in his right hand.
A plaque reads:

"FRAY JUNIPERO SERRA
1713 - 1784
Founder of the California Missions
In Memory of
EUGENE B. HANNON
Donated by William H. Hannon Foundation"

Wikipedia (visit link) tells us this about the Friar:

"Junípero Serra, O.F.M., ... known as Fra Juníper Serra in Catalan, his mother tongue,[1] (Catalan: [?u'nip?r 's?r?]) (November 24, 1713 – August 28, 1784) was a Spanish Franciscan friar who founded a mission in Baja California and the first nine of 21 Spanish missions in California from San Diego to San Francisco, which at the time were in Alta California of the Las Californias Province in New Spain.[2] He began in San Diego on July 16, 1769, and established his headquarters near Monterey, California at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo.[2]

The missions were primarily designed to convert the natives. Other aims were to integrate the neophytes into Spanish society, and to train them to take over ownership and management of the land. As head of the order in California, Serra not only dealt with church officials, but also with Spanish officials in Mexico City and with the local military officers who commanded the nearby presidios (garrisons).

Fr. Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 25, 1988. Beatification is the third of four steps in canonization (sainthood)."

URL of the statue: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   11/24/2013 Metro2 visited it