Serra, Junipero

Autograph document signed ("Fr. Junipero Serra"), in Spanish, 1 1/2 pages, 36 lines (11 3/4 x 8 in.; 298 x 204 mm), Mission San Carlos, Monterey, California, 1 March 1777, being a list of the California missions arranged from south to north, with the names of their pastors; formerly folded, small tear in upper right corner touching two letters, tiny hole due to ink corrosion. Red half-morocco slipcase, gilt-stamped title on spine, English translation laid in.

The first census and directory of the missions in Alta California, in the hand of their founder.

Fray Junipero Serra (1713-1784) charged by the Franciscans with the task of establishing missions in Alta California, moved to the area which is now Monterey in 1770, and founded the Mission San Carlos Borromeo at Carmel, where he remained until his death. As padre presidente of the Alta California missions, Serra proceeded to establish missions from San Diego to San Francisco, an essential step in the settlement of California.

In the present document, Serra provides a list of the "names of the religious, priests and apostolic preachers of the Colegio Apostolico de Propaganda Fide of San Fernando de Mexico of the Franciscan order, occupied with the conversion of infidels in the eight divisions and the new foundations of Monte-Rey and its appurtenances, the doctrines of the foundation, in order of their situation from south to north ..." The missions begin with San Diego, and proceed to San Juan de Capistrano, San Gabriel de los Temblores, San Luis Obispo, San Antonio de Padua, San Carlos de Monte-Rey [listing his own name, and those of Juan Crespi and Francisco Dumetz], Santa Clara, San Francisco, and concluding with the names of two priests currently assigned but without specified duties, Fray Fermin Francisco at San Luis, and Fray Vicente de Santa Maria at San Gabriel.