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The Levitating Cross at Monterey and the Beginnings of California
The California frontier is full of reports of the marvelous or miraculous events that defy scientific explanation. Historian Skyler Reidy has been investigating curious stories of the mission era, and he helps us make sense of them. Skyler Reidy Skyler Reidy is a PhD candidate in the history department at the University of Southern California. His dissertation analyzes material religion in nineteenth-century California, and argues that settler colonialism drove secularization in the state. Skyler has also published work on the origins of Pentecostalism, and has spoken to academic and public audiences about the history of the California missions. Skyler was born and raised in Encinitas, California, and now lives in…
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Junípero Serra’s Mallorca: Where it All Began
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Serra Statues: Don’t Tear Down, Build Up
Junípero Serra’s statues are being defaced. Government institutions are seeking to remove his name from public monuments. All in the name of justice. Is there a better way forward?
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California Mission Founders: Names, Dates and Bios
People often ask who founded the Spanish missions in California. And while Fr. Junípero Serra and Fr. Fermín Francisco de Lasuén are rightly credited as the main mission founders, several other missionaries were involved in establishing missions in California.
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Exploration and Settlement of California (Part 2 of 2)
For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Spanish ships dominated the Pacific. But her rivals Russia and England were busy contesting that dominance. Who would be the first to settle California?
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The Seven Steps to Sainthood for Junipero Serra
When Pope Francis announced that he was going to declare sainthood for Junipero Serra during a flight to Manila in January 2015, some people took it as an impromptu decision. And while the announcement might have been made on the spur of the moment, the process that led to it was anything but. When the Catholic Church declares someone a saint (including Junipero Serra), a long, deliberate protocol must be followed. The aim is to reach a maximum certainty about the worthiness of the person canonized (declared a saint). But worthiness for what?
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Who Was Junípero Serra?
Junípero Serra was a Spanish priest who established the a series of missions among the native peoples of what is today California. He is considered by many to be the founding father of California and is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
