Our Tour of the #Carmel Mission Founded by #Saint Junípero Serra
We have just returned from a visit with my daughter’s family in Pebble Beach, #California. While we were there we had the pleasure of touring the beautiful Carmel Mission founded in 1771 by the Franciscan friar, Junípero Serra. He was a missionary from the Spanish island of Majorca who founded the first nine missions in California at about the same time the Revolutionary War was getting started over on the East Coast. He was declared a saint in 2015, the year my book, Junípero Serra: Founder of the California Missions, was published. I thought you might like to see some of the pictures we took of the mission in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Enjoy!
Here we are in front of the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
Carmel Mission courtyard
The Chapel where Saint Junípero Serra is buried
The crypt of Saint Junípero Serra
The very spot where Serra first planted a wooden cross and held mass
The “Inner Porch”
This was Junípero Serra’s simple room at Carmel Mission.
Junípero in the garden
The Carmel Mission Chapel with bell towers
Illustration by Emmanuel #Beaudesson for my book, Junípero Serra: Founder of the California Missions
Carmel Mission was the second mission that Junípero Serra founded, and it was his favorite because the #Monterey area reminded him of his childhood home on the island of Majorca, off Spain. He made Carmel Mission his headquarters and was buried there in 1784. He founded nine missions before his death. The Franciscans went on to open a total of 21 missions from San Diego to San Francisco.
I wrote about Serra’s room in my book:
“He had one blanket for his bed, but no mattress. On his desk were his Bible, his prayer book, a candle, a quill pen, and an ink bottle. He wrote, ‘While we have health, a tortilla and herbs of he field, what more could we desire?'”
Click on book cover below for more information about my book.
Junípero Serra: Founder of the California Missions (Ignatius Press, 2015) by Linda Gondosch
True Tales of American History 