Picture source
by Brother John M.
Samaha, S.M.
A man of
conspicuous ability and virtue, Blessed Junípero Serra (1713-1784) is heralded
as “the Apostle of California” by both church and secular historians. In addition to his extraordinary holiness and
zeal, non-Catholic writers especially have noted his remarkable administrative
talents. Ample testimony in word and in
art indicate the high esteem in which his memory is held by all classes and
ages in California. Non-Catholic Jane
Stanford (co-founder with her husband, Leland, of Stanford University) had a
granite monument erected to Serra in Monterey.
A bronze statue of heroic proportion depicts him as missionary and
colonizer in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
The figure of this intrepid Franciscan represents the State of
California in Statuary Hall of our Nation’s Capitol. In 1988, the Marian Year, Pope John Paul II
beatified Fray Junípero Serra.
Junípero Serra
was a competent writer and record-keeper.
Fortunately many of his letters and documents are extant. His best known writings are the Diario of the journey from Loreto
(Mexico) to San Diego (California), and the thirty-two article Representación presented to Viceroy
Bucareli requesting better administrative conditions.
A Prolific and Consequential Writer
Historians of
California have always regarded the writings of Fray Junípero Serra “as
indispensable for an understanding of men and events in the Hispanic era.” Known for his tireless attention to detail
and to the functions of his office as President of the Missions, Serra once
lamented that “half my life is passed at a writing desk.”
Between 1955
and 1966 four volumes of Serra’s writings were gathered and translated into
English under the editorial guidance of Father Antonine Tibesar, O.F.M., then
published by the Academy of American Franciscan History. The contents comprise a wide range of
letters, reports, memoranda, register entries, and related information.
A Rare Find
But there was
one fascinating item that had eluded historians, editors and translators: Fray Junípero’s Novena de Alabanzas en Honrra de la Purissima Concepción de Maria Ssma.
con el Titulo de Prelada (Novena of Prayers in Honor of the Most Pure
Conception of Holy Mary under Her Title of Queen). This is a small book containing prayers
honoring Our Lady under the title of her Immaculate Conception. This Marian novena had long been attributed
to Serra by bibliographic experts.
Eventually evidence of authorship was forthcoming, and this background
is quite interesting.
In March 1943
Father Demetrio Garcia, a Spanish-born priest who worked in Mexico for many
years, offered an incomplete copy of the Novena
to Father Maynard Geiger, O.F.M., for the archives at Santa Barbara
Mission. The forty-five page Novena booklet had been printed at
Mexico City by Don Xavier Sanchez in 1765, when Fray Junípero was 52 years of
age. According to the statement on the
title page, this was the work of “the faltering tongue of a humble subject of
the Apostolic College of San Fernando offered to Mary’s clients.” In that era religious humility prevented the
mention of an author’s proper name on a religious publication. The testimony of
Mexico’s two leading bibliographers supported Father Garcia’s claim that the Novena was authored by Fray Junípero Serra.
Jose Mariano Beristáin y Souza
(1756-1817), a recognized scholar of that time, credits Fray Junípero Serra
with a work described as La Prelada de S. Fernando; Novena a la
Concepción Inmaculada de Maria , distribuida por las nueve Letras de Ave Pulcra, printed at Mexico City in 1765. Beristáin was a competent bibliographer, a
contemporary of Serra. He would have had
first-hand
evidence about the
booklet’s authorship. The first edition of Beristáin’s monumental Biblioteca
Hispano Americana Setentrional was
published in 1796.
Another top bibliographer, José Toribio
Medina, who published at Santiago de Chile in 1907 La Imprenta de
Mexico (1539-1821), also
attributes the Novena to
Junípero Serra.
A second edition
of the Novena was published in 1770 by Felipe de Zuñiga y Ontiveros at
Mexico City by the same press that later printed Fray Francisco Palou’s Relación
Historica de la Vida y Apostolicas Tareas del Venerable Padre Fray Junípero
Serra. Medina reports only two
extant copies of the 1770 edition, his own and another belonging to Vicente de
P. Andrade, also a recognized collector and bibliographer. Medina noted that his personal copy had an
engraved portrait of the Virgin Mary not found in the other copy.
The composition style of the Novena lends credence to the assumption that it
comes from the hand of Fray Junípero Serra, making it the only one of the
friar’s writings published during his lifetime.
Novenas, special prayers for nine
successive days, were a popular form of devotion in the New World as well as in
the Old World in the eighteenth century and after. This Marian novena attributed to Fray
Junípero Serra is exceedingly well constructed and devout in content. Most likely it was compiled in the years when
Serra moved about central Mexico and the Sierra Gorda conducting missions and
preaching retreats.
Focus
on the Immaculate Conception
The
Franciscans were always staunch defenders of Mary’s Immaculate
Conception,
especially after their distinguished confrere, Blessed John Duns Scotus
(1266-1308), provided the definitive theological explanation of that Marian
privilege. A loyal adherent to Scotism
and the Subtle Doctor (as Blessed John
Duns Scotus was
known), Serra was an ardent promoter of devotion to Mary’s Immaculate
Conception.
Throughout his life Serra exhibited a profound devotion to Mary under
her title of the Immaculate Conception.
He was an unabashed client of the Virgin Mary, and his love for her did
not diminish as he grew older, as evidenced in his many writings. Incidentally, in his very last letter dated
August 6, 1784, Fray Junípero Serra concluded with a reference to our Blessed
Mother using the title he gives her in his Novena -- Prelada (Queen).
An English Edition
In 1971 Monsignor Francis J. Weber, archivist and historian of the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, obtained a copy of the incomplete Novena from the archives of Mission Santa
Barbara. Later Dr. Michael Mathes was
able to locate the Medina copy in the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile in Santiago, and had a copy made of that
fragment for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles archives. Finally in 1988, 223 years after the original
publication, the two incomplete copies complemented each other and gave California
for the first time a copy of the entire booklet, albeit a photocopy. During that Marian Year of 1988 proclaimed
by Pope John Paul II, Monsignor Weber accepted an English translation and
edited the complete text into A Marian Novena Attributed to Fray
Junípero Serra, which was
published as a hardcover booklet of 35- plus pages under the auspices of the
Archives of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in a special limited edition of 350
copies. This was a significant gesture
for the beatification of Junipero Serra by John Paul II in that same year of
1988.
The contents of Blessed Junípero’s Marian novena include an
introduction, an act of contrition, a prayer for every day, a special prayer
for each of the nine days of the novena, a prayer after each day’s prayer, a
final prayer, and a consecration prayer for Marian feast days to be dated and
signed. The work is a masterpiece of
sound doctrine and devotion.
Fray Junípero Serra’s Marian novena is a tribute to his ability and
holiness.
+++
§
Note to
editor:
The following two items are intended to be sidebars to complement this
article, if the editor finds them useful.
+++++++
THE FINAL PRAYER
OF FRAY JUNIPERO SERRA’S
NOVENA TO MARY’S IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
This brief final prayer of the Novena offers a taste of the flavor of the longer
prayers composed for each of the nine days.
“Most holy and immaculate Mary, since
Almighty God has preserved you from all stain of sin, in order that you might
be a worthy Mother for your only Son, who took on human flesh and became man in
your womb, I beseech you, most pure and blessed of all women, to obtain for me
complete pardon of all my sins so that I may merit in this life the eternity
which I seek. This I ask through your
Son who lives and reigns through all ages, world without end. Amen.”
AN EXCERPT FROM SERRA’S INTRODUCTION
TO THE
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION NOVENA
This excerpt from Fray Junípero
Serra’s “Introduction” gives some
orientation to the style and content of his Novena.
“Since the human heart is drawn toward
the object of its affection, it is good and appropriate for us to grow in the
knowledge and love of such an object.
For this reason, I do not hesitate to express the causes and motives
underlying my love for Our Lady. . . .
“Let us then hail her with the greatest
confidence in this novena. Let the sick
seek health, let the poor find relief, let the sad be consoled, and let the
pregnant bring forth children. Be
assured that every prayer directed to the Immaculate Conception will be
answered. May we confide all our needs to Our Lady, especially seek her help at
the moment of death to reach out for eternal glory. . . .
“Each day then, these words [of our
theme, Ave Pulchra] will
sustain us as we pray. And since words
without deeds avail little, we should prepare to confess our sins and receive
the Holy Eucharist, as the priest in charge will suggest. Hopefully those making this novena will also
give alms and engage in penitential works in accordance with the directives of
their spiritual advisers. This they will
do for the glory of the Holy Trinity, whose beautiful daughter, mother, and
spouse is our Holy Mother Mary. Amen.”
