St. Francis and the missions part II
By Father Bobby Barbato, Ofm Cap.
In 2026, we mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of Mission San Francisco (Dolores) by St. Junipero Serra. In my previous article, I described how the missionary spirit impelled St. Francis to go to Egypt and preach to the sultan there. In this article we will explore how the saint’s example was followed by the friars of his order, down to St. Junipero Serra in Mallorca.
St. Francis’ desire not only to live the Gospel message, but also share it with others even beyond Christendom, was shared by those who followed him. The idea that at least some of the friars would preach “to Saracens and other nonbelievers” was written right into the Rule of the Friars Minor (Chapter XII), and many brothers did feel the inspiration to do such preaching.
The idea of religious being in the vanguard of evangelization was not unheard of in the history of the Church. Many of the early Christian missionaries were monks, such as St. Augustine of Canterbury and St. Boniface. Despite this, however, missionary endeavors were not part of the regular life of a monk, and so the majority of them did not leave the monastery to spread the Gospel. This was not so with the friars who appeared in the 13th century.
These friars, including both the Franciscans and Dominicans, had the mission of preaching and proclamation built right into their lives. This was especially true of the Friars Minor, who, as we have seen, were called to proclaim the Gospel, even in foreign lands, both by their rule and perhaps more importantly because of the example of St. Francis and his early followers. In the earliest days of his order, St. Francis had sent the friars out two by two to the four corners of the world to preach about God.
Because of this, it is not surprising that many friars felt inspired to go from their homelands and familiar places to speak of Christ and the Gospel in foreign lands, especially among those who had never heard of Christ. This outreach by the members of his order began even before Francis’ own journey to Egypt and the Holy Land in 1219.
Two years earlier, in 1217, a group of five friars headed out for Morocco to preach the Gospel. They passed through Lisbon, where they met a young Augustinian named Fernando. In Morocco they preached so powerfully that they were eventually martyred. When their bodies passed through Lisbon, young Fernando was so moved he left his own community to become a Franciscan. He was known as Brother Anthony (later St. Anthony of Padua). It was his dream to be a missionary and preach in Africa. He never made it, but many other friars shared his dreams and did go to preach in faraway places.
Of the many “foreign missions” adopted by the friars, the most important perhaps was in the Holy Land. Although their relationship with the Muslim authorities there was at times contentious, the Franciscans honored our Lord and the legacy of their founder by ministering to pilgrims in Jerusalem, Galilee and other sacred sites. This is a ministry they still fulfill today.
Franciscan friars were also among those who made the long trip to China when contact with the lands of Eastern Asia were developing. These included Friar Giovanni da Pian del Carpine,
an emissary of Pope Innocent IV, and later Friar Giovanni di Montecorvino, who was named archbishop of Beijing in 1307.
Over the centuries wherever the Church encountered new peoples and cultures, Franciscan friars were among those who proclaimed the Gospel. “Franciscan missions have operated … in the midst of different peoples, in the various cultures and religions existing on earth,” according to Brother Vicenzo Brocanelli in his book, “Franciscans without Frontiers.” The friars show up in India, Africa and various other places. Sometimes they ended up as martyrs, as happened in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries.
A connection between exploration and evangelization was firmly established with the European discovery of the new world. Friars Minor, as well as Dominicans, Carmelites, Jesuits and other religious, were inspired by this discovery to dream not of silver and gold but of huge numbers of people who had never heard of Jesus Christ or his Gospel. From the voyages of Christopher Columbus on, there were Friars Minor involved in the relations between the Spanish and Portuguese and the indigenous people they encountered.
With friars from the different orders heading between the old and new worlds (including the recently founded Jesuits), there was a need to avoid unruly competition, and so the different orders were eventually assigned their own territories. The Franciscans were involved in various regions of New Spain. One of the important places they came were the lands we now know as Mexico. In 1524 a group of 12 friars arrived there, dubbed by historians the “Twelve Apostles.”Among these was Fray Juan de Zumárraga. He was named the first bishop of what is now Mexico City, and it was to him in 1531 that St. Juan Diego was sent by Our Lady. Despite his understandable doubts when he first heard of her request to build a church at the hill of Tepeyac, Fray Juan was privileged to see the miracle of Our Lady’s portrait on Juan Diego’s tilma. He gladly oversaw construction of the first church in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The friars who were missionaries in these lands did not come unprepared. They received training, of course, in theology and Scripture, but also studied agriculture, architecture and other subjects they felt useful for their work among the people, as such work was not only about their spiritual care, but also their physical and social well–being. To help them in these efforts the friars founded “apostolic colleges “ in the Americas, to train and support missionaries who were sent to evangelize the huge geographical regions that were part of the Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the new world.
These colleges were always seeking new recruits. A new request came to Spain in the mid–1700s; the friars there were asked to consider following in the footsteps of “the twelve apostles.” There was great excitement at the friary in Palma, Mallorca, especially when it was announced that one of those volunteering for the missions in the new world was one of the most esteemed members of the theology faculty, Fray Junipero Serra.
Fray Junipero was already 36 years old, a respected professor of theology and philosophy. He was much beloved by the friars and people of Mallorca, and could have continued a long and fruitful ministry there. But he prayed about it, and felt deep within himself that as a son of St. Francis he had to consider the many souls in America who had never heard the Gospel.
Fray Junipero left Mallorca and set sail from Spain with other friars answering the call in 1759. Before he ever came to California, he had a varied and fruitful ministry in Mexico. He preached the Gospel far and wide and actually founded a chain of missions in northern Mexico, in a
region called the Sierra Gorda. Many of the churches he founded are still in use. He also continued a ministry of preaching and teaching at the Colegio de San Fernando in Mexico City.
Fray Junipero Serra, however, was never able to rest content with his accomplishments. He wanted to be always ready to move wherever God’s will called him (hence his famous motto: Siempre Adelante! Always move forward!) Thus, when he heard of a need for missionaries in an area on the fringe of the Spanish realms, he was among the first to volunteer to go to a land with the whimsical name of California.
Father Bobby Barbato, Ofm Cap. is the rector of the National Shrine of St. Francis.
