Villagers were rounded up, shackled or flogged if they failed to follow the missionaries’ Catholic code. Miranda Ramirez said, the colonization of California was tantamount to genocide. Those who survived were forced to give up tribal customs and submit to the demands of their Christian overlords - from observing rites like baptism to enduring physical abuse and working conditions that resembled slavery.įor many Native Americans, Ms. Thousands of Native Americans died after being exposed to European diseases. Most Californians agree that colonization came at a price. Father Serra’s motto, which is printed on water bottles and other souvenirs sold in the gift shop, was, “Always go forward and never turn back.” In 1770, he founded Carmel Mission, the second of California’s 21 missions, which served as centers of cattle and grain production in addition to being hubs for the expansion of Catholicism. Luke Powell of the city’s police force.įather Serra was born in 1713 on the island of Majorca and came to this area in 1768, wielding his influence not only to convert Native Americans to Christianity, but also to bolster Spain’s economic and political interests.
In the vandalism case, there are so far no suspects, and no group has claimed responsibility, said an investigator on the case, Sgt. Historians agree that he forced Native Americans to abandon their tribal culture and convert to Christianity, and that he had them whipped and imprisoned and sometimes worked or tortured to death. And the episode threatens to inflame a decades-old wound between the Roman Catholic Church and Native Americans who contend that Father Serra was more oppressor than saint. The police continue to investigate what they have called a hate crime. The attack also came just hours before parishioners planned to honor Father Serra, a revered former Carmel resident whose celebrity attracts thousands of tourists each year to this quiet hamlet along Monterey Bay. But now the statue was upright and scrubbed clean for visitors.Ĭatholic Church officials said the vandalism was the first of its kind at the mission, timed to Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, during which he elevated Father Serra to sainthood at a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Only a day earlier, vandals had toppled the six-foot figure and doused it with paint, writing “saint of genocide” on a nearby triangle of stone. A group of teenagers huddled at the foot of a statue of Junípero Serra at the Carmel Mission on Monday, there to pay homage to the Spaniard who helped colonize California in the 18th century.
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