Junípero Serra

Junípero Serra y Ferrer, O.F.M., (/huːˈnᵻpɛroʊ ˈsɛrə/; Spanish: [xuˈnipeɾo ˈsera], Catalan: Juníper Serra i Ferrer) (November 24, 1713 – August 28, 1784) was a Roman Catholic Spanish priest and friar of the Franciscan Order who founded a mission in Baja California and the first nine of 21 Spanish missions in California from San Diego to San Francisco, in what was then Alta California in the Province of Las Californias, New Spain.

Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 25 September 1988 in Vatican City. Pope Francis canonised him on 23 September 2015, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., during his first visit to the United States. Because of Serra's recorded acts of piety combined with his missionary efforts, he was granted the posthumous title Apostle of California.

The declaration of Serra as a Catholic saint by the Holy See was controversial with some Native Americans who criticize Serra's treatment of their ancestors and associate him with the suppression of their culture.