“Father Junipero Serra and Indian Boy” (ca. 1930)
by (unknown) “M Miller?”
16.5 x 21 in., litho/woodblock print
Coppola Collection

Junipero Serra, a Franciscan friar who founded nine missions from San Diego to San Francisco, was credited for bringing Catholicism to California when it was under Spanish rule. Twelve other missions were erected after his death in 1784.

This image, a woodblock or etching-based print, is based on a statue of Father Serra that was sculpted by Sally James Farnham and installed in the Memory Garden of Brand Park, part of the Mission San Fernando de Rey de Espana, in November 1920. The date of the print is an estimate.

Pope Francis elevated Serra to sainthood in 2015. Supporters say Serra was a defender of Native Americans and reshaped the culture of the West. Serra “sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it,” Francis said during Serra’s canonization ceremony.

To some, however, Serra is a symbol of the mission system’s oppression. Converted natives were kept separate from those who had not embraced Christianity, and some missions flogged and imprisoned those who tried to leave.

There have been vandalism incidents at the missions since Serra’s elevation, including of the statue in San Fernando.