Chimes of Mission Bells Part 1

Chimes of Mission Bells.

by Maria Antonia Field.

Preface

In presenting this modest volume to the public, I wish to call the attention of my readers to the following facts. Firstly, my humble work is a work of love--love simple and unalloyed for the venerable Spanish Missionaries of California and for the n.o.ble sons and daughters of Spain who gave such a glorious beginning and impetus to our state. Being a direct descendant of pioneer Spaniards of Monterey, I take a particular interest in California's early history and development and as my family were staunch friends of the Missionary Fathers and in a position to know the state of affairs of those times, and to family tradition I have added authentic knowledge from reading the earliest archives of San Carlos Mission, as well as other historical references, I feel I can fearlessly vouch for the truthfulness of my little work. Secondly--while fully appreciating the sympathy and interest of many charming and intellectual characters who grace California to-day, it must be admitted that there is a sadly ignorant or misinformed number who scarcely seem to know who Spaniards and their descendants are, judging from the promiscuous way the term "Spanish" is used, and what is the result of this among many? Prejudice, and absurd misunderstanding of the golden days of Spanish California as well as of the Spanish race and character.

It is far from being my wish to offend, but I wish to present correct historical facts. Thirdly--there is no pretense to consider this brief sketch a complete or detailed history, but only a truthful outline of the heroic and chivalrous Mission days.

Maria Antonia Field.

CHIMES OF MISSION BELLS

Tribute to Junipero Serra and the Mission Padres.

By Maria Antonia Field.

Read at the Crowning of the Serra Statue, Monterey, Nov. 23, 1913.

The fickle world ofttimes applauds the rise Of men whose laurels are but vainly won, Whose deeds their names could not immortalize For their soul-toils were wrought for transient ends; But heroes of the Cross, they truly great Shall live, their halo shall no hand of fate

Have power to rob, albeit oblivious years May veil the radiance of their glorious works, Or slight their excellence, their light appears But brighter, statelier in its splendor calm, Or like the flowers that sleep through winter's snow To bloom more fair, their lives' pure beams shall glow

With greater brilliance and sweetly gleam As lodestars in the firmament of worth; Such is the memory whose holy stream Of n.o.blest virtue, valor, truth and Faith, Illumes our path and stirs our souls today, Immortal Serra by whose tomb we pray!

What peerless aureole wreathes his saintly brow?

What stately monument doth bear his name?

Let this admiring thousands tell us now!

Let youthful lips p.r.o.nounce his name with love!

Let California proudly sing his praise!

Let scions of fair Spain their voices raise,

And tell of him to whom so much we owe, Tell of his interceding power with G.o.d, His strong and lofty soul his children know, His prayers where Carmel's River flows so clear; O this his aureole, this his monument, The lasting kind which ne'er will know descent.

Another lesson must the worldly learn, From him who sought nor praise nor fame; His birth, ten score agone, and still we turn To him in reverence, his name is sweet As vernal bloom, his life shows forth G.o.d's might, Through him this soil received Faith's warm sunlight!

This beauteous land was strange, unknown and wild, Spite all its treasures, lordly trees and flowers; For tribes with pagan rites its wastes defiled, Till came Spain's n.o.ble band of G.o.dly men, Explorers true and zealous priests who gave Their lives' best years, forgotten souls to save!

'Tis just we venerate each hallowed stone Which rears the wond'rous "Temples of the West"; The tears, the toils, the nightly vigils lone; The pilgrim-journeys of Saint Francis' sons, The rescued souls by l.u.s.tral waters cleansed, The wealth of hospitality dispensed.

All this and more if but their walls could speak, Would tell this day; and we in whose veins flows The fervent blood of Spain, to us each streak Of light which doth reveal a picture true Of gentle friar and lovely vanished times Is tender as the Angelus' sweet chimes.

Well may each Mission have a holy spell, And Serra's name become a household word, What marvels can each yellowed archive tell Of him and of his martyr-spirit band.

O faithful, dauntless hearts! What brilliant sons Of that great galaxy of Spain's brave sons!

We love their saintly lives to ponder o'er, While childhood's fireside tales come back to us, And memory unfolds her precious store, The bygone glories of the Mission towns, The grand old hymns sung at sweet Mary's shrines The Spanish color rich as luscious wines

Of Mission vineyards, and the festive hours So full of life yet innocent and good, When blessings seemed to fall as welcome showers, The Indian tribes were ruled with Christian love, And shared the sons and daughters of Castile Their loved Franciscan Fathers' patient zeal!

But still we love each altar and each cross Of these dear fanes; e'en as departing rays Of sun doth kiss the crags outlined with moss, We love to linger by their altars' light.

But oh fair Carmel, she of Missions Queen What guarding spirits hover here unseen!

Sweet Carmel, center of the hero-band, What holy treasures hold thy sacred vaults?

Junipero and others! Here we stand In awe of all thou hast been and art still!

Cruel times took glory, splendor, power From Missions all, but not their priceless dower,

Religion, love and all we hold as dear, No hand can tarnish and no might destroy, And from each hallowed altar ruddy, clear, Still burns the mystic lamp, for G.o.d is there!

The cross-crowned towers tell that all is not dead, E'en though more splendid times have long since sped.

And like a glowing ember in the night Our Lady's love has burned through every change; 'Tis thus the Missions ever saw the light Through labors, ripened harvest-joys and wrongs; Their noon-sun splendors of well won renown Will shine their glorious heritage to crown.

O Saintly Serra we implore thy prayer, Thy dauntless spirit sowed the "mustard-seed"

Which grew as if by miracle of wonder rare, Upon this now rich land which thou did'st till, O let they mantle on thy clients fall Who on thy gracious aid do humbly call.

Chapter I.

Junipero Serra, Leader of the Heroic Band of Spanish Missionaries of California. His Coming to San Fernando, Mexico, Thence to California.

Junipero Serra, whose name and labors may be termed a compendium of Christian virtues, was born on November 24, 1713, in Petra, a village of the picturesque Island of Majorca, on the northeastern coast of Spain, and a part of the Province of fair Catalonia, one of the most valuable and beautiful portions of Spain. This child, around whom our story cl.u.s.ters was baptized on the day following his birth, and received the names of Miguel Jose. His parents were poor people from a material standpoint, but gifted with a rich heritage of the n.o.blest, and sublimest character; qualities which make the Spanish peasant so delightful.

From his tenderest youth, Miguel Jose evinced an ardent desire to enter the priesthood and displayed a zealous missionary spirit. His pious parents placed no obstacle in the way of their gentle boy's vocation, and being too poor to pay for his education, the Church did it for them.

At the age of sixteen, Miguel Jose left his father's small estate and began his studies in his native village, completing them at the Franciscan College of Palma, the Capital of the Island of Majorca. He made rapid progress, and a brilliant future opened before him, while his virtuous qualities were noted by all with whom he came in contact.

A proof of his worth may be seen from the facts that he was ordained before he attained his majority; also taught in different schools as professor of theology and received the degree of doctor soon after his ordination. The fame of his eloquent preaching and persuasive oratorical powers spread not only throughout Spain but reached other European countries. Still Junipero Serra (as he was known by his own choice after an humble disciple of Saint Francis of a.s.sisi, noted for his charity) was not dazzled by his brilliant mental gifts, and his thirsting desire to evangelize the heathen savage of the New World grew apace with his fame. He declined the offer to become the Court preacher and other ecclesiastical dignities, which he would have been entirely justified in accepting, and practiced those virtues which clung to him with even more perfect maturity throughout his life; heroic virtues which enabled him to undertake wonderful things. In him too were noted those sweet simple qualities invariably found in great and holy men and women, such as gentleness, amiability, a tender affection for children and a love for the beautiful in nature; sun, moon, stars, flowers, birds, the woods and ocean, all found responsive chords within him. In a few brief lines we have endeavored to convey an idea of Serra's character, let us now follow his steps in company with the band of heroic workers who accompanied him in his voyage across the dark Atlantic, and his apostolic journeys through Mexico and California to "break the bread of life" to the unfortunate heathen. Among the notable band of missionaries was Father Francisco Palou, life-long friend and co-laborer of Father Junipero Serra.

But why did these heroes choose Mexico and California as the vineyards of their labors? Why did they not go to Africa or other heathen sh.o.r.es?

Here is the answer: Spain and all Europe were filled with stories of the New World since the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, and several other Spanish discoveries in later years, among which must be remembered that in 1521, Hernando Cortes, one of the great Spanish explorers of the sixteenth century, explored the hitherto unknown land of Mexico, and as Spain always accompanied her conquests and explorations with her missionaries to evangelize the heathens, at the time that Father Junipero Serra set sail for the New World, which was in 1759, there were in Mexico an archbishopric and several missions conducted by Spanish priests, among them a well established Franciscan College in San Fernando, a settlement in the northern part of Mexico, which the Spanish explorers and missionaries so decided to name after Saint Ferdinand, a King of Spain, who lived in the thirteenth century.

And to this College, Father Junipero Serra and his companions came after a perilous voyage of nearly one year; for the date of their arrival was January 1, 1760; and here they began their labor! Of the nine years which Junipero Serra toiled in Mexico, six were spent in Sierra Gorda, some distance north of San Fernando, and one of the wildest and roughest of those half explored regions. And what marvels attended the labors of Serra and the other self-sacrificing sons of Saint Francis here! With Junipero Serra at the helm, the good priests learned some of the Aztec dialects in order to convert the savages. Then what followed? With the greatest patience the missionaries acquitted themselves to the task of teaching the cla.s.sic, cultured language of Spain to these poor aborigines, whose languages like those of the still cruder California Indians, did not contain expressions for even the simplest words of scripture or of the liturgy of the Church. And can we wonder at this?

But what were the astonishing results of the good priests' labors? They were truly G.o.d-wonders! Daily were recorded numerous conversions, and at the close of six years many Indian congregations of those regions could be heard singing the ancient Latin hymns of the Church, and in poor but intelligible Spanish supplying in their prayers and conversations what was wanting in their dialects. It was while at Sierra Gorda that Junipero Serra became afflicted with a painful sore which broke out on his right leg and which never healed in all his eventful and laborious career. Many historians allude to this sore as a "wound," but no record is extant to indicate it as such, the most authentic conclusions being that this sore was due to natural causes greatly augmented and brought on by the hardships and climatic conditions he encountered in this missionary field.

The average person would think Junipero Serra and his companions had surely satiated their thirst for missionary labors during the nine long toilsome years they spent in Mexico, far, far away from loving home, affectionate kindred and the Old World culture to which they bade farewell when the last glistening silhouette of the Spanish Coast vanished from their view in 1759, but not so! Their pilgrimage was but begun! The pilgrimage which was to blossom heavenly and earthly blessings as beautiful and countless as the flowers which jeweled the slopes and valleys they traversed. The monstrous undertaking begun so gloriously, blessed with the benison of prayers, sacrifices, tears; blessed later with superhuman success and crowned with an immortal halo for endless days!

Here we will make a slight digression for the sake of our story. In 1548, just twenty-seven years after Cortes discovered the land of Mexico, Cabrillo's expedition had sailed up the Coast of California, and in 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino had made further discoveries accompanied by two Carmelite priests, and landed on the sh.o.r.es of Monterey. Both of these expeditions, however, were abandoned and California remained the "mysterious vineyard," as it was called. But Vizcaino drew a map of California placing upon it the harbor of Monterey, and wrote glowing accounts of the beauty of the spot. On Point Lobos he planted a Cross, and the Carmelite Fathers named that beautiful Valley, four miles from Monterey, Carmelo, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated under the t.i.tle of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Of these facts we will have occasion to speak of more fully later on in this work.

Years after these expeditions the good Jesuit Fathers established several missions in Lower California, but were recalled to Spain by King Carlos III and by this sovereign's request the Franciscan Fathers of the College of San Fernando were commissioned to take the newly vacated missions and accompany as missionaries the great and glorious enterprise of Don Gaspar de Portola, with Vizcaino's map as guide, to further explore California and add it to the Crown of Castile and Leon.

The Father Guardian of the College of San Fernando, on receiving the letter from King Carlos, immediately appointed Junipero Serra, whose zeal and sanct.i.ty were so well known, as the Father President of the band of missionaries to set out for California. Among the missionaries who volunteered to evangelize California were Fathers Francisco Palou, Francisco de Lasuen and Juan Crespi.