St. Junípero Serra (born November 24, 1713, Petra, Majorca, Spain—died August 28, 1784, Carmel, California, New Spain [now in U.S.]; canonized September 23, 2015; feast day August 28 [July 1 in the U.S.]) was a Spanish Franciscan priest whose missionary work among the Indigenous people of North America earned him the title of Apostle of California. In 2015 he was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He is revered as the patron saint of California.

After entering the Franciscan Order in 1730 and being ordained in 1738, Serra taught philosophy at Lullian University (Palma, Majorca). In 1750 he arrived in Mexico City for missionary work among the Indigenous people there, serving first in the Sierra Gorda missions from 1750 to 1758 and then in south-central Mexico from 1758 to 1767.

When Spain began its occupation of Alta California (present-day California), Serra joined the expedition’s commander, Gaspar de Portolá. On July 16, 1769, he founded Mission San Diego, the first within the present state of California. From 1770 to 1782 he founded eight more Californian missions:

• Carmel, his headquarters, at Monterey, in 1770
• San Antonio and San Gabriel (near Los Angeles) in 1771
• San Luis Obispo in 1772
• San Francisco (Mission Dolores) and San Juan Capistrano in 1776
• Santa Clara in 1777
• San Buenaventura in 1782

Serra’s missions helped strengthen Spain’s control of Alta California. Serra was beatified on September 25, 1988. On September 23, 2015, he was canonized by Pope Francis in a special mass in Washington, D.C. It was the first time in history that a canonization was performed in the United States.

Serra was a renowned figure in his lifetime. However, his treatment of the Indigenous American peoples is debated. His advocates claim that he was a strenuous defender of Native people and introduced to their lands the cattle, sheep, grains, and fruits of Mexico. His detractors charge that he was complicit in the colonization of the American continent and the enslavement of Indigenous peoples.