The Question of Father Serra's Feast Day
How and when Californians should celebrate him and his legacy
Authored by: The Didacopolitan
Today is California Admission Day, the anniversary of California’s admittance to the Union on September 9th, 1850. As Saint Junípero Serra is the founding father of California, it is an ideal day to consider how and when California’s Catholics should commemorate the great apostle to our homeland.
Catholics who observe traditional calendars, such as those of 1954 or 1962, are left in the dark about when to celebrate the Feast of Junípero Serra, the Franciscan missionary who worked tirelessly to preach the Gospel to California’s Indian tribes.
Typically, a saint’s feast day is assigned to his/her date of death, also called the dies natalis (lit. “birthday”), referring to the saint’s birth into a new life in heaven. Occasionally, however, a saint’s dies natalis conflicts with a moveable liturgical season (e.g., Lent or Easter Octave) or an existing feast day or octave. Father Serra shares his dies natalis with Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the original four Latin Doctors of the Church. In the Novus Ordo calendar, Fr. Serra’s feast day is posted as August 28th, but the Obligatory Memorial of St. Augustine outranks it.
The USCCB likely recognized the issue of these two saints’ coinciding feast days, so when the Apostle of California was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015, the bishops assigned his (optional) feast to July 1st in America. Rather than coinciding with Fr. Serra’s dies natalis, beatification date, or canonization date, the assigned feast day marks Fr. Serra’s arrival in San Diego on July 1st, 1769.
In the Novus Ordo calendar, no feast of universal importance conflicts with this day, so the Feast of St. Junípero Serra can be freely celebrated. However, the General Roman Calendars of 1954 and 1962 hold this date as the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, which cannot be pushed aside, even for saints important to a locality; thus, Junípero Serra’s feast cannot be observed on July 1st by those who follow traditional calendars.
Potential Secondary Feasts
When, then, should Californians celebrate Fr. Serra’s feast? Serra’s feast day in the United States shows the potential to be transformed into a regional feast day since it focuses on Fr. Serra’s arrival in California. Using principles from the 1954 calendar, I propose that Californians celebrate Junípero Serra on July 4th and August 26th.
Secondary feast days, which are focused on a Saint of a particular location, already exist in other countries. In Malta, for example, the Feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck is an example of a feast day celebrated by a specific locality. It may be fitting to establish a day titled “The Arrival of St. Junípero Serra” in the dioceses of California.
Rather than celebrating this feast on July 1st, it could be transferred to one of the closest “free” days, July 4th - Independence Day. As the founding father of California, Fr. Serra is a parallel to the rest of the American Founding Fathers. The USCCB Calendar already includes a proper Mass of Independence Day, which includes some questionable prayers. Accompanying the Fourth of July with a feast that honors one of the most influential missionaries in the present-day United States has the potential to lessen “Americanist” religious indifference by reminding Californians of the importance of conversion and missionary zeal.
July 4th is also the day before the Feast of Our Lady of Refuge, who is Patroness of the Two Californias and a popular depiction of the Blessed Virgin across the California missions. Celebrating the Apostle of California the day before the feast commemorating our Blessed Mother’s patronage over the Californias would be a sure way to multiply the number of prayers offered for the state’s conversion. It would also be a reminder of the state’s roots in Spanish Catholicism.
The closest “free” day to Fr. Serra’s dies natalis is August 26th, currently occupied by the low-ranking Feast of Pope Saint Zephyrinus. Seeing how it has always been acceptable to celebrate the higher-ranking feast of a local saint over a lower-ranking one, the 26th could instead be regionally observed as Solemnity of St. Junípero Serra, Apostle of California.
If we were to observe an octave of his feast, we could commemorate Fr. Serra liturgically every day from August 26th to September 2nd. This octave would also feature other saints who have significance to California, such as St. Augustine and Saint John the Baptist, who are both powerful intercessors for the sanctity of the family and against the lust of the flesh.
The Faithful Should Celebrate
While we wait in the hope that California bishops come together and re-examine the case of St. Junípero Serra’s feast day in the dioceses of California, we can cultivate devotion to our saint in our homes and communities. For example, Masses, rosaries, and other family and communal prayers and celebrations would be a welcome effort to convert California. Parish festivals to Fr. Serra would serve as powerful counter-witnesses to the recent topplings and desecrating of his statues. These sorts of celebrations would cultivate communal devotion to him and regional patriotism.
Let your priests and bishops know about your desire to see the founding father of California commemorated in your calendars, and remember to keep the state’s bishops in your prayers.
Saint Junípero Serra, Pray for us!