February 2016 Auction Ends Thursday, February 25th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2016
Newly canonized, Saint Junipero Serra autograph letter signed, ''Fr. Junipero Serra / Presid.'' In this letter, on 30 May 1777, Serra requests ornamentation from the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua, to rebuild the San Diego Mission after it was completely destroyed by the local Indian population two years prior. The San Diego mission, originally founded in 1769 by Saint Serra, was the site of an Indian uprising on the night of 4 November 1775 by the indigenous Diegueno Indian tribe. More than 1,000 Indians joined the attack that killed a priest (Louis Jayme), a blacksmith, a carpenter and wounded most of the Mission's other inhabitants. The Mission itself was burned to the ground and everything in it destroyed; ''plundered and burned'' according to Serra in this letter. It's said that the incident was provoked by the Indians' dissatisfaction with the rules and regulations established by the Spanish authorities, sparking the riot of the Mission. The event had a profound effect on Serra and deeply troubled him for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, he pleaded with the Spanish authorities for leniency in handing down punishment on Indians. Over the next 2 years the mission was rebuilt. In this detailed letter Serra asks for the Viceroy for the necessary ornaments to decorate the newly restored Mission San Diego. Two-page letter (on one sheet) entirely in Serra's hand measures 8.25'' x 12''. Light archival restoration along left side and upper right corner. Writing is still bold and legible, displaying beautifully. Very good to near fine. An excellent letter by Saint Serra, potently showing the controversy surrounding him and the turmoil of the early Catholic missions.
Full translation of document follows:
To Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua
List of church furnishings requested for San Diego mission.
Written at Monterey, May 30, 1777
+
Hail Jesus, Mary, Joseph!
List of church vestments requested from the Superior Government of the Most Excellent Lord Viceroy for San Diego Mission in Upper California, which was plundered and burned. This is one of the missions belonging to the Apostolic College de Propaganda Fide of San Fernando de Mexico.
One white chasuble, with stole, maniple, chalice veil, etc.
Item another red, with the same accessories.
Item another purple, with the same accessories
Item another green, with the said additions.
Items another black, with the said additions.
Items another five antependiums of the same colors and materials as the said five chasubles.
Item five tabernacle veils of the same five colors with their accessories.
Item three copes, i.e., one white, one purple, one black corresponding to the three chasubles of a like colors.
Item one mozzetta, or cope, with a stole to correspond, for the administration of the Holy Viaticum.
Item a canopy furnished with poles, or without them, for the administration of the same Holy Sacrament.
Item a white dalmaisal for the same purpose.
Item a white banner for the same purpose with the insignia of the Blessed Sacrament on one side and of San Diego on the other, with streamers attached.
Item thirteen silver coins and six rings of the same metal and a purse to hold them, white are the arras for marriage rites.
Item two caps made of Brittany linen, trimmed with lace and ribbons; a large one for the Baptisms of adults, the other samm for children.
Item a set of altar cards: a middle altar card, the Gospel of Saint John, and a Lavabo card.
Item four or six large candlesticks three-fourths of a vara high for the altar.
Item in reference to the sacred vessels of silver, that is, the chalice, ciborium, oil stocks, cruets, small plate, altar bell, saltcellar, baptism shell, censer, etc., which, having had them melted down by fire, I forwarded them to our College to have them made over. I request that the cost for the work be paid if some benefactor has not paid for it already.
Item a blue and red shag carpet, three varas long and two wide, lined with cotton, for the foot of the altar.
Item another carpet of the same quality but smaller, two varas long and one wide, for the small altar in the house of the sick, use whenever the Most Holy Viaticum is administered.
Item a small white antependium decorated with flowers, one vara long by a half wide or a little larger for the said small altar.
Item a sacrarium conforming to the rubrics with its linen and little cup of gilded glass, made in such size that it can be easily taken away and carried from place to place.
Item a trunk of cedarwood, wide and not very high in which the said vestments - carefully wrapped - will come. Let the chest have lock and key. This will be a very useful in the said mission, to keep them in, seeing that there is a great scarcity of timber there suitable for making one.
I call your attention to the fact that altar stones, white cloths such as albs, surplices, corporals, purificators, nger towels, altar cloths, etc/, are not asked for on this occasion, because in the supplies which came last year, whie I was staying at the said mission, I saw that a sufficient supsploy of that kind of material had been sent from our College. And so, leaving out all uneccessary articles, you can see that we are asking for only what we are in need on, and what could not otherwise be obtained.
Mission of San Carlos de Monterey, March, I mean March 30, 1777.
Fray Junipero Serra
President
Saint Junipero Serra Autograph Letter Signed -- Serra Writes to His Viceroy, Requesting Items ''...for San Diego Mission in Upper California, which was plundered and burned...''
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