CARMEL MISSION, on Rio Road & Lasuen Way in Carmel, stands today as a monument to the great missionary of the Cross who left his home and the comforts of a conventional life to come to our Western wilderness to preach the Gospel of Christ and to teach California's Native Americans. This man was Padre Junipero Serra of the Order of Franciscan Friars.

Junipero Serra was born at Petra (the sister city of Carmel-by-the-Sea), Isla del Mallorca, on the 24th of November, 1713. At the age of 17 he received the Franciscan habit and in the year 1749 embarked for the missions of Mexico. Padre Serra was named Presidente of the Missions of Loreto in Lower California, came north to San Diego, and established the Mission there in 1769. Arriving by vessel at Monterey on June 3, 1770, Serra founded the Mission of San Carlos Borromeo. Because of lack of good soil and undesirable proximity to the Presidio, the location was soon changed from Monterey to its present site near the Carmel River. On August 24, 1771, Padre Serra moved into the new Carmel Mission.

For more information, please access carmelmission.org