The Irish Standard

MONUMENT TO A MISSIONARY.

In August, 1889, Senator and Mrs. Stanford spent some weeks at Monterey, Cal., while the latter was convalescing from a tedious illness. In their drives every afternoon around Cypress Point, which overlooks the beautiful Bay of Monterey, they used to pass the rude wooden cross at the foot of the hill, which marks the spot where Father Junipero Serra, the pioneer Franciscan priest, landed on the 3d of June 1770. Thinking over the great results in civilization as well as in the work of religion which that date commemorates in California history, Mrs. Stanford conceived the idea of erecting a testimonial to the memory of this pioneer in the service of God. All her life she has devoted much time and given freely of her means to perpetuate historical memories and to collect and guard with jealous care relics of the past.

The statue represents a monk stepping from an Indian canoe, with the right hand raised in blessing. In the canoe rests across, the planting of which was always the first step in the founding of a new mission. The habit and vestment were identical with those worn by Father Junipero, and the features are an absolute reproduction from long preserved portraits. The base of the statue appropriates the bear, the whole monument is cut from a huge block of granite weighing in the neighborhood of forty tons, taken from the Crystal Lake quarries near Chicago. The height of the figure is ten feet.

The monument stands upon the military reservation at Monterey, in a commanding position on the crest of a hill overlooking the beautiful Bay of the city.

To compliment the land of Father Junipero's birth, the country from which he started on his apostolic mission and the glorious land of the free where he labored, his statue will be draped in the Spanish, Mexican and American flags. Archbishop Riordan will touch the cord which will unloose the first. Father Cubelova, a Franciscan friar, the second, and the Governor of California the American flag. Archbishop Riordan and Governor Waterman will make addresses.