Junípero Serra
November 24, 1713 — August 28, 1784 · Feast day: July 1
A Majorcan friar who took the name Junípero at 17, Serra sailed for the New World in 1749 and never returned to Spain — spending his final thirty-five years founding missions from San Diego to San Francisco. He established eight of the 21 California missions, and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015 in the most contested canonization in modern American history.