Saint Junipero Serra was canonized on September 23, 2015 at the National Shrine of The Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.  

Junipero Serra was an 18th century Franciscan.  He was a very successful philosophy teacher on the island of Mallorca.  Mid-life he volunteered to go to the missions of the new world.  Serra arrived in Mexico City on January 1, 1750.  He spent eight years about 100 miles north of Mexico City working amongst the Pame Indians who had been evangelized. He worked eight more years in various administrative positions at the missionary headquarters in Mexico City.  He was sent to Baja, California in 1767. The purpose of the missions was to spread the Gospel to those who hadn't been baptized.  

In his sermons he used as a refrain from Psalm 33, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." He says that God is like a culinary sweet of candy.  If you've never tasted it, you don't know what you're missing.  But once you taste it, you acquire an increasing desire for it.  

Fr. Serra orchestrated the development of a chain of missions that helped give birth to modern California.

Fr. Serra was made Patron of Serra Club because of his saintly life of heroic, "working class" virtues provides a prime example of how one priest can make such a profound impact on the course of human history. 

Information taken from "The Serran", Summer 2015, Vol.62 No.3