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Did You Know?
Fray Junipero Serra was a Chocoholic!
It's very comforting to know that the man who helped shape California as we know it and the man who is just one step away from sainthood was hopelessly addicted to chocolate. In the first letter he wrote from Monterey, Alta California to Mexico City in June of 1770 requesting supplies for the missions (and some long underwear for the cold California summer climate) he included the request for chocolate: "Some chocolate, which 'till now we have not run short of, thank God..." How many of us have said THANK GOD when we're on the hunt for chocolate late at night? For finding that little chocolate candy hidden in the sofa cushions?
Throughout the fourteen years he superintended the Franciscan mission system, he made certain that his fellow missionaries in Alta California had their beloved chocolate. He usually carried chocolate with him when he visited the missions, and was California's first Candyman.
Ready for some delicious irony?
Chocolate originated in the Western Hemisphere and was taken back to Europe by Hernan Cortes in 1528. Within two centuries, Europeans were hooked on chocolate, and when Serra and his contemporaries came out to New Spain, they were hopelessly addicted.
So, as the Church attempts to present Fray Junipero Serra as someone more than human, knowing that he loved chocolate as much as we do emphasizes that, at least when it came to chocolate, he was one of us.
Oh yes, another thing about Serra...
Most modern depictions of the Franciscan missionaries in Alta California show or describe them as wearing brown robes. Not so. The Franciscan missionaries, including Junipero Serra, wore grey robes. You need to watch your verisimilitude.
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