MAY 27.


It is owing to the ever active missionary spirit among the Friars
Minor (Franciscans) that millions upon millions of American Indians
have obtained the Christian faith. The children of St. Francis were,
indeed, the principal factors in the very discovery of America,
inasmuch as the persons most prominently connected with that event
belonged to the Seraphic Family. Fr. Juan Perez de Marchena, the
friend and counsellor of Christopher Columbus, was the guardian or
superior of the Franciscan monastery at La Rabida; * * * and the great
navigator likewise belonged to the Third Order.

FR. ZEPHYRIN,
in _Missions and Missionaries of California._



MAY 28.


JUNIPERO SERRA.

Not with the clash of arms or conquering fleet
He came, who first upon this kindly shore
Planted the Cross. No heralds walked before;
But, as the Master bade, with sandalled feet,
Weary and bleeding oft, he crossed the wild.