AN ACCOMPLISHED LIFE
Father Fermin Lasuén served for eight years as head missionary at Mission San Diego (1777-1785) until he was selected to succeed Father Junípero Serra as Father Presidente of the Mission System. Zephyrin Engelhardt, who studied all of the top figures in the mission era, concluded that Lasuén “must be numbered among the territory’s best men and greatest benefactors”.
Only one key player remained the same during the years 1785-03, Fermin de Lasuén. His exceptional administrative skills, strong sense of purpose and engaging personality, allowed him to operate effectively in a highly political climate and get things done. He managed his chronically understaffed missionaries with compassion and understanding.
Under His Leadership
• The number of missions doubled, four in the epic year of 1797 alone.
• The neophyte population increased fourfold, from 4,646 at the ed of 1784 to 18,185 in 1803.
• A total of 31,240 individuals were baptized. During the five years that he had the authority, Lasuén confirmed 10,151.
• The number of cattle on the mission ranchos increased from 5,387 to 77,578 head, and significant progress was made in the production of tallow, cured cattle hides, and mission made leather goods.
• From a base of only 5,384 the number of mission sheep increased to 117, 736. The sheep provided food (mutton was the most prevalent meat fed neophytes) and their wool enabled the missions to make their own clothing and blankets.
• Agricultural production soared. The missions produced enough wheat, barley, corn, beans, and peas to become self-sufficient.
• Most of the mission churches we enjoy today are a product of the work that was started under Lasuén.
Unfortunately, the death rate among the neophytes was high, and the progress made in preventive medicine and improvement of living conditions painfully slow. Lasuén, like Serra, resisted any changes in the mission system. Both men considered the conversion of the Indians their primary task and baptism the measure of success. Francis F. Guest wrote, Fr. Lasuén “envisioned life, spirituality, the Indians, the Church in the Spanish way of old…In obedience to his superiors, he gave his life for the expansion and development of the missions”.
Fermín Francisco de Lasuén was a missionary for almost 40 years, and the longest serving President of the California Missions.
Reproduced with permission © 2012 Pentacle Press, LLC