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Junipero Serra needs just one more miracle

Steve Chawkins
Posted: August 27, 2009.
Published: August 28, 2009.

Print: Los Angeles Times

Father John Vaughn

Reporting from Santa Barbara - In a basement at Old Mission Santa Barbara, a filing cabinet is thick with claims of miracles that didn’t make the grade.

A man falls off his horse and, thanks to Junipero Serra, he gets up unscathed. A woman visits Serra’s tomb in Carmel and something stirs her deeply, changing the course of her life. An alcoholic gives up drinking and credits Serra for seeing him through.

They all believed their experiences to be miraculous—but none was deemed the miracle needed to lift Serra into sainthood, a goal church officials announced 75 years ago today, the 225th anniversary of his death.

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Comments (4)

They should ask the Opus Dei for some advice. The stunt they performed, making Josemaria Escriva, that evil egotistic dude,saint in no time, was simply awesome.

posted on August 28, 2009
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2. Friend of Icelos

The process of discerning miracles is grindingly meticulous and has become even more demanding as science explains once-mysterious phenomena.

It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

posted on August 28, 2009
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it is amazing that the lat would run crap like this on the front page.

posted on August 29, 2009
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It may be a “rural” legend but we learned in school that the padres scattered mustard seed along their route to mark it (were they afraid of getting lost on their return?). This non-native weed is all over the place and I spend much sweat pulling the stuff out. I’ve always thought that whatever miracles are claimed for Father Serra, this environmental vandalism should forever disqualify him (but who cares, really?).
Carmel, CA (high school mascot - Padre)

posted on August 30, 2009
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