Beginning of Essay
Miquel Joseph Serra was born and baptized on November 24, 1713 in Petra, a farming village on the island of Mallorca, Spain. As a child he attended a Franciscan elementary school. At the age of fifteen, Serra left home to enter the Franciscan University in Palma ....

Middle of Essay
.... articulate, scholar, a moving speaker, and a clear precise writer. He did not remain long in the academic venue. His dream was to become as missionary and in 1749 he responded to the call for Franciscan missionaries to the New World. His dream became a reality. He left his family and friends and sailed off to a "New World." Nearly 200 years earlier, Spain had established a colony called New Spain, the region known today as Mexico. Successful colonization was the result of collaboration by Spanish imperial staff and the Catholic Church. Acting as partners in efforts of exploration and settlement, both their purposes were achieved: Spain claimed ....