Lithograph of Junipera Serra and subjects
As a kid growing up in Southern California (we moved overseas when I was 10) we visited missions that dot the west, built by Spanish priests centuries ago.

I remember the missions reverently: made of adobe and tile that cooled the warm air, surrounded by olive and eucalyptus and madrone trees.

When I read this week that one of the mission’s founders is being considered for sainthood, I recalled the cool missions we visited, smelling the fragrance of the shrubs.

Turns out the stories we heard as kids missed a chunk of truth.