When Spanish Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serra arrived in San Diego in 1769, there was no city waiting for him.
The settlement consisted of little more than a small collection of buildings and tents occupied by soldiers, missionaries, workers, and livestock. There were no established farms capable of feeding everyone, no nearby towns to trade with, and no roads connecting them to the rest of the continent.
Almost everything they needed had to come by ship from Mexico. Food, tools, medicine, clothing, seeds for planting, and even replacement equipment for broken tools had to cross hundreds of miles of ocean before reaching California.
If a supply ship was delayed, people waited. If a supply ship failed to arrive, the settlement itself could fail.
There was a time when the settlement could simply wait for the next ship from Mexico.
Eventually, that was no longer an option. Supplies were running low and the expected ship had still not appeared.
Captain Gaspar de Portolá eventually made a difficult decision. If no supply ship arrived by March 19, the feast day of Saint Joseph, the settlement would be abandoned and everyone would return south.
Father Serra responded by beginning a novena to Saint Joseph.
For days, the settlement waited while Serra prayed.
On the ninth day, March 19, the deadline arrived.
Still no ship.
Then a sail appeared on the horizon.
The supply ship San Antonio had arrived carrying food and provisions.
Let’s keep learning the saints’ way—day by day.
⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ