“Missa Sancti Juniperi Serra”
Missa Sancti Juniperi Serra
Composed by Frank La Rocca (2024)
In the fall of 2020, as statues of St. Junipero were being defaced and his history was being rewritten, Archbishop Cordileone commissioned a new Mass by Benedict XVI Institute’s composer-in-residence Frank La Rocca to honor St. Junipero Serra.
The Mass integrates both the likely chanted Ordinaries in the missions at the time (Missa Orbis Factor) and St. Junipero Serra’s favorite Marian hymn (the lesser-known Salve Virgin Pura, a vernacular hymn to the Virgin Mary), using the simple instruments available to the Native Americans and Franciscan friars in California. It is composed for the traditional Latin rite as St. Junipero Serra would have prayed.
First celebrated at the Mission Dolores in San Francisco, the Mass will be celebrated again in 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mission Dolores and the founding of San Francisco by St. Junipero Serra and his Franciscan brother.
This Mass is a gift of Terry Caster in honor of his late, beloved wife, Barbara Caster. Please pray for the repose of Barbara Caster’s soul.
“Shortly after beginning work on the Mass, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. Let me hasten to add it was caught early and I am cancer-free, Deo gratias. I composed this Mass during the weeks and months of uncertainty about the outcome, and so I felt very, very close to God. Indeed, working on the Mass was a profound comfort to me, reminding me of my dependence on grace not just for my health, but for musical inspiration. I did pray to St. Junipero, asking for his blessing on the work and to intercede for a good outcome to my illness.”
