Father José Francisco de Paula Señan (March 3, 1760 – August 24, 1823) was a Spanish

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

Life

He was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and entered the Franciscan Order in 1774. In 1784 he was incorporated in the missionary

College of San Fernando de Mexico The College of San Fernando de México was a Roman Catholic Franciscan missionary college, or seminary (''Colegio Apostólico''), founded in Spanish colonial Mexico City by the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor on October 15, 1734. The institution w ...

, and in 1787 traveled to California. There he was assigned to the

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo, or Misión de San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, first built in 1797, is one of the most authentically restored Catholic mission churches in California. Located at the mouth of Carmel Valley, Californi ...

and remained until 1795, when he retired to Mexico and reported on the missionary conditions in the territory to the viceroy. In 1798 he returned to

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

and was stationed at

Mission San Buenaventura Mission San Buenaventura ( es, Misión San Buenaventura), formally known as the Mission Basilica of San Buenaventura, is a Catholic parish and basilica in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The parish church in the city of Ventura, California, Unite ...

until his death. From July, 1812 until the end of 1815 Señan held the office of Father-President of the California mission chain. Upon Father Payeras' retirement in 1820 he was reappointed and continued in office until he died. As ''Presidente'' he was also ''Vicáreo Foraneo'' of the Bishop of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

for Upper California. A month before his death he received the appointment of Vice-Commissary Prefect. Señan was familiar with the language of the Indians, and his reports and mission entries are distinguished by their exactness and beauty of penmanship. Though a very zealous missionary, Señan loved retired life. He disliked to hold office or give orders, and it is for this reason he was sometimes nicknamed "Padre Calma." The Commissary-General of the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in East (disambiguation)#Geography, the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and ...

directed him to write a history of the missions, and Señan in 1819 promised to comply, but he left no papers on the subject. His remains were interred in the church of the San Buenaventura Mission. Father Señán devised a method for writing the

Ventureño language Ventureño is a member of the extinct Chumashan languages, a group of Native American languages previously spoken by the Chumash people along the coastal areas of Southern California from as far north as San Luis Obispo to as far south as Malibu ...

which was spoken in the area at the time based on the

Spanish alphabet Spanish orthography is the orthography used in the Spanish language. The alphabet uses the Latin script. The spelling is fairly phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English, having a relatively consistent mapping ...

, which also incorporated other symbols to represent sounds not present in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

such as

glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...

Leanne Hinton Leanne Hinton (born 28 September 1941) is an American linguist and emerita professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. Education and career Hinton received her PhD in 1977 from UC San Diego, with a dissertation entitle ...

, Flutes of Fire (1994, page 212)

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Senan, Jose 1760 births 1823 deaths Californios Roman Catholic missionaries in Mexico Spanish Franciscans Priests of the Spanish missions in California Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in New Spain Franciscan missionaries