Father Vicente Pascual Oliva, O.F.M. (born 18th century, died January 2, 1848) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest of the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

Order, and a Spanish missionary in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

during the 19th century.

Life

Oliva was born in

Martín del Río Martín del Río is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2010 censusInstituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain) the municipality has a population of 469 inhabitants. Road N-211 crosses the eastern side ...

in the ancient kingdom of Aragon, and joined the Order in the convent of Nuestra Señora de Jesus,

Zaragosa Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributar ...

, on February 1, 1799. He left for the Apostolic

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 ...

on March 29, 1810; form there he departed for Alta California in early July, 1811 but due to various setbacks and illness did not reach

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...

until August 1813. Oliva was allowed to officiate over his first baptism at

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 ...

on October 28 of that year. Soon thereafter, he was transferred to

Mission San Fernando Rey de España Mission San Fernando Rey de España is a Spanish mission in the Mission Hills community of Los Angeles, California. The mission was founded on 8 September 1797 at the site of Achooykomenga, and was the seventeenth of the twenty-one Spanish mis ...

, where he also assisted the fathers of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel until the fall of 1815. Beginning his ministry at

Mission San Francisco de Asís Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...

on November 18, 1815, he continued there until the fall of 1818, when he was transferred to

Mission San Miguel Arcángel Mission San Miguel Arcángel is a Spanish mission in San Miguel, California. It was established on July 25, 1797 by the Franciscan order, on a site chosen specifically due to the large number of Salinan Indians that inhabited the area, whom th ...

. He served there for approximately two years before being called to

Mission San Diego de Alcalá Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá ( es, Misión San Diego de Alcalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in The Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it ...

, where he resided until early 1832 until being sent to

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia Mission San Luis Rey de Francia ( es, Misión San Luis Rey de Francia) is a former Spanish mission in San Luis Rey, a neighborhood of Oceanside, California. This Mission lent its name to the Luiseño tribe of Mission Indians. At its prime, ...

to manage the temporal affairs of that outpost. Father Oliva made his first entry in the Baptismal Register of Mission San Juan Capistrano on September 6, 1846. Being the lone missionary at San Juan Capistrano at the time of his death on January 2, 1848, he did not receive the "

last rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. They may be administered to those awaiting execution, mortall ...

." Father Blas Ordáz officiated over the burial ceremony on January 29, when Father Oliva's body was interred in the presbytery on the Epistle side of the main altar in "Serra's Chapel." In mid-December 1912 the Reverend St. John O'Sullivan arranged for excavations to be made to find Father Oliva's remains, when it was found that the body has been buried in the sacred vestments worn by priests at the holy "Sacrifice of the Mass."

References

* , pp. 224–227. 1848 deaths Roman Catholic missionaries in Mexico Spanish Friars Minor Priests of the Spanish missions in California Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Burials at Spanish missions in California Year of birth missing Roman Catholic missionaries in New Spain Franciscan missionaries Spanish expatriates in Mexico {{US-reli-bio-stub