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 who 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.Thoma ...

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

Life

He was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and entered the Franciscan Order in 1774. In 1784 he was incorporated in the missionary College of San Fernando de Mexico, 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 (English language, English: The Mission of Saint Charles Borromeo of the Carmel River), first built in 1797, is one of the Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property, most authentica ...

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 (, ), also known as Nueva 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 was made a separat ...

and was stationed at

Mission San Buenaventura Mission San Buenaventura (, Ventureño language, Ventureño: ), formally known as the Mission Basilica of San Buenaventura, is a parish (Catholic Church), Catholic parish and basilica in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archdiocese ...

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 (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

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'' broadly referred to various lands in the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found i ...

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 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 orthography, phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English orthography, Engl ...

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

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

s. Leanne Hinton, Flutes of Fire (1994, page 212)

References

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senan, Jose 1760 births 1823 deaths People of the Californias 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