<P> By age seven, Miquel was working the fields with his parents, helping cultivate wheat and beans, and tending the cattle . But he showed a special interest in visiting the local Franciscan friary at the church of San Bernardino within a block of the Serra family house . Attending the friars' primary school at the church, Miquel learned reading, writing, mathematics, Latin, religion and liturgical song, especially Gregorian chant . Gifted with a good voice, he eagerly took to vocal music . The friars sometimes let him join the community choir and sing at special church feasts . Miquel and his father Antonio often visited the friary for friendly chats with the Franciscans . </P> <P> At age 15, Miquel's parents enrolled him in a Franciscan school in the capital city, Palma de Majorca, where he studied philosophy . A year later, he became a novice in the Franciscan order . </P> <P> On November 14, 1730--just shy of his 17th birthday--Serra entered the Alcantarine branch of the Friars Minor, a reform movement in the Order . The slight and frail Serra now embarked on his novitiate period, a rigorous year of preparation to become a full member of the Franciscan Order . He was given the religious name of Junípero in honor of Brother Juniper, who had been among the first Franciscans and was a companion of Saint Francis . The young Junípero, along with his fellow novices, vowed to scorn property and comfort, and to remain celibate . He still had seven years to go to become an ordained Catholic priest . He immersed himself in rigorous studies of logic, metaphysics, cosmology, and theology . </P> <P> The daily routine at the friary followed a rigid schedule: prayers, meditation, choir singing, physical chores, spiritual readings, and instruction . The friars would wake up every midnight for another round of chants . Serra's superiors discouraged letters and visitors . In his free time, he avidly read stories about Franciscan friars roaming the provinces of Spain and around the world to win new souls for the church, often suffering martyrdom in the process . He followed the news of famous missionaries winning beatification and sainthood . </P>

Who was the franciscan monk who founded a mission