(Redirected from Fermin Lasuen)Father 'Fermín Francisco de Lasuén de Arasqueta' (
June 7 1736 –
June 26 1803) was a
Spanish missionary to
the Americas.
He was born in
Vitoria and joined the
Franciscan order, becoming ordained in
1752. In
1758 he volunteered to work in America. He arrived in
Mexico in
1761 and was sent to
Baja California in
1768. Following the establishment of
Mission San Diego de Alcalá in
1769, he went to Northern
California in
1773. He was never happy in California. He based himself in San Diego and remained there until
1775; he helped establish
Mission San Juan Capistrano before the murder of Father
Luís Jayme.
Kumeyaay Indian unrest caused his return to San Diego and the general withdrawal of Spanish operations. In late
1776 he went to
San Luis Obispo before again returning to San Diego in
1777 when he was made minister there. He was appointed the second ''Presidente'' of the
missions in California in
1785, replacing
Junípero Serra, and transferred to the
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo. On his death he was succeeded by Father
Pedro Estévan Tápis.
He personally established nine of the twenty-one "
Alta California" missions:
★
Mission Santa Barbara (
1786)
★
Mission La Purísima Concepción (
1787)
★
Mission Santa Cruz (
1791)
★
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (
1791)
★
Mission San José (
1797)
★
Mission San Juan Bautista (
1797)
★
Mission San Miguel Arcángel (
1797)
★
Mission San Fernando Rey de España (
1797)
★
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia (
1798)
He also oversaw the expansion of many of the sites.