Where is Father Serra buried?

Answer 1

Serra was buried under the church floor (near the altar) of the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo better known as the Carmel Mission (the mission in Carmel, California).

Padre (Father) Junipero (pronounced who-nip-ur-oh) Serra was a Franciscan Catholic priest from Spain who traveled from then Spanish-Mexico to settle the area that the Spanish called Alta ("Upper") California (the current US State of California) with the Gaspar de Portola expedition by land. Father Serra founded 9 of the 21 Franciscan Catholic missions in Alta California (there are also Catholic missions in Baja (Lower) California which is still part of the country of Mexico). After Serra's death, he was named Presidente (pronounced prez-ah-dent-tay) of the Mission Chain. While the first (oldest) of the Alta California missions was in San Diego, Father Serra lived at the second mission - Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo (the mission of Saint Charles Borromeo on the Carmel River). Serra converted the local native Americans, the Ohlone tribe, to European Catholicism.

The Ohlone tribe went as far north as the San Francisco Bay area and was comprised of many sub-tribes.

The Ohlone tribe's sub-tribes in the Monterey area were the:

- Rumsen/Rumsien of Carmel and the Monterey Peninsula

- Esselen of Big Sur

- Salinan of the inland valley

Rumsens + Esselens + Salinans who lived at the mission were collectively referred to as "Mission Indians" (as soon as any member of any tribe moved to any mission he/she was referred to as a "Mission Indian")
Father Serra was buried in the Monterrey Bay.