CNA—A two-page letter from 1776 written by St. Junípero Serra failed to sell at a New York auction on Thursday after the auction house declined a $70,000 offer, having expected to fetch around $100,000. Fascination was there, “but it takes bidders with the means and inclination to make the auction sale happen,” said Scott Trepel, president of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, the auction house behind the attempted sale. “Sometimes everything is right except timing.” The letter will return to its consignor, who plans to incorporate it into another collection. “It fit into the Alta California narrative, but it has significance in other subjects,” Trepel added. About this letter Among the few remaining Serra letters in private hands, the document unveils Serra’s ambitious blueprint for creating a network of missions across Alta California. Addressed to Captain Commandant Don Fernando de Rivera y Moncada, the letter illuminates Serra’s vision for spreading the Catholic faith and enhancing connectivity in the area. He proposed establishing a postal system to improve communication and bolster missionary efforts among the Indigenous population. The document is not only an artifact of California history but also a second-class relic, as Serra was canonized in 2015, making him one of only 11 North American saints. “Since the Middle Ages, canon law has forbidden simony, or the sale of relics,” said Thomas Rzeznik, associate professor of history at Seton Hall University. “The ban reflects a concern that sacred objects would be profaned by commercial exchange.” A second-class relic The issue becomes more complex with second-class relics — items of personal property connected to a saint,...
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