Abstract

If only one of us could go there and return by air.1"To fly." From the first mission they erected in 1769 to the last, and twenty-first, in 1823, the Franciscans in California aspired to take wing in thought and deed. They dreamed of flight, celebrated it, prayed for it, and, as one witness claimed, even did it. Thus, to fly, which, in one sense means moving from one point to another through the air, speaks to the priests' efforts to traverse any distance, and overcome any burden, to realize the spiritual and physical sides of their nature.2 For their spiritual endeavors, they claimed to heed, and uphold, God's will, a duty for which flight provided them with ways to express their devotion. When using references to...