Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
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RIGHT REV. FRANCIS MORA
 
Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles, was born in the city of Vich, 
in Catalonia, a province of Spain, November 25, 1827, and was thus by birth a 
fellow-countryman of many of the most energetic missionaries in California, 
Texas and Florida.  It was therefore natural that a taste for foreign missions 
should early have awakened in him.  Although at the early age of three years he 
lost his parents, he was cared for by devoted servants of the church, and in 
early youth devoted himself to the service of God in the sanctuary and to the 
studies of Latin, philosophy and theology in the Episcopal Seminary of Vich, in 
Spain.
            In 1854 Bishop Amat went to Spain in order to obtain assistants in 
ministerial work here.  In response to his appeal at Vich, young Francis offered 
his services, and, without waiting to receive priestly orders, accompanied the 
Bishop across the Atlantic.  After remaining in the State of Missouri for a time 
to familiarize himself with the English language, he came on to California in 
1855, and March 19, 1856, at Santa Barbara, he was ordained to the priesthood by 
Bishop Amat and placed in charge of the Monterey parish.  Subsequently he was 
rector of the parishes at San Juan Bautista, Pajaro Vale and San Luis Obispo.
            In 1862 the parish of Los Angeles was deprived of its Vicar General 
by the death of Father Blas Raho, and the next year Father Mora was chosen by 
Bishop  Amat to be the rector of the pro-cathedral of Los Angeles, and July 15, 
1866, Vicar-General of the diocese.  Afterward, when the Bishop required the 
services of a coadjutor, he selected Rev. Mora for the see of Mosynopolis, May 
20, 1873.
            On the 12th of May, 1878, Dr. Amat died, and Bishop Mora at once 
succeeded him, as he had been appointed coadjutor with the right of succession.  
He has followed the steps of his illustrious predecessor, and under his 
fostering care young Levites have been educated in different colleges of Europe 
or in the seminaries of the United States, and brought here to work in Christ�s 
vineyard.  At his invitation the Sisters of St. Joseph opened an academy at San 
Diego, and last year a parochial school in St. Vincent�s parish in this city.  
He invited also last year the Dominican Sisters, who opened a convent at 
Anaheim.  Under his energetic zeal new parishes have been formed here in Los 
Angeles and throughout the whole diocese.  He is a man that never spares 
himself, but he is at the service of those who call upon him from morning till 
night.
            Some years ago, as he was going to administer confirmation to the 
Indians, he met with a painful accident that put his life in great danger, and 
he felt the effects of it for two years afterward.  His voyage to Europe in 1886 
enabled him to recover his forces, so that nowadays he is in full vigor.
 
An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties of San 
Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Penninsula of Lower 
California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - 
Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.
p. 777
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler