Editing Fermín de Lasuén (section)

==Biography==
Although he is sometimes called the "forgotten friar," Fermín Lasuén actually governed the California Mission system three years longer than his more famous predecessor, [[Junípero Serra]]. Lasuén was born at [[Vitoria-Gasteiz|Vitoria]] in [[Álava]], Spain, on 7 July 1736 and joined the Franciscan order as a teenager, entering the Friary of San Francisco shortly before his fifteenth birthday on 19 March 1751. On 19 March 1751, Lasuén was ceremoniously invested with his Franciscan habit.<ref>Archival Center of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, "Private notes on California'a Catholic Heritage", ed. by Msgr. Francis Weber, not paginated.</ref>

In 1759, Lasuén left the Franciscan [[Sanctuary of Arantzazu]] ([[Gipuzkoa]]).<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/87284 | title = Fermín Francisco.                                                Lasuen | last1= Anaut |first1= Bernardo |publisher = EuskoMedia Fundazioa | access-date = 14 May 2014}}</ref> He then set sail from [[Cádiz]] with seventeen other friars while still a deacon to volunteer for ministry in the Americas. He arrived in [[New Spain]] in 1761 and was sent west to [[The Californias|Las Californias]] in 1768. Following the establishment of [[Mission San Diego de Alcalá]] in 1769, he moved north to Alta California in 1773.  He based himself in San Diego and remained there until 1775; he helped establish [[Mission San Juan Capistrano]] before the murder of [[Luís Jayme]]. [[Kumeyaay people|Kumeyaay]] Indian unrest caused his return to San Diego.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://sjchistoricalsociety.com/history/mission-san-juan-capistrano-31882-camino-capistrano/ | title = Mission San Juan Capistrano – 31882 Camino Capistrano|publisher = San Juan Capistrano Historical Society | access-date = 21 March 2022}}</ref>

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, following the death of Junípero Serra, and transferred to [[Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo]]. Lasuén continued the work begun by Serra, establishing 9 more missions, bringing the total to 18 (the final total was 21). 

He died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on 26 July 1803. On his death he was succeeded by [[Esteban Tápis]].<ref>{{cite CE1913 |wstitle=Esteban Tapis |volume=14}}</ref>