I’m no Catholic. But by any standard, Serra was a hero. He lived a very austere life, asking none to do what he wouldn’t. He went to California, so isolated from his native Spain that he might as well have been on Mars. And he was faced with a pagan society and culture and did his best. He established a string of missions, and held the line.
The guy deserves to be honored and only a sorehead would belittle him.
With an ulcerated leg the entire time.