- Pedro Estévan Tápis
Father Pedro Estévan Tápis (
August 25 1754 –November 3 1825 ) was a Spanishmissionary tothe Americas .He was born at
Santa Coloma de Farnes inCatalonia ,Spain and joined theFranciscan order at Genoa on 22 January 1778. [CathEncy|wstitle=Esteban Tapis] Father Tápis travelled toMexico in 1786, then on toCalifornia in 1790 where he worked at the following missions:*
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (1790-1793)
*Mission Santa Barbara (1793-1806)
*Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (1806-1811)
*Mission La Purísima Concepción (1812-1813)
*Mission Santa Inés (1813-1814)
*Mission San Juan Bautista (1815-1825)When Father Lasuén died in 1803, Father Tápis took over as acting Father-President of the California mission chain (a post he was elected to three times, holding the office from 1803-1812). During his tenure, Father Tápis directed the founding of Mission Santa Inés in 1804. Father Tápis (who had a special talent for music) retired in 1812, and joined Father de la Cuesta at Mission San Juan Bautista in 1815 to teach singing to the Indians. He created a system using colorsfor different types of music notes which made it easier for the novices to follow, and his choir of Native American boys performed for many visitors, earning the San Juan Bautista Mission the nickname "Mission of Music." Two of his handwritten choir books are preserved at the San Juan Bautista Museum.
When Father Tapis died in 1825 he was buried on the Mission San Juan Bautista grounds.
References
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