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Miquel Joseph Serra was born and baptized on November 24, 1713 in Petra, a farming village on the island of Mallorca, Spain. As a child he attended a Franciscan elementary school. At the age of fifteen, Serra left home to enter the Franciscan University in Palma to study philosophy. When Serra was sixteen, he decided to join the Franciscan Order. After years of preparation and careful consideration of his vocation, Serra received his Franciscan habit in 1730 and …

…preferred fruit and fish. He never complained of the quality of his food. He often hit himself with ropes, sometimes with wire. He was in the habit of beating himself in the chest with stones, and at times would put a burning torch to his chest. He apparently did this while preaching or near the close of his sermons. His purpose was to punish himself and move his audience to penance for the own sins.