Researching Luis Jayme

Melchor Jayme was admitted to the Franciscan Order on September 27, 1760 in the Convento de Santa Maria de los Angeles de Jesus. Following a year of strict seclusion and rigorous discipline, Jayme solemnly promised to observe the rule of the Friars Minor for the rest of his earthly lifespan; he was known as Fray Luis from thereon. The friar conducted his theological studies at the Convento de San Francisco (Palma de Mallorca), and was ordained to the priesthood on December 22, 1764. Fray Luis was appointed "Lector of Philosophy" upon completion of his coursework, a position he occupied at San Francisco from 1765 to 1770. Jayme arrived in New Spain in early 1770 after a long and arduous trans-Atlantic voyage. There he began the special training course at the missionary College of San Fernando de Mexico wherein "soldiers of the Cross" were conditioned to the privation, fatigue, mortification and penance encountered on the missionary frontier. Fray Luis set out for California along with nine other priests to begin a ten-year commitment ministering to the indigenous population.

Jayme was assigned to Mission San Diego de Alcalá, where his earliest efforts were devoted to mastering the complexities of the local Kumeyaay language. Once he had gained a facility with its vocabulary, he was able to compile a polyglot Christian catechism. The lack of a dependable water supply, coupled with the proximity of the military personnel at the Presidio, led to the priest asking for and being granted permission to relocate the mission from its original site, atop Presidio Hill, to the valley several miles east, where it is now situated. Almost immediately there was a noticeable increase in the number of conversions which, by 1775, stood at 431. Some of the local Kumeyaay people resented the Spanish intrusion into their land. At approximately 1:30 a.m., on the moonlit morning of November 4, 1775, more than 600 warriors from the surrounding rancherías silently crept into the mission compound. After plundering the chapel, they set the other buildings ablaze. The commotion soon awakened the two missionaries, the Spanish guards, and the Christian neophytes. Rather than run to the stock hold for shelter, Fray Luis walked toward the band of warriors, uttering the traditional Franciscan greeting: "Amar a Dios, hijos!"—"Love God, my children!"  The Kumeyaay seized him, stripped off his garments, shot some eighteen arrows into his torso, then smashed his face with clubs and stones.

Jayme's body was, at first, interred in the Presidio chapel. When the new church at the mission was completed, the body was reinterred in the sanctuary. There it rested until November 12, 1813 when it was transferred once more. Today, the remains of Fray Luis Jayme lie in a common vault between the main and side altar. He is considered to be the first Catholic martyr in Alta California.