Los Angeles: The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 1976. dj. Hardcover first edition - Translated and edited by Msgr. Francis J. Weber, who also wrote the life of Fray Francisco Garcia Diego, which begins this book. The letters of Francisco Garcia Diego Y Moreno give a detailed history of California Mission life from 1820 to 1843 as it was transitioning from missionary to diocesan status. To cite just one letter in August of 1833 at Santa Clara, he is arguing against the practice of whipping the natives -"it strikes me that these wretched individuals, who are just as human as we are, are looked upon as belonging to some lower species. It horrifies me to behold these creatures, even elderly married men, stretched out on the ground with the greatest humility awaiting the defaming punishment." Although terms like 'wretched' and 'creatures' seem to undermine his argument, he did order that "not another lash of the whip is to be administered." Among the issues which he had to deal with was the proposed secularization of the missions. Frontispiece photograph. Glossary of proper names, notes. xiii, 192 pp.