The Missions of Father Kino

Yesterday I posted about Ted DeGrazia's Mission in the Sun. By chance today, I found a recent article in the AZ Republic about San Jose de Tumacacori and San Xavier del Bac, Father Kino's Southern Arizona missions. I thought it was only appropriate that I take a few minutes today to write about Father Kino and these missions.

Father Kino was born Eusebio Francesco Chini (Kino was the German-ized version of his name, probably adopted while studying in Austria) in Italy in 1645. After recuperating from a serious illness, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1665 and became a priest. Though Kino wanted to evangelize in the Orient, he was sent to establish missions in Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona instead.

Kino arrived in Mexico in 1687 and started northward. In 1691, he founded Arizona's oldest mission, Tumacacori, near Tubac. A national park, Tumacacori has a small museum and offers tours of the grounds, cemetery and the church. From time to time, other areas of the park are open for tours. Los Santos de Guevavi--a visitas or country church--can be visited during the fall and winter. The first captain of the Tubac presidio, Juan Tomas de Beldarrain, was mortally wounded by Seri Indians at Los Santos and is buried beneath the church's altar. Also available for guided tours is San Cayetano de Calabazas. Although it was founded later by Father Francisco Pauer, it had an interesting history of Apache attacks and eventually became Fort Mason for a short time.

San Xavier del Bac, located just south of Tucson, stands as a monument to Kino's achievements. Built in 1692, it is still a functioning Catholic church and is considered by many to be the finest example of mission architecture in the United States (although it remains a mystery as to why only one of the towers is completed and the other is not).

Admission to San Xavier del Bac is free; admission to Tumacacori is $3.