Mission San Xavier Del Bac Tucson Arizona
by Debby Pueschel
Title
Mission San Xavier Del Bac Tucson Arizona
Artist
Debby Pueschel
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
MISSION SAN XAVIER DEL BAC was founded in 1692 by a Jesuit missionary, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino. It was then that he became the first non-Indian to visit the village of Wa:k, or “Bac,” as he wrote it, and it was he who bestowed the patronage of San Francisco Xavier on this large village of O’odham or, as he called the natives, “Sobaipuris.”
Father Kino’s mission field was a large one that included most of what today are the west halves of northern Sonora and southern Arizona. His visits to San Xavier were always brief. In 1700 he spent a week in the village overseeing the laying of foundations for what he hoped would be a large church, but that effort never came to fruition. When Kino died in 1711 the village of Wak had neither church nor resident missionary.
Although Jesuits established a sporadic presence at San Xavier beginning in 1732, it was 1756 before construction of the first church was begun. Erected under the tutelage of Father Alonso Espinosa, S.J., it was a flat-roofed, rectangular building constructed of mud adobe and mud mortar. It survives today with the same external configuration but in a different location as the east wing of the mission abutted to the present church’s east bell tower.
Jesuits were expelled from New Spain (Mexico) by the Spanish King in 1767, and the following year Franciscans took up mission posts in the northern Sonoran Desert the Jesuits had been forced to abandon. Father Francisco Garcés became San Xavier del Bac’s first Franciscan missionary.
In 1783, Father Juan Bautista Velderrain, a Basque Franciscan who had arrived at San Xavier in 1776, was able to begin construction on the present church. He had borrowed enough money from a Sonoran rancher, using crops of wheat not yet planted as collateral, to hire an architect from Mexico, Ignacio Gaona, and a large workforce of O’odham to build what was to become one of the most outstanding examples of Mexican baroque architecture in the United States
Thank you to the Administrators who have featured my Tucson Church in their groups!
*CATHOLIC ART GALLERY 11-29-23
*Churches 12-16-17
*USA Photographers Only 12-17-17
Uploaded
August 3rd, 2017
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Viewed 769 Times - Last Visitor from Wilmington, DE on 03/25/2024 at 11:15 PM
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Comments (14)
Debby Pueschel
Thank you so much Denise. It truly is an amazing cathedral! Thank you for the LF and comments!
Debby Pueschel
Thank yo so much Judy for the feature of "Mission San Xavier Del Bac" in your group USA Photographers only! You do so much for all of us! Thank you!
Debby Pueschel
Thank you Doug for the FEATURE of "Mission San Xavier Del Bac Tucson Arizona" in your group Churches. Your support is totally appreciated!
Debby Pueschel
Carol, truly this church is awesome! We visited the day AFTER Kateri Tekawitha was made a Saint. She is my patron saint....Thank you for your comments!
Carol Lloyd
Beautiful capture of this gorgeous structure. I was there about 7 years ago, a wonderful place! LF
Maria Coulson
Beautiful capture. L
Debby Pueschel replied:
Ohhh Maria, thank you so much for the comment and the L. It is such a beautiful church with so much history