Thursday, March 24, 2005

White Dove of the Desert: Day 7

Mission San Xavier del Bac


This is a beautiful Mission in the Southwestern part of Tucson. Inside the church it is quite small, but extremely beautiful. They have been working several years of restoration to get off all the wax and soot from candles burning that had affected the statues and paintings.

Cheryl started to film inside and the priest had to tell the folks not to do it during mass. She was pretty embarrassed. So, we don't have any film to share but there are photos on the website.

This mission is both beautiful inside and outside.



Here is a little history:
"From the earliest times, the Tohono O'odham settlement in which the Mission is located was called Bac, "place where the water appears," because the Santa Cruz River, which ran underground for some distance, reappears on the surface nearby.

The celebrated Jesuit missionary and explorer, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, first visited Bac in 1692. Eight years later in 1700, Father Kino laid the foundations of the first church, some two miles north of the present site of the Mission. He named it San Xavier in honor of his chosen patron, St. Francis Xavier, the illustrious Jesuit "Apostle of the Indies."

In 1768, Fray Francisco Hermengildo Garces, a man of outstanding personality and prodigious accomplishments among all missionaries in Arizona, established his headquarters at San Xavier. From here this Franciscan Friar set forth on his many missionary explorations.

The present church was built from 1783 - 1797 by the Franciscan Fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain and Juan Bautista Llorenz. Little is know about the actual labor of the construction of the church, who was the architect, who were the artisans, but many believe it was the Tohono O'odham who fulfilled these roles. Why the one tower was never completed is still a mystery, but hopefully one day this question will be answered.

San Xavier Mission is acclaimed by many to be the finest example of mission architecture in the United States. It is a graceful blend of Moorish, Byzantine and late Mexican Renaissance architecture, yet the blending is so complete it is hard to tell where one type begins and another ends."

To read more, visit their website click. There is also information here.