Mission San Xavier del Bac

"... Rising resplendent on the drab desert sands-its great white walls and majestic towers and domes in striking contrast with the humble surroundings-San Xavier stands conspicuously today the greatest of all the mission churches-the best preserved and finest example of pure mission architecture on the North American continent. . ."

Mission San Xavier Del Bac Christendom's Glorious Shrine

It IS particularly appropriate at Christmas time to present the romantic story of San Xavier del Bac, Arizona's magnificent desert shrine nine miles south of Tucson; perhaps one of the greatest monuments to the progress of Christendom in the history of civilization.

Rising resplendent on the drab desert sands-its great white walls and majestic towers and domes in striking contrast with the humble surroundingsmesquite, sagebrush, Papago huts and low, rolling hills-San Xavier stands conspicuously today the greatest of all the mission churches the best preserved and finest example of pure mission architecture on the North American continent.

The amazing accounts of the coming of the padres into the vast, tortuous and practically unknown desert wilds, now Southern Arizona-their building of the missions and churches their civilizing and Christianizing of the peaceful heathen Indians, undaunted by martyrdom, revolt and repulsion by savage warring tribes and ill-advised converts-is perhaps unrivalled in the annals of American history.

To Eusebio Kino, eminent scholar and explorer who, as a member of the Jesuit Order, sacrificing a promising career in his homeland, set out for an unknown country never to return, to carry the Rosary and Cross for the glory of God and the King of Spain, must go the greater praise in the pioneering stage of the present Christianized Indian field. During the period 1687 to 1711, Kino established twenty-nine missions and seventy-three visitas in this region and baptized some fifty thousand converts. Hardships, privation and peril had no bearing on Kino's religious zeal. His kindly ways and thoughtfulness toward the heathen Indians won him their unstinted praise, loyalty and cooperation.

San Xavier is the northern-most of an extensive chain of missions and visitas established in Sonora, Mexico, and Southern Arizona during the Spanish regime. This region was then known as "Pimeria Alta," land of the upper Pimas. The visitas, settlements without priests to regularly conduct their churches, were visited periodically by padres from the missions. There were only two real missions, San Xavier and Guivavi, the latter long reduced to dust, and some eight or ten visitas located in what is now Southern Arizona.

The present pretentious San Xavier, contrary to popular belief, was not the San Xavier of Kino's time. His church, located a mile to the north of the present church was a modest adobe structure of perhaps only a few rooms, which apparently met with the needs at the outset of his endeavour. It is generally agreed, however, that Kino may have laid the foundation later upon which the Franciscan padres erected the magnificent San Xavier as it stands today. No other Franciscan mission, built under the same conditions, is cruciform in plan. San Xavier is a perfect Latin cross. Too, the Franciscans retained its name after Saint Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuit Order.

Kino's historic mission-building epoch started in 1687, when he founded the mission Dolores, in Sonora, Mexico. It was at this mission, which now stands in ruins, that he established his headquarters for the remaining quarter century of his life. During that time he made more than forty journeys into the land of the upper Pimas, traveling some twenty thousand miles, usually on foot. Thirteen of these trips were made into what is now Southern Arizona.

The peaceful Indians to the north, hearing of Kino's coming and of the work he had been doing in the lower Pima country, sent delegations to Sonora beseeching him to visit them and estab-

English churches for them in their villages. Being told of the prosperous settlement of Bac with nearly a thousand souls, largest rancheria in Pimeria Alta, and of the extensive crops, gardens, green fields and abundance of water, he finally agreed to make the trip at his earliest convenience. In the meantime he established other visitas along the Santa Cruz river. In 1692, he arrived for his first visit to Bac; Papago, "Place where there is water." There was great rejoicing among the Indians and Kino was very much impressed by the mag-nificence and prosperity on every hand. He was particularly enthused with the reception at the hands of the natives. His visit was brief but he promised to return. He made several subsequent visits to this place and in 1697, he established a stock farm here for the support of the projected mission, bringing the first cattle into the region all the way from his headquarters at Dolores mission in Sonora. In 1700, he founded a mission at Bac in honor of his own patron saint, the great Jesuit "Apostle to the Indias," Saint Francis of Xavier, and immediately began the foundations of a church. All of the Indians helped with great energy and enthusiasm. On account of the large field he had to cover, many of the visitas being considerable distance apart, the kindly padre could spend little time at any one place and usually, after getting projects well under way, trusted others with the direction of activities. Father Kino visited Bac for the last time in 1702. Work was progressing on the new church. He spent his last days at Dolores, making only short trips from his headquarters. While attending the dedication of Mag-dalena mission in 1711, he became sud-denly ill and passed away at nearly seventy years of age.

Father Kino's efforts in furthering the cause of Christianity under the most trying conditions has carved his name so deeply into Chris-tendom's records that it will endure forever. It is uncertain just how much of the San Xavier mission was completed at Kino's death, but in 1751, the generally peaceful Indians, through possible misunderstanding, abuse and mishandling, revolted and plundered the mission; driving the priests out, causing them to flee for their lives into Sonora, Mexico. Some of the Indians had been obliged to work in the mines practically as slaves for the Spanish colonists who had trailed the padres into this newly opened country. Others perhaps found the discipline and regular routine of the new padres to their dislike. The year following the outbreak, due to the insur-rection, the Presidio of Tubac, thirty-seven miles to the south, was established to afford protection to San Xavier, its visitas and rancherias of Christian In-dians. Peace was soon restored a few years later and the intrepid Jesuits gradually filtered back to the mission field.

In 1767, the intrigues of their enemies caused the Jesuit Fathers, by royal decree, to be expelled from all Spanish possessions. The viceroy of Mexico made an application to the guardian of the Franciscan college in Mexico at the same time, requesting him on the part of King Charles III, to send some priests of his order to take charge of the abandoned missions. The following year the petition was granted and Fray Francisco Garces was appointed to take over the work at San Xavier. Fortunately, due to his kindly ways, padre Garces was greatly beloved by the Indians during his years of mission work in Southern Ari-zona. He visited the tribes at their many rancherias and won their affection. Before the year was out however, while Garces lay ill at Guivavi, a near by mission, a band of raiding Apaches swoopeddown on the San Xavier and destroyed the buildings.

Garces traveled extensively following the destruction of the San Xavier and returned to the site of the disaster in 1776. He was influential in inducing the Government to move the presidio to Tucson, affording better protection from raiding Apaches whose acts of destruction and depredation were growing serious. He also induced the San Xavier Indians to leave the old site and he built a temporary structure just north of where the present church now stands. He was planning a new, more pretentious structure, but in 1779, was transferred to Yuma, and in 1781, while he was celebrating mass at the church there, a band of hostile Yuma Indians attacked the church and among many others, massacred the beloved Garces.

His successors at San Xavier, fired with enthusiasm, began the erection of the master church he had planned, perhaps on the very foundations that had been laid many years before by the Jesuits. The corner stone for the new church was laid in 1782 and under the expert direction and able guidance of Ignacio Gaona and his helper, Pedro Bojorquez, the beautiful San Xavier began to take form. With but a few months of labor left, Gaona, while completing the second of the two towers, fell and sustained a fatal injury. The tower was left as it was and never completed. Perhaps that is the reason for the name of his helper being inscribed on the sacristy door as the date of completion in 1797.

In Spain the church and State were one. When Mexico was declared a republic in 1821, all financial aid was withdrawn by the Spanish Government from the missions and five years later in the general Mexican attack against the Spanish, the padres were driven out. For years San Xavier was without a priest. The beautiful church was practically deserted and the buildings were used for stables,barns and barracks. Fearing Indian attacks and other destruction, the faithful Indians removed the valuable fixtures and statues from the church and buried them in secret places.

After Arizona was put in the diocese of New Mexico in 1859 and a priest again placed in charge at San Xavier, the Indians rejoiced, brought back the treasured fixtures, and the cause of Christendom has once again triumphed.

San Xavier had fallen in a state of bad repair due to abandonment and neglect. Extensive replacements and repairs were made. Due to heavy rains it became necessary again in 1906 to repair the structure and under the guidance of Bishop Granjon, the original beauty was restored and perhaps forms an imposing architectural ensemble. When viewed across the desert, one is impressed by the beauty and symmetry of the unit. Two plain towers are on either side of a highly ornate, gabled entrance and above the broken arch of the gable, the noble dome may be seen between the towers. The windows and doors are symmetrically placed and thrown wholly in shadow by the thickness of the walls. Their blackness, contrasting with the glistening whiteness of the walls and the reddish ornamentation above the entrance, makes a picture against the sky and endless desert not to be forgotten. The mission of San Xavier perhaps more comThe Epistle Chapel to the right of the main altar, contains two altars: one to the "Mother of Sorrows" as shown above and the other to the Immaculate Conception. The masterful design of the church interior is shown in these views.

The Gospel Chapel to the left of the main altar, also contains two altars: one dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord, the other to Saint Joseph. It also contains the Ecce Homo, above which is a statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

The magnificent, elaborately carved, gold leaf-covered High Altar is dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, his figure occupying the chief position.

enhanced. In 1908, the Bishop had set up as a shrine, "The Grotto of Lourdes," a replica of the famous shrine at Lourdes, France, to perpetuate the devotion of the Indians for their "Little Mountain of the Holy Cross," a short distance east of the church. According to Papago legend this hill was once a volcano from which a molten stream of lava flowed. After the coming of the padres and the conversion of the Indians, the volcano dried up. A cross was erected on the hill which has been held in reverence by the Papagos to this day. The statue of Mary, in the Grotto, said to be a magnificent work, was brought here from France. A graded 'road leads from the mission to the shrine.

The majestic mass of the church with its tiny mortuary chapel to the left, its walled atrium fronting a spacious plaza, and its L-shaped dormitory and patio adjoining the Church proper at the right,

Upon entering the Church, one is held completely spellbound by its mystic beauty . . . the decoration is lavish and the many murals tell the story of practically the recorded Life of Christ. . . .” (Right).pletely embodies all the elements which enter into mission architecture, that is, the architecture of the Spanish Renaissance, modified by native influences, and stands a most perfect example. It is, in reality, a combination of many influences, enhanced, it might be said, with native influences of materials available and the willing hands of the Indians, whose work for the most part is responsible for this noble structure.

The first glance at the pretentious facade, with its niches, statues, arabesque pillars, balconies, and decorations is awe-inspiring. The facade is in its original state, having been left untouched when the rest of the edifice was restored. The brilliant vermilion color, as originally painted, has faded through the years to a deep adobe color and contrasts sharply with the whiteness of the massive walls of the church.

The towers, extending two stories higher than the three stories of the major structure, are octagon in shape. Running along the edge of the entire roof is a parapet wall, culminating at equal distances in a small decorative spire set on either side with lion heads. The great dome compares with the finest in the world, and unbelievable as it may seem, it too, as is the rest of the church, except the foundation, is built entirely of kiln baked brick.

Upon entering the Church, one is held completely Spellbound by its mystic beauty, and to those of the Faith especially, the glorious sight gives rise to great emotion. The decoration is lavish and the many murals tell the story of practically the entire recorded life of Christ. From the rear of the church, which is the front entrance, the interior is designed as a huge cross spread before you. At the foot of the cross, to the left of the entrance, is the baptistry, and from which the stairway leads to the choir loft and tower. In the center of the baptistry stands the baptismal font. The pedestal and bowl are of baked brick, inclosing a copper basin with cover of hammered copper, engraved on top with the mono-gram IHS. At the head of the cross is the magnificent High Altar, which is dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, his figure occupying the chief position. The figure of the Virgin Mary is above it, and surmounting the altar, is the half figure of God the Father. The elaborately carved, gold leaf-covered altar is enclosed by a low hand-carved railing, and on either side of the gateway is a grotesque figure of a lion, the symbol of watchfulness. (Turn to Page 42)