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The White Dove

SAN XAVIER DEL BAC must have looked like heaven to travelers 200 years ago. The mission church would have been at the end of a long and weary journey from the missions to the south, a lonely ride across a lonely land on the very edge of the Spanish Empire. Still, San Xavier would be waiting, rising comfortingly out of the vast Sonoran Desert. Today the visual welcome and impact of the old church remain. She is a beauty, said to be the best example of Spanish-Colonial architecture in the Southwest.

Nine miles south of Tucson, San Xavier del Bac was built in the late 1790s under the direction of men of the Order of Friars Minor, the Franciscans. The talent to build such an edifice so far from the center of power, Mexico City, came with the artists from the interior of Mexico. The strength to raise the walls came from the native inhabitants of the land, the O'odham, “the People,” who also created and painted the vivid designs covering the interior walls of the mission church.

Did any of them see then, as the eye of the camera sees now, how the domes and arches would draw skyward the gaze and wonderment of men and women standing below? Could any of them have known their work would last the centuries? Of course they did, some would say. They were building to touch the human soul.

San Xavier del Bac was part of a mission system Jesuit priest and explorer Father Eusebio Francisco Kino established in the 1690s and early 1700s. The missions were religious and agricultural outposts of the King of Spain, bringing the Word and Spanish culture to the yet-to-be-converted along with new crops and livestock. The mission system was later turned over to the Franciscans. Some of the churches still stand in Mexico and in Arizona, but not all still serve. San Xavier remains one of the active churches, its doors open to the needs of its congregation as well as to the curious.

The walls inside glow with the gilt of gold and silver leaf. The statues of saints, the candles, the decorations all become part of the richness of color and structure that

The White Dove

OF THE DESERT

(PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 27) At dawn a ramada built by the Tohono O'odham Indians frames the south face of Mission San Xavier del Bac.

(RIGHT) San Francisco Xavier dominates the elaborately detailed altar in this view from the congregation. The mission's central hall and altar, flanked by the east and west transepts, combine to form a great cross.

28 March 1998

The White Dove OF THE DESERT

(LEFT) The angel of the east crossing, surrounded by statuary figures of the saints, occupies one of the columns that supports the main dome of the mission. (ABOVE) The east and west transept crossings frame the mission's nave and choir loft in this view from the altar.

The White Dove OF THE DESERT

(RIGHT) Unmistakable in silhouette, Mission San Xavier del Bac leaves an indelible impression, its domes and tower outlined by the last light of the setting sun.

Continued from page 26 surround the visitor. Here the Old World and the New World have blended, cultures have joined together in art and faith. The past is the present.

For a writer, capturing the beauty, the history, the hope one finds in this church can be difficult. So much exists within its walls, so much can be seen in the faces of those who enter. The senses can be overwhelmed. Photographers of San Xavier face their own list of challenges: the light or lack of it, the impact of the modern world, cars, hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Esther Henderson Abbott, one of the early photographers for Arizona Highways, beginning her career in the Tucson of the 1920s, wrote of her time with San Xavier: "I was always in a state of despair, not happiness, feeling that no matter what I did, I could never do justice to it. I feel this way about all great places. When discussing contemporary photography of the mission with contemporary photographers, one name seems to arise often: Jack Dykinga. A picture he took will be described, the angle, the exposure, the time of day. Dykinga was the one who somehow, at that one moment, got the picture they would have liked, caught the beauty, the forever beguiling mystery of San Xavier.

"He's got a shot ." so the line and the story would go. "He's got a shot...."

Editor's Note: San Xavier: The Spirit Endures, a new Arizona Highways book with text by Kathleen Walker and pictures by some of the magazine's finest contributing photographers, explores the history, the people, and the timeless beauty of the mission. The 80-page book costs $14.95 plus shipping and handling and will be available after May 4. To pre-order the book, call toll-free (800) 543-5432. In the Phoenix area or outside the U.S., call (602) 258-1000.