Mission

Mission San Xavier del Bac, generally called simply "the Mission" by Tucson residents, was established by Fr. Eusebio Kino in 1692. (I've mentioned Father Eusebio on this blog before: it was he who named the mountain range northeast of Tucson after St. Catherine of Alexandria; over time, the name "Santa Catarina" morphed into the present "Santa Catalina".) The mission's aim was to convert and minister to the Tohono O'odham.

[There may be symbolism here beyond what was intended...]

Kino was a Jesuit, and the Society of Jesus ran the mission for about seventy-five years, but in 1767 King Charles III of Spain expelled the Jesuits from his New World colonies and installed Franciscan priests at San Xavier. Three years later, the original church was destroyed in an Apache raid on the Tohono O'odham. 

The San Xavier community received some protection from the Apache following the 1775 establishment of a Spanish fort, the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón, about seven miles away, and a new church building was constructed between 1783 and 1797. The city of Tucson grew up around the presidio, which was eventually razed, leaving the "new" Mission the oldest surviving European structure in Arizona. It remains an active church, with brown-robed Franciscans still ministering to the Tohono O'odham. (Most O'odham are at least nominally Catholic, and many devout.)

[Okay, so pretty grand for a parish church.]

The Mission is currently undergoing renovations, with scaffolding covering much of the Moorish-influenced Spanish Colonial exterior that has given it the nickname "the White Dove of the Desert". Even so, the atmosphere was peaceful, and we found several actual doves and a Gila woodpecker nesting on the grounds of the church and the adjacent chapel and school. Otherwise, Jessa contented herself with photographing architectural details in lieu of the usual postcard shot of the front of the church.