Mission San Xavier del Bac
Tohono O'odham joined by Yaqui | |
Governing body | San Xavier Indian Reservation |
---|---|
Current use | Parish Church |
Designated | October 15, 1966[2] |
Reference no. | 66000191 |
Designated | October 9, 1960[3] |
Mission San Xavier del Bac (
The mission that survives today was built between 1783 and 1797, which makes it the oldest European structure in Arizona. Labor was provided by the O'odham.[1] An outstanding example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States, the Mission San Xavier del Bac hosts some 200,000 visitors each year.[1] It is a well-known pilgrimage site, with thousands visiting each year on foot[4] and on horseback, some among ceremonial cavalcades or cabalgatas.
The site is also known in the
History
Mission San Xavier del Bac was established in 1692 by
On the twenty-eighth we began the foundations of a very large and capacious church and house of San Xavier del Bac, all of the many people working with much pleasure and zeal, some in digging for the foundations, others in hauling many and very good stones of tezontle from a little hill which was about a quarter of a league away. ... On the twenty-ninth we continued laying the foundations of the church and of the house.[6]
The "little hill" is believed[by whom?] to be that southeast of San Xavier del Bac. The location was vulnerable to Apache raids, and construction was interrupted until 1756, when it resumed under Alonso Ignacio Benito Espinosa. By 1763 the building was sufficiently complete that the missionaries could hold services inside it, although a poorly prepared foundation led to architectural issues.[5]
In 1767,
The present mission building was constructed under the direction of Franciscan fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain and Juan Bautista Llorenz between 1783 and 1797.[1] With 7,000 pesos[7] borrowed from a Sonoran rancher, they hired architect Ignacio Gaona, who employed a large workforce of O'odham to create today's church.[1]
Following Mexican independence in 1821, what was then known as Alta California was administered from Mexico City. In 1822, the mission was included under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Diocese of Sonora. In 1828, the Mexican government banned all Spanish-born priests, with the last resident Franciscan departing San Xavier for Spain in 1837.
Left vacant, the mission began to decay. Concerned about their church, local O'odham began to preserve what they could. With the
In 1872, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet opened a school at the mission for the Tohono O'odham children. In 1895, a grant of $1,000 was given to repair the building. More classrooms were added in 1900. The Franciscans returned to the mission in 1913. In 1947, they built a new school next to the church for the local children.
Renovation
Extensive
Architecture
San Xavier has an elegant white stucco, Moorish-inspired exterior,[dubious ] with an ornately decorated entrance. Visitors entering the massive, carved mesquite-wood doors are often struck both by the coolness of the interior and the dazzling colors of the paintings, carvings, frescoes, and statues. The architecture is entirely European, with no Piman influence on its Baroque style.[9]
The floor plan of the church resembles the classic
Mission today
Unlike the other Spanish missions in Arizona, San Xavier is still actively run by Franciscans, and continues to serve the native community by which it was built. Widely considered to be the finest example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States, the Mission hosts some 200,000 visitors each year.[1] It is open to the public daily, except when being used for church services. The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, who have taught at the school since 1872, continue with their work and reside in the mission convent.[10] It has a mausoleum which is open for visiting.[11] The mission makes a cameo appearance in Willa Cather's 1927 novel Death Comes for the Archbishop when it is described by Vaillant as "the most beautiful church on the continent, though it had been neglected for more than two hundred years."[12]
Mission San Xavier del Bac was declared a
Nearby communities
Martinez Hill
To the east of the San Xavier Mission, abutting the
Los Reales
To the north of San Xavier Mission existed the Los Reales community. The community (sometimes referred to as a town or village) is believed to have existed from about the early 1860s to about 1912, but had long been forgotten until an article in the Arizona Daily Star by historian David Leighton brought it to light. The community was started when a miner named S.R. Domingo built a home and foundry just north of the San Xavier Mission, on the west bank of the Santa Cruz River. He prospered in his mining endeavor and is believed to have kept his wealth buried in the tall grasses along the river, since no banks existed at the time. In time, other individuals came to the area and began farms in the fertile valley supported by the ever-flowing river, and the community grew. They built adobe homes, planted crops, and established the first Los Reales community. Domingo is believed to have been murdered in the late 1860s by miners he had hired to work his mine, but it is unknown what happened to his riches.[16]
In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant established the San Xavier Indian Reservation and all non-Native Americans were required to leave Indigenous lands. These individuals set up the new or second Los Reales on the east bank of the river. This new community across from the old Los Reales included two stores and a blacksmith shop nearby. The Los Reales Cemetery also existed on that side of the river. It is believed that in 1912, as a result of the Midvale Farms (now the Midvale Park neighborhood) taking much of the water from the river, the farming village ceased to exist. The only known remnants of the old town are parts of the cemetery and a street known as Los Reales Road.[16]
In popular media
The exterior of the Mission was used in the 1979 TV mini-series Salem's Lot, as an establishing shot taken for a fictitious church in Guatemala.[17]
See also
- Spanish missions in Arizona
- Spanish Missions in the Sonoran Desert
- Architecture of the California missions
- List of Jesuit sites
- List of the oldest churches in the United States
- List of the oldest buildings in Arizona
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i San Xavier Mission Organization site
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ "San Xavier Del Bac Mission". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 28, 2008. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0816528400.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8263-4327-7.
- ^ Kino's Historical Memoir of Pimeria Alta, edited by Herbert Eugene Bolton, University of California Press, 1948, pp. 235–236.
- ^ National Park Service. "San Xavier del Bac Mission – Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary". Spanish Missions/Misiones Espanolas. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
- ^ Karaim, Reed. "Inside the Latest Conservation Work at Arizona's Spectacular San Xavier del Bac". Preservation Magazine. No. Summer 2021. National Trust for Historic Preservation.
- ^ "San Xavier del Bac Mission---American Latino Heritage: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary". www.nps.gov. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
- ^ Franciscans. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ^ San Xavier del Bac Mission
- ISBN 978-0241338261.
- ^ "San Xavier del Bac Mission". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on July 28, 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2007..
- ^ Marilynn Larew (February 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: San Xavier del Bac Mission" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved May 5, 2009. and Accompanying 16 photos, 15 by Marilynn Larew from 1977, 1 from 1877 after earthquake..
- ^ Leighton, David. "Street Smarts: Hill, road honor Mexican military commander". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
- ^ a b David Leighton, "Street Smarts: Bloody murder, buried money in town's history (Los Reales)," Arizona Daily Star, Dec. 16, 2014.
- ^ "Then & Now – Movie Locations: Salem's Lot (1979)". www.thennowmovielocations.com/. Then & Now – Movie Locations. Retrieved July 17, 2022..
- Nentvig, J. 1980. Rudo Ensayo: A Description of Sonora and Arizona in 1764. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
External links
- Official Mission San Xavier del Bac website
- The Mission Garden, located adjacent to San Xavier mission, in one of the longest known areas of continuous cultivation in the United States.
- Mission of San Xavier del Bac article at the Catholic Encyclopedia
- Online book on Mission San Xavier del Bac
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. AZ-13, "San Xavier del Bac Mission, Mission Road, Tucson, Pima County, AZ", 207 photos, 42 measured drawings, 9 data pages
- American Southwest, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary