Mission San Xavier del Bac
Mission San Xavier del Bac in 2003
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Location of Mission San Xavier del Bac in Arizona#USA
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| Location | near Tucson, Arizona |
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| Coordinates | 32°06′25″N 111°00′29″W / 32.107°N 111.008°WCoordinates: 32°06′25″N 111°00′29″W / 32.107°N 111.008°W |
| Name as founded | La Misión San Xavier del Bac |
| English translation | The Mission of Saint Xavier of the Water |
| Patron | Saint Francis Xavier |
| Nickname(s) | “The White Dove of the Desert” |
| Founding date | 1692 (Current church constructed 1783-1797) |
| Founding priest(s) | Father Eusebio Francisco Kino |
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Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s) |
Tohono O’odham |
| Governing body | San Xavier Indian Reservation |
| Current use | Parish Church |
| Designated | October 15, 1966 |
| Reference no. | 66000191 |
| Designated | October 9, 1960 |
Mission San Xavier del Bac is a historic Spanish Catholic mission located about 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Tucson, Arizona, on the Tohono O'odham San Xavier Indian Reservation. It was founded in 1692 by Padre Eusebio Kino in the center of a centuries-old Indian settlement of the Tohono O’odham (formerly known as Papago), located along the banks of the Santa Cruz River. The mission was named for Francis Xavier, a Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order) in Europe. The mission was built at a site near the historic 1700 church first constructed here. This served the mission until being razed during an Apache raid in 1770.
Today's Mission was built between 1783-1797; it is the oldest European structure in Arizona; the labor was provided by the O'odham. Widely considered to be the finest example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States, it hosts some 200,000 visitors each year.
The site is also known in Tohono O'odham language as the “place where the water appears,” as there were once natural springs in the area. The Santa Cruz River, once critical to the community's survival, now runs only part of the year.
The Mission is a pilgrimage site, with thousands visiting each year on foot and on horseback, in what are called cabalgatas in Spanish.
San Xavier Mission was established in 1692 by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, founder of the chain of Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert. A Jesuit of Italian descent, he often visited and preached in the area, then the Pimería Alta colonial territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Construction of the first mission church, about two miles (3 km) from the site of today's Mission, began on April 28, 1700, as noted in his diary:
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