Mission San Xavier del Bac
The Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino first visited the village of Bac, on the Santa Cruz River south of Tucson, in 1692, and founded a mission for the Tohono O’odham people. He named it for his patron, Saint Francis Xavier. After the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish empire, Franciscans took over. Between 1783 and 1797 they built the present church of fired brick and lime plaster, with the labour and skill of the O’odham.
Its dazzling white walls and towers rise from the desert, earning it the name “White Dove of the Desert.” Inside, every surface is covered with original paintings and carved and gilded statues in a riot of colour. It is considered the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the United States. Over the past decades conservators have cleaned and restored the interior.
San Xavier is still a working parish serving the Tohono O’odham Nation, on whose land it stands. Its feast day celebrations and its annual Wa:k Pow Wow draw visitors from far away. It is a National Historic Landmark.
- Built
- Founded 1692; church 1783–1797
- Style
- Spanish Baroque
- Where
- Tucson, Arizona, United States
- Map
- Find it on OpenStreetMap
- Read about
- Saint Francis Xavier