Yesterday was a wonderful day spent at San Xavier del Bac Mission, with my mom and son. The Mission is located just outside of Tucson. We had such a perfect day with blue sky and warm sun. We each had some Indian Fry Bread, then took our time inside the church admiring the beautiful paintings and sculptures. It was wonderful to be surrounded by complete beauty for a couple of hours! I took lots of photos, which you can view below.
If you haven't been to San Xavier a while, it really makes such a nice and easy day trip-it's only 12 miles outside of Tucson!
Below is some further information I found on Wikipedia:
"The mission was founded in 1692 by the
Jesuit missionary
Eusebio Francisco Kino.
The original mission church, located about two miles (3 km) away, was vulnerable to
Apache attacks who finally destroyed it in about 1770.
Charles III of Spain banned all Jesuits from Spanish lands in the Americas in 1767 because of his distrust of the Jesuits. From this time on, San Xavier mission was led by the more pliable and "reliable"
Franciscans. The present building was constructed under the direction of Franciscan Fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain and Juan Bautista Llorenz mainly with native labor working from 1783-1797 with a loan of 7,000 pesos and serves the Catholics of the San Xavier District of Tohono O'odham Nation. Unlike the other
Spanish missions in Arizona, San Xavier is still actively served by Franciscans, and still serves the Native community by which it was built. The San Xavier church and its Indian converts were protected somewhat from
Apache raids by the Presidio San Agustin de Tucson, established in 1775 roughly 7 miles downstream."
Enjoy the photos!
