Official guides give straight story at San Xavier mission
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – For the first time in the 214-year history of Mission San Xavier del Bac, visitors can take guided tours.“I'm sure in 1791 when the thing was finished somebody gave a tour, but this is the first scheduled, docent-led tour,” said Vern Lamplot, executive director of Patronato San Xavier, the group organizing the tours.
Travel and bus companies have taken groups through the mission for years, but they had no official connection to San Xavier.
“I've been at the church ... when some of these guides show up, and I don't really recognize what they're talking about. They're saying things I've never heard before,” Lamplot said. “We wanted to be able to give people a set of good, factual information about the place. Also, it's my belief, if we're going to preserve it in the future, people need to be aware of its cultural and historical importance.”
The free, 45-minute tours are led by about 20 volunteer docents with Patronato San Xavier, a nonsectarian, nonprofit group dedicated to the restoration, maintenance and preservation of the mission. They are held several times each day, except Sundays, to garner interest in preserving the White Dove of the Desert.
“We all do a slightly different one—my interest is history,'' said docent Muriel Keegan-Glover, who led Saturday's 11:30 a.m. tour, pointing out oddities and historical facts.
There's the cat and mouse carved on the outside wall.
And then there's the devil who glares from a painting of The Last Supper on the mission's inside western wall.
When she has students on the tour, Keegan-Glover always asks whether they can find the devil.
“I make sure there's something for the kids, too,” she said.
The painting was completed by American Indians from what today is called the Tohono O'odham Nation.
The mission is located in the tribal village of Waik, and the tribe's circular black and white “man in the maze” symbol is prevalent throughout the mission, which was founded by Jesuit priest and explorer Father Eusebio Francisco Kino.
“If you look at the symbol it says that you go through life, you take turns, you make choices and some are good and some are not. If you are fortunate at the end you find tranquility, which is the dot in the middle of the circle,'' said Keegan-Glover, an 83-year-old native New Yorker who has been in Tucson for 17 years.
A self-described “compulsive reader,” she is also a docent for the Arizona Historical Society.
San Xavier Del Bac Mission - News
(AP) – For the first time in the 214-year history of Mission San Xavier del Bac, visitors can take guided tours. “I'm sure in 1791 when the thing was finished somebody gave a tour, but this is the first scheduled, docent-led tour,” said Vern Lamplot,
Tour members pass by as Mission San Xavier del Bac parishoner Mike Maldonado prays at the alter. Guided tours are being offered of the Tucson mission for the first time in 214 years. Maldonado is from the reservation and has been soming here since age
Burke says part of his inspiration came from the historic Mission San Xavier del Bac, nicknamed the White Dove of the Desert. “I also heard that doves mate for life, and I found that touching and inspiring,” he said. Burke — who has produced fine-art
For the first time in the 214-year history of Mission San Xavier del Bac, visitors can take guided tours. "I'm sure in 1791 when the thing was finished somebody gave a tour, but this is the first scheduled, docent-led tour," said Vern Lamplot,
For the first time in the 214-year history of Mission San Xavier del Bac, visitors can take guided tours. ``I'm sure in 1791 when the thing was finished somebody gave a tour, but this is the first scheduled, docent-led tour,'' said Vern Lamplot,
Mission San Xavier del Bac, near Tucson, Arizona (24) | Department ...
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. Named for a pioneering Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order), the Mission is also known as the "place where the water appears" as the Santa Cruz River (which runs underground) surfaces nearby[citation needed]. The Mission is situated 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 founded in 1699 by the Jesuit missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino, who often visited and preached in the area. 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 from Apache raids by the presidio of Tucson, established in 1775.
Outside, San Xavier has a white, Moorish-inspired design, elegant and simple, with an ornately decorated entrance. No records of the architect, builders, craftsmen and artisans responsible for creating and decorating it are known. Most of the labor was provided by the local Indians, and many believe they provided most or all of the artisans as well. Visitors entering the massive, carved mesquite-wood doors of San Xavier are often struck by the coolness of the interior, and the dazzling colors of the paintings, carvings, frescoes and statues. The interior is richly decorated with ornaments showing a mixture of New Spain and Native American artistic motifs.
The floor plan of the church resembles the classic Latin cross. The main aisle is separated from the sanctuary by the transept or cross aisle, with chapels at either end. The dome above the transept is 52 feet (16 m) high supported by arches and squinches. At least three different artists painted the artwork inside the church. It is considered by many to be the finest example of Spanish mission architecture in the United States[citation needed].
San Xavier Del Bac Mission - Bookshelf
San Xavier, The Spirit Endures
The mission of San Xavier del Bac, an historical guide
THE MISSION OF SAN XAVIER DEL BAC The Mission of San Xavier del Bac, situated on an elevation fronting the Sierrieta Mountains to the south, ...Architectural record
Among important ruins are San Xavier del Bac, San José de Tumacocon, San Gertrude, San Dominic at Tuscan, and an unnamed mission at Tubac. ...Mission San Xavier del Bac, Arizona, a descriptive and historical guide
The mission of San Xavier del Bac is on an elevation facing the Santa Rita Mountains, nine miles to the south of Tucson, Arizona, and is a conspicuous ...Through our unknown Southwest, the wonderland of the United States-- little known and unappreciated-- the home of the cliff dweller and the Hopi, the forest ranger and the Navajo.-- the lure of the painted desert
CHAPTER XV SAN XAVIER DEL BAC MISSION, TUCSON, ARIZONA IT is the Desert. Incense and frankincense, fragrance of roses and resin of pines, cedar smells ...Detect Information Directory
Home
If you would like to find out more about the restoration of Mission San Xavier del Bac please click on one of the links below: Website: http://www.patronato ...
San Xavier Mission
Supporters of the Mission. A National Historic Landmark, San Xavier Mission was founded as ... the interior painted and sculptured art of Mission San Xavier del Bac. ...
Mission San Xavier del Bac - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 ...
San Xavier del Bac Mission, Tucson, Arizona
The San Xavier del Bac Mission. Following the signs from the highway ... The San Xavier del Bac Mission was built between 1783 and 1797 by the Tohono O'odham tribe, under the ...
Welcome to Patronato San Xavier
They and two Franciscan priests at Mission San Xavier del Bac, Father Kieran R. McCarty and Father Celestine Chinn, became the Patronato's first board of directors. ...