San Xavier Mission

An Italian who studied in both Germany and Spain, Eusibio Kino was an astronomer and map-maker as well as a founder of missions. He arrived in Veracruz, Mexico, in 1681 and in time established a series of missions in the province of Sonora, Mexico, including what is now southern Arizona. Unlike many newcomers to the western hemisphere who treated native peoples as less than human, Kino and many other missionaries saw them as human beings with souls. Therefore the Society of Jesus, Franciscans, Dominicans, and other Orders engaged in evangelism to Native Americans. "Missions" were often patterned after feudal villages, with a protective wall enclosing a church, school, hospital, dormitory, and work areas. The goal of Kino and many other missionaries was to Christianize people by teaching them European ways. The long-term result, however, was a blend of Spanish and Native cultures with distinctive expressions of Christianity.