+

Known as "White Dove of Desert"
Found in 1699

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. 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 stands out in the sun in white against its brown desert landscape, like a white dove as known by the locals, about a 1 mile from the main freeway.

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. From this time on, San Xavier mission was led by 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. Alone of the 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.

Not much appears to have been written about the Mission from 1797 to 1828. In 1822, it fell under the jurisdiction of the newly independent Mexican government and the Catholic Diocese of Sonora. In 1828, the Mexican government banned all Spanish-born priests and the priest serving at San Xavier was sent home to Spain; San Xavier was left vacant. From 1828-1858, the vacant church began to decay and local Indians, concerned about their church, started preserving what they could. In 1853, the church was brought under U.S. jurisdiction when the surrounding territory was bought in the Gadsen Purchase. The vacant and decaying church was re-opened, in 1859, when the U.S.-based Santa Fe Diocese added Arizona to its jurisdiction. The Bishop for the Santa Fe Diocese ordered repairs to be made with Diocese money and a priest was assigned to serve at San Xavier.
The mission was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Mission Today

Today, the Mission is open to the public daily, except when it is being used for church services. The San Xavier Festival is held the evening of the Friday after Easter and features a torch-light parade of Tohono O'odham and Yaqui tribal members. Extensive restoration efforts in the late 20th century have restored the interior to its historic splendor. Extensive exterior restoration is continuing (as of June 2007 the left tower was completely enclosed in scaffolding). Concrete stuccoing added in the 1980s is being removed as this material was found to trap water inside the church which damaged the interior decoration. This modern stucco is being replaced with the traditional mud plaster, including pulp from the prickly pear cactus, that "breathes" better to allow excess water to escape but requires more regular inspection and higher maintenance costs.

www.sanxaviermission.org
+ + +

+
Restoring the ‘White Dove of the Desert’
Arizona mission is a fine example of Spanish colonial architecture
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28900747/


TUCSON, Ariz. - The White Dove of the Desert is living up to its nickname again, its west tower refurbished, resplendent in a dazzling white finish once more.

The tower at Mission San Xavier del Bac emerged just before Christmas from the scaffolding that restoration workers had being using — like a butterfly shedding its cocoon, said architect Bob Vint, who spearheaded the five-year, $2.5 million project. Now, it's on to restoring the east tower of the 226-year-old Roman Catholic church, which is still an active parish for southern Arizona's Tohono O'odham Indians. Its towers are visible for miles, and the restoration is intended to ensure that the structure remains intact.

"The interior of the mission is what it's all about," said Vint. "All of this exterior work is being done to protect the interior." The mission, sometimes called "the Sistine Chapel of the United States" and the "White Dove of the Desert," is considered the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the country. The walls of its Byzantine-influenced interior are ablaze with frescoes, a religious gallery of work painted directly on its walls by missionaries two centuries ago.

The watercolor portraits and statuary were restored a decade ago by a team including some of the world's top art conservators. In all, 300 angels and more than 100 saints are represented in watercolors, sculpture or bas relief highlighted in a profusion of gold and silver leaf.

For both Vint and Danny Morales, whose family company, Morales Construction & Builders, has done work at the mission for more than half a century, San Xavier's restoration is the project of a lifetime. "This place doesn't get tiring at all," said Morales, 47, who has spent most of his time for the past 28 years on many of those projects. "You always learn something. We've been here so long, but we still constantly learn something." His 75-year-old father, Sonny, has been doing masonry-related work at the mission since 1947, and his son is the family's fifth generation to toil there. Repairing San Xavier's exterior has been a painstaking task requiring the removal of concrete applied during earlier renovations — most recently in the early 1950s. Concrete trapped salt-crystallizing moisture inside the adobe brick walls over the decades, causing the brick to deteriorate.

Morales and his crew employ a technique long used by Spanish, Mexican, Italian and Egyptian artisans. After raking out the deteriorated brick and replacing it where needed with new adobe brick, they apply layers of a lime and sand mortar, mixed with a glue made from prickly pear cactus juice. The moisture in the slow-drying mortar must evaporate sufficiently before adding subsequent layers. A mortar whitewash is painted on at the finish.

+ +