Everything about Eusebio Kino totally explained
Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. (
August 10,
1644–
March 15,
1711) was a
Catholic priest who became famous in what is now northwestern
Mexico and the southwestern
United States for the methods he used to
Christianize the indigenous
Native American population, including primarily the
Sobaipuri and other Upper Piman groups. He established over 20
missions and
visitas ("country chapels"), and was known for his ability to create relationships between indigenous peoples and the religious institutions he represented.
Biography
Kino was born
Eusebio Francesco Chini on
August 10,
1645 in Segno, today
frazione of
Taio, a village in the
Val di Non in the
Bishopric of Trent now in present-day
Italy. After recuperating from a serious illness, Kino joined the
Society of Jesus on
November 20,
1665. Although he wanted to go to the Orient, he was ordered to establish a mission on the northern frontier of New Spain (today's northern
Sonora and southern
Arizona). Father Kino departed
Spain in
1681 with that purpose in mind. He led the Atondo expedition to lower California. After a drought in 1685, Kino was forced back to
Mexico City.
In addition to his pastoral activities as a missionary, Eusebio Kino also practiced other crafts, and was an expert
astronomer,
mathematician and
cartographer, who drew the first accurate maps of
Pimería Alta, the
Gulf of California and
Baja California. Father Kino enjoyed making model ships out of
wood. His knowledge of maps and ships led him to believe that Mexican Indians could easily access
California by
sea, a view that was taken with skepticism by
Mexico City missionaries. When Father Kino proposed that a boat be made and pushed across the
Sonoran desert and to the Mexican west coast, a controversy arose, as many of his co-missionares questioned Father Kino's mental abilities.
Father Kino arrived in
Sonora in
1687 to work with the
Pimas, and he quickly established the first Catholic
church in that province. Kino traveled across Northern Mexico and to
California and
Arizona. Roads were built to connect previously inaccessible areas. His many expeditions on horseback covered over 50,000 square miles (130,000 km²), during which he mapped an area 200 miles (300 km) long and 250 miles (400 km) wide, and deduced that Lower California was a peninsula. Up until Kino's arrival in Sonora, it was believed that Baja California, like
Isla de Mujeres, was an
island and not a
peninsula that was actually attached to the North American continent. Father Kino led the first ground expedition to Baja California, proving that the previous assumption about that area was wrong. A fervent believer in the idea that Indians needed better ways of living, Kino was important in the economic growth of Sonora at the time, teaching the Indians the basics of
farming and bringing them farm
animals and
seeds.
One fact that's widely known about Kino is that he fought hard for the Sonoran Indians, opposing the
hard labor in
silver mines that the Spaniards had imposed on them. This also caused great controversy among his co-missionares, many of whom acted according to the laws imposed by Spain on their new territory. Father Kino was also a
writer, authoring books on
religion, astronomy and maps. He built missions extending from the interior of Sonora 150 miles (240 km) northeast to
San Xavier del Bac, still standing and functioning as a Catholic parish near
Tucson. He constructed 19 rancheras, which supplied cattle to new settlements. He was also instrumental in the return of the Jesuits to California in 1697.
Father Kino remained among his missions until his death in 1711. He died in the city of
Magdalena de Kino,
Mexico. He has been honored both in Mexico and the United States, with various towns, streets, monuments, and geographic features named after him. In
1965, a statue of Father Kino was donated to the
United States Capitol's
National Statuary Hall collection. After Father Kino died in 1711 they built a statue of him and he was called Father of Arizona.
The towns of
Bahía Kino and
Magdalena de Kino in
Sonora are named in his honor.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Eusebio Kino'.
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