Early Spanish Missions and Missionaries
The Moquis - Franciscan Friars - Missions - Father Eusebio Francisco Kino - Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores - Father Juan Maria de Salvatierra - Sobaipuris - Guevavi - Tumacacori - San Xavier Del Bac - Pima Indians - Immaculate Conception - St. Andrew - San Pedro y San Pablo de Tubutama - Saric - Tucubabia - Santa Maria de Suamca - Cocospera - Casas Grandes San Dionisio - Jesuits - Fr. Felipe Segesser - Fr. Juan Baptista Grasshoffer - Fr. Caspar Steiger - Fr. Jose Carucho - Fr. Francisco Paver - Fr. Ignacio Keller - Fr. Jacob Sedelmair - Revolt of Pimas - Fr. Alonzo Espinosa - Fr. Ignacio Pfefferkorn - Fr. Jimeno - Fr. Pedro Rafael Diaz - Tucson - Santa Barbara - Buena Vista - Calabazas - Fr. Barera - Expulsion of Jesuits.
The first natives of Arizona to submit to Spanish authority were the Moquis, who occupied the territory which at that time was known as the province of Tusayan. These Indians had practically the same habits, customs and government as the Indians of Cibola. They were very intelligent and far advanced in civilization. Their houses were ordinarily three or four stories high, but some were seven stories. Of them, Casteñada says: "They cover their privy parts and all the immodest parts with cloths made like a sort of table napkin, with fringed edges and a tassel at each corner, which they tie over the hips. They wear long robes of feathers and of the skins of hares and cotton blankets. The women wear blankets, which they tie or knot over the left shoulder, leaving the right arm out. These serve to cover the body. They wear a neat, well shaped outer garment of skin. They gather their hair over the two ears, making a frame which looks like an old fashioned headdress."
"This country is in a valley between mountains in the form of isolated cliffs. They cultivate the corn, which does not grow very high, in patches. There are three or four large fat ears, having each eight hundred grains, on every stalk, growing upward from the ground, something not seen before in these parts. There are large numbers of bears in this province, and lions, wildcats, deer and otter. There are very fine turquoises, although not so many as was reported. They collect the pine nuts each year, and store them up in advance. A man does not have more than one wife. There are estufas, or hot rooms, in the village, which are the courtyards or places where they gather for consultations. They do not have chiefs as in New Spain, but are ruled by a council of the oldest men. They have priests who preach to them, whom they call papas (elder brothers). These are the elders. They go up on the highest roof of the village and preach to the village from there, like public criers, in the morning while the sun is rising, the whole village being silent and sitting in the galleries to listen. They tell them how they are to live, and I believe that they have certain commandments for them to keep, for there is no drunkenness among them not sodomy nor sacrifice, neither do they eat human flesh or steal, but they are usually at work. The estufas belong to the whole village. It is a sacrilege for the women to go into the estufas to sleep. They make the cross as a sign of peace. They burn their dead, and throw the implements used in their work into the fire with the bodies."
As we shall see in the further progress of this work, they were great
diplomats, intent upon preserving their independence as a tribe, bending
their necks in submission to the religios when it was policy to do so, and
renouncing the religion of the priests whenever a favorable opportunity
presented itself. The records for eighty years after the expedition of
Oñate, were destroyed by the revolution of the Pueblos, which occurred in
1680. During this time, the information which we have is only fragmentary,
not only in reference to these Indians, but to those who inhabited the Gila,
where the Franciscans were also endeavoring to bring the tribes under the
control of the Church. As far as is known, there was never a permanent
mission established among the Moquis, although priests were assigned to them
from time to time, from whom they received religious instruction.
Bishop Salpointe, referring to the condition of the missions in New Mexico
in 1626, says of the Moqui nation:
"This nation, as that of Zuni, from which it is separated by thirty leagues in the direction of the west, has a population of about 10,000 people distributed in several villages. The inhabitants at first joyfully received the religios, and listened to their instructions. But here, as elsewhere, the sorcerers got alarmed on seeing the confidence placed in the missionaries by the Indians, and tried to destroy it by ridiculing it either publicly or privately in all their speeches. As a consequence of this, and perhaps at the instigation of the sorcerers themselves, a large number of Indians, either Christians or infidels, presented themselves to the priest who oftentimes spoke to them on the power of the cross, and showing him a young man born blind, made him this proposition: 'Padre, if your cross has as much power as you say, why do you not try to give by it his sight to this young man? If the trial proves successful, it will be for us the proof that what you say to us is the truth, and we will believe in your word.'
''The missionary thought it his duty to accept the challenge and relied on
the grace of God for the result of what he was about to try for His greater
glory. Having prayed a short time on his knees before the cross, he applied
it to the eyes of the boy, who, at once, was by it made able to see. Struck
by the miracle, the Indians kept their word, and applied to the religios for
instruction, and for admission to baptism, those who had remained as yet in
the state of infidelity."
It is to be regretted that the worthy Bishop does not give us the name of
the priest who performed this miracle, and its exact date.
Bancroft, in the History of Arizona and New Mexico, says: "At the beginning
of the century (the 17th) the Moquis, like the other pueblos, accepted
Christianity, were often visited by the friars from the first, and probably
were under resident missionaries almost continuously for eight years; yet of
all this period we know only that Fra Francisco Porras, who worked long in
this field, converting some 800 souls at Aguatuvi, was killed by poison at
his post in 1633; that Governor Penalosa is said to have visited the pueblos
in 16614; and that in 1680, four Franciscans were serving the five towns, or
three missions. These were Jose Figueroa at San Bernardino de Aguatuvi; Jose
Trujillo at San Bartolome de Jougopavi, with the visita of Moxainavi, and
Jose Espeleta, with Agustin de Santa Maria, at San Francisco de Oraibe and
Gualpi, all of whom lost their lives in the great revolt. From that time the
valiant Moquis maintained their independence of all Spanish or Christian
control. It is not clear that they sent their warriors to take part in the
wars of 168096 in New Mexico, but they probably did so, and certainly
afforded protection to fugitives from the other pueblos, the Tehuas and
others, even building a new town adjoining those of the Moquis, in which
part of the tribe lived from, that period. In 1692, they had, like the other
nations, professed their willingness to submit to Governor Vargas; but in
the following years, no attempt to compel their submission is recorded. In
1700, however, fearing an invasion, they affected penitence, permitted a
friar to baptize a few children, and negotiated in vain with the Spaniards
for a treaty that should permit each nation to retain its own religion."
'At intervals of every few years from 1700, there were visitas of Franciscan
friars and military detachments, the first to attempt the spiritual
reconquest, and the latter to force subjugation by threats of war, but
nothing was effected, these proud chieftains maintaining their independence
of Spanish or Christian control, which is preserved to a great extent up to
this time.
To Father Kino, subsequently known as the Great Apostle to the Pimas,
belongs the credit of establishing the first missions in Arizona. He was a
Jesuit priest, and before accepting priestly orders, had acquired some
reputation as a mathematician. He declined a professional chair in the
college of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, because, believing that he had been
restored to health from a dangerous sickness through the intervention of St.
Francis Xavier, at the Throne of Grace, he determined to devote his life to
the conversion of the heathen in America, adding Francisco to his name,
which became Eusebio Francisco Quino, afterwards changed by the Spanish to
Kino. The date of his birth is unknown, but is stated to have been somewhere
about 1640. He was a native of Trent, in the Austrian Tyrol, and a near
relative of Martin Martini, S. J., a notable missionary in Asia. He died in
the year 1711, having devoted twenty-six years of his life to missionary
work in Sonora and Arizona.
His first mission, that of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores was founded on
March 13th, 1687, near Ures, Sonora, Mexico, which mission thereafter, was
the base from which his various expeditions into Sonora and elsewhere were
started.
In 1690, Father Kino, who had established several other missions, was
visited by Father Juan Maria de Salvatierra, who had been sent by his
superiors as visitador general. These two missionaries, says Francisco
Velasco, were followed by Indians, asking to be instructed and admitted as
members of the Catholic religion. Among them were the Sobahpuris, who lived
on the San Pedro, and had come over a distance of 200 miles to ask the
priests to follow them to the place called Guevavi, where they had their
villages. Their petition was granted. The missionaries followed them and
founded for their tribe a mission which was given the name of the place.
This mission, now abandoned for a long time, was the first established on
the soil of Arizona. It is in the same region that the missions of
Tumacacuri and San Xavier del Bac were subsequently founded, along the
course of the Santa Cruz River. According to the Rt. Rev. Thomas Gorman, the
Church of Guevavi and that of San Xavier del Bac would have been built by
Father Kino in 1687.
In 1694, Kino visited the Pima Indians in the neighborhood of the Casas
Grandes, where he established two missions, the Immaculate Conception and
St. Andrew.
The above is taken from Salpointe (Soldiers of the Cross), but in an
appendix to Garces Diary, by Elliott Coues, I find the following:
"In December of that year (1690), Father Juan Maria de Salvatierra, was
appointed superior and visitador of Sinaloa and Sonora; he came to Dolores
whence he went with Kino to the other places above named (San Jose de
Himeris and San Ignacio); whence the two congenial spirits pushed further
into Pimeria Alta, laying great plans for spiritual conquests to be extended
to California and elsewhere. Ortega, pp. 248-252, names places visited on
this entrada of 1691 as follows: From Dolores by way of Santa Maria
Magdalena pueblo and a land called El Tupo to the mission of San Pedro y San
Pablo de Tubutama (on Rio Altar); place still so called, and probably in
1691 not yet a regular mission, though Kino may have operated there; thence
to Saric (still so called on the same river), and Tucubabia in the same
vicinity. Here they were met by a delegation of Sobaipuris, from' the region
about the modem (San Cayetano de) Tumacacori in southern Arizona, begging
for padres; the fathers determined to go to (acercares) the Sobaipuris, and
did so, says Ortega, p. 249, reaching in 15 leagues the rancheria called
Guevavi where, in Ortega's time (al presente1752) there was a mission; but
it does not appear that Guevavi was the place where the Sobaipuris were met
or a mission was then founded; and all those who so state must have misread
their Ortega. However, the latter clearly states that the priests pushed on
to San Cayetano Tumacacori (sic); and this place being close to Tubac, Kino
now makes his first entrada into Arizona, at or near our recent Fort Mason,
on the Santa Cruz river. The fathers then went to Santa Maria de Suamca, a
place almost on our boundary, east of Los Nogales; and thence to Cocospera,
easily found on a modern map. There they separated, Kino tarrying awhile,
and Salvatierra returning from his extended tour of inspection."
In 1692 Kino made his second entrada into Arizona, early in September,
pushing on as far as San Xavier del Bac, and returning to Dolores on
December 11, 1692.
In 1694 he was informed by some Indians from Bac of the Casas Grandes on the
Gila, and went alone to examine them. This time he reached the Gila and said
mass in the Casas Grandes, and he was, according to Dellenbaugh and other
noted modern authorities, the first white man to view these ruins.
In November, 1697, was undertaken the first formal exploration into Arizona
of which any detailed account survives. Of this expedition, Bancroft says:
''Lieutenant Cristobal Martin Bernal, with Alferez Francisco Acuma, a
sergeant, and twenty soldiers, marched from Fronteras via Terrenate and
Suamca, while Kino and Mange with ten servants came from Dolores. The two
parties united at Quiburi, not far from the site of the modern Tombstone;
Coro, a Sobaipuri chief, with thirty warriors, joined the expedition, and
all marched down the Rio Quiburi, since called the San Pedro, to its
junction with the Gila, now so called in the records for the first time,
though, as we have seen, the Gila province of New Mexico, was named as early
as 1630. Down the main river went the explorers to and a little beyond the
Casa Grande, which is, for the first time, described and pictured by simple
drawings in the diaries. From the Gila they returned southward up the river,
since called the Santa Cruz, by way of Bac and Guevavi, reaching Dolores at
the beginning of December. They had marched 260 leagues, had been warmly
welcomed everywhere, had registered 4,700 natives, and baptized 89, besides
conferring badges of office on many chieftains."
Space does not permit me to follow all the wanderings of this tireless
explorer, who made altogether thirteen entradas into Arizona. Concerning the
last expeditions of Father Kino into Arizona, and the Jesuit administration
in Arizona, Engelhardt says: "In April and May, 1700, Fr. Kino was again at
Bac and laid the foundation of a large church, which the natives were eager
to build, but respecting the further progress of which nothing is known. In
September Fr. Kino was in the Yuma country, and gave the name of Stan
Dionisio to a Yuma rancheria at the junction of the Gila with the Colorado.
In 1701 Fr. Kino and Fr. Salvatierra again appeared at Bac and Tumacacori.
Sometime after the venerable explorer passed from Sonoita to the Gila and
the Colorado and visited the Yumas in their rancherias. Early in 1702, Fr.
Kino made his last trip to the Gila and Colorado, and this was also, as far
as known, the last time he crossed the Arizona line. 'There is no
satisfactory evidence,' said Bancroft, 'that Arizona had either a regular
mission or a resident Jesuit priest before Kino's death in 1711. A few
rumors of padres stationed there can be traced to no definite source; and
the whole tenor of such records as exist is against them.'
"After Fr. Kino's death, for more than twenty years, no Spaniard is known to
have entered Arizona. It is not unlikely that a missionary may have visited
the rancherias of the Santa Cruz valley, but there is no proof of such trips
into Arizona. All communication gradually ceased; the Gila tribes forgot
what Fr. Kino had taught them, and even the nearer Pimas and Sobaipuris lost
much of their zeal for mission life. Only two or three Jesuits are known to
have worked in the field of the Pimeria Alta near the Arizona line before
1730.
"In 1731 there came a small reinforcement of Jesuits; two of them were sent
to the north and effected what may be regarded as the first Spanish
settlement in southern Arizona. Fr. Felipe Segesser took charge of San
Xavier del Bac, Fr. Juan Baptista Grasshoffer of San Miguel de Guevavi,
which from this time may be regarded as regular missions, the other
rancherias becoming visitas or missionary stations. It is probable that
during the rest of the Jesuit period, the two missions were but rarely
without priests. Fr. Grasshoffer died; Fr. Caspar Steiger was at Bac in
17731736; and in 1750 the missionaries were Fr. Jose Carucho at Guevavi, and
Fr. Francisco Paver at San Xavier del Bac. In 17361737, Fr. Ignacio Keller
of Suamca, in Sonora, made two trips to the Gila and visited the Casa
Grande. He found that many of the rancherias of Kino's time had been broken
up.
"In 1743, Fr. Jacob Sedelmair of Tubutama reached the Gila and in the
following year attempted to visit the Moquis in the north, but owing to the
unwillingness of the Indians to guide him, he did not get beyond Bill
Williams' Fork.
"In 1750 occurred the second revolt of the Pima tribes, in which two
missionaries at Caborca and Sonoita were killed, as were about 100
Spaniards. Bac and Guevavi were plundered and abandoned, but the two Jesuits
escaped to Suamca. Peace was restored in 1752 and the missions reoccupied in
1754.
"During the remaining years of the Jesuit period, 1754-1767, the missions of
the Pimeria Alta barely maintained a precarious existence. 'A few neophytes
were induced to remain faithful, but the natives lived for the most part as
they pleased, not openly rebellious, nor disposed to molest the padres, so
long as the latter attempted no control of their actions, and were willing
to take their part in quarrels with settlers or soldiers. Missionary work
was at a standstill.' Exactly how long the missions had been abandoned after
the revolt of 1750 is not known, but in 1763 Fr. Alonzo Espinosa was in
charge of Bac, as he was still at the time of the Jesuit expulsion in 1767.
At Guevavi the missionaries were Fr. Ignacio Pfefferkorn in 1763, Fr. Jimeno
in 1764, and Fr. Pedro Rafael Diaz in 1767. The rancheria of Tucson was a
visita of Bac in these years, and a few Spanish settlers seem to have lived
there; but in 1763 it was, like the mission, abandoned by all except a few
sick and infirm Indians. There were also nearly 200 Spanish settlers at
Guevavi, Santa Barbara, and Buenavista. The missionary stations at
Tumacacori and Calabazas were composed of Pima and Papago neophytes; but the
latter had run away in 1763. Respecting the expulsion of the devoted Jesuit
Fathers by the Free Mason government of Spain in 1767 nothing is known,
except the names of the three Fathers Espinosa, Dias and Barera, the latter
at Suamca. The whole number of neophytes in 1764-1767, seems to have been
about 1,250.
"From the Spanish names on early maps, the conclusion has been drawn that,
up to the Gila Valley, Arizona was covered with prosperous Spanish missions
and settlements which had to be abandoned later in consequence of Apache
raids; but the truth is, there was no Spanish occupation beyond a narrow
region of the Santa Cruz valley, and even there were only the two missions
Bac and Guevavi, with a few rancherias de visita under resident missionaries
from 1732, or possibly 1720, and protected in their precarious existence by
the Tubac presidio from' 1752. The Spanish names of saints were simply those
applied by Kino and his associates to the rancherias visited on their
exploring tours, whose inhabitants, in some instances, were induced to make
preparations for the reception of the missionaries promised, but who never
came. It has also been the fashion to regard Tucson as a more or less
prosperous town from a very early time. Some writers even date its
foundation in the sixteenth century, though, as a matter of fact, it is not
heard of as an Indian rancheria till the middle of the eighteenth century,
and was not properly a Spanish settlement till the presidio was moved there
in later years.
"After the Masonic government of Spain in 1767 had expelled the devoted
Jesuits, all the mission property, since it was regarded as belonging to the
missionaries and not to the Indians, was confiscated, and its care
temporarily entrusted to royal comisionados. The result was that in 1793 the
viceroy wrote: * There is no reason to doubt that they either wasted or
embezzled the rich temporalities of all or most of the missions, and that
these funds were lost, and decadence or ruin could not be prevented.' "
Notes About Book:
Source: History Of Arizona Volume 1, By Thomas Edwin Farish, 1915, Printed
and Published by Direction of the Second Legislature of the State of
Arizona, A. D.
Notes about Online Publication: This manuscript has been ocr'd and heavily
edited. Many of the Native American words have been reproduced as clearly as
online publication will allow us, but not all are exactly the way they were
in the original work. The structure of this manuscript has been changed to
allow better online presentation.
