Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. (
August 10,
1645–
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. He established over 20
missions and
visitas, and was known for his ability to create relationships between indigenous peoples and the religious institutions he represented.
Kino was born
Eusebio Francesco Chini on
August 10,
1645, in
Segno,
Italy, a small town in the Val di Non in the
Province of Trento. After recuperating from a serious illness, Kino joined the
Society of Jesus in 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 activies as a missionary, Eusebio Kino also practiced multiple other crafts, and was an expert
astronomer,
mathematician and map-maker, who drew the first accurate maps of
Pimería Alta, the
Sea of Cortez and of
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 is 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, 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.
Portions of this biography are courtesy National Statuary Hall.
