Eusebio Kino

Eusebio Kino
Bronze sculpture by Suzanne Silvercruys
Born	Eusebius Franz Kühn (Kuehn) August 10, 1645 frazione of Taio, in Val di Non (Bishopric of Trent, Austrian Empire, currently Italy)
Died	March 15, 1711 Magdalena de Kino, State of Sonora, Mexico
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Priest

Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. (August 10, 1645 – March 15, 1711) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who became famous in what is now northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States (primarily northern Sonora and southern Arizona) in the region then known as the Pimaria Alta. He is known for his exploration of the region and for his work to Christianize the indigenous Native American population, including primarily the Sobaipuri and other Upper Piman groups. He proved that Baja California is not an island by leading an overland expedition there from Arizona. He established twenty-four missions and visitas ("country chapels" or visiting stations) and was known for his ability to create relationships between indigenous peoples and the religious institutions he represented.

Biography

European life

Kino was born Eusebius Franz Kühn (Kuehn) (the name Kino was the version for use in Spanish-speaking domains). The actual date of his birth is unknown but he was baptized on August 10 in Segno, today frazione of Taio, a village in the Val di Non in the Bishopric of Trent (Austrian Empire) in present-day Italy. This explains why sources differ on the nationality of Kino; political boundaries differed in his day and modern day Italy was not formed until much later. Kino was educated in Innsbruck, Austria, and after recuperating from a serious illness, he joined the Society of Jesus on November 20, 1665. From 1664 to 1669 he received his religious training at Freiburg, Ingolstadt, and Landsberg, Bavaria and was ordained a priest on June 12, 1677, at Eistady, Austria. Although he wanted to go to the Orient, he was ordered to establish missions on the Baja California peninsula and the northern frontier of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (present day northern Mexican Sonora and southern U.S. Arizona). Father Kino departed Castile (Spain) in 1681 with that purpose in mind.

Mexican life

Main article: Spanish missions in Baja California

First he led the Atondo expedition to the Baja California peninsula of the Las Californias Province of New Spain. He established the Misión San Bruno in 1683, however in 1685, after a prolonged drought there, Kino and the Jesuit missionaries were forced to abandon it and return to the Viceroyalty capital of Mexico City.

Main article: Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert

Father Kino began his career in the Pimería Alta the morning of 14 March 1687, 24 years and one day before his death on 15 March 1711. This was the morning he left Cucurpe, a town once considered the "Rim of Christendom."

Once Father Kino arrived in the area, he quickly established the first Catholic church in the Sonoran Desert there. Kino traveled across Northern Mexico and to present day 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 (320 km) long and 250 miles (400 km) wide. Kino was important in the economic growth of Sonora at the time, teaching the already agricultural indigenous Indian people how to grow European seed and grains, and raise foreign herd animals. Kino's initial mission herd of twenty cattle imported to Pimería Alta grew during his period to 70,000. Historian Herbert Bolton referred to Kino as Arizona's first rancher. Bolton's reference is fitting given that Kino provided the livestock and managed their distribution, like a rancher, while the local indigenous residents oversaw their daily care, as is consistent with a cowboy.

Interaction with the Natives

In his travels in the Pimería Alta, Father Kino interacted with 16 different tribes. Some of these had land that bordered on the Pimería Alta, but there are many cases where tribal representatives crossed into the Piman lands to meet this man of whom so many had heard. In other cases, Kino traveled into their lands to meet with them. The tribes Kino met with are the Cocopa, Eudeve, Hia C-ed O'odham (called Yumans by Kino), Kamia, Kavelchadon, Kiliwa, Maricopa, Mountain Pima, Opata, Quechan, Gila River Pima, Seri, Tohono O'odham, Sobaipuri, Western Apache, Yavapai, and the Yaqui (Yoeme). It is theorized that he had several children with a Pima woman. While there is no conclusive evidence supporting this, his personal diaries repeatedly show romantic interest in one of the natives. In addition, mid-18th century Tuscans noted several light skinned natives, who called themselves "children of the holy man."

Interests

A widely-known fact about Kino now is that he fought hard for the rights of the various indigenous Sonoran tribes and their individual members. His conviction for his fight came from his humanitarian values and were proscribed by the Spanish Crown in the Laws of the Indies (Leyes de Indias). He opposed the slavery and compulsory hard labor in the silver mines that the Spaniards forced on native people. This also caused great controversy among his co-missionares, many of whom acted according to the laws imposed by Spain on their territory. Kino was also a writer, authoring books on religion, astronomy and maps. He built missions extending from present day states of Mexican Sonora, northeast for 150 miles (240 km), into US Arizona. There, the Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, a popular National Historic Landmark, is still functioning as a Franciscan Catholic parish church. He constructed nineteen rancherías (villages), which supplied cattle to new settlements. He was also instrumental in the return of the Jesuits to Baja California in 1697.

In addition to his pastoral activities as a missionary, 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 Kino proposed and began making a boat that would be 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.

Kino had a great deal of wealth unusual to a man of his station. He used his wealth primarily to fund his missionary activities. His contemporaries reported on his surprising amount of money with suspicion.

Death

Kino remained among his missions until his death in 1711. He died from fever on March 15, 1711 in the city now known as Magdalena de Kino, State of Sonora, Mexico, where his skeletal remains can be viewed today.

Legacy

Kino has been honored both in Mexico and the United States, with various towns, streets, schools, monuments, and geographic features named after him. In 1965, a statue of Kino was donated to the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall collection, one of two statues representing Arizona. Another statue of him stands above Kino Parkway, a major thoroughfare in Tucson. Another equestrian statue featuring Kino stands in Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza across from the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix. A time capsule is encapsuled in the base.Another equestrian statue also stands next to the Cathedral in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, México. The towns of Bahía Kino and Magdalena de Kino in Sonora are named in his honor.

Kino is also the name of Mexico's best known table wine.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz wrote a sonnet about his astronomical work in observing a comet.

Kino is believed to have introduced the Zinfandel grape to the area. In Italy it is known as primitivo, meaning 'early', as the fruit matures earlier than other grapes. As well he may have introduced the "Mission Fig" from cuttings brought from Europe.

Missions and visitas founded

• Misión San Bruno: founded 1683 (Kino led the Atondo expedition to the Baja California peninsula of the Las Californias Province of New Spain. In 1685, after a prolonged drought there, Kino and the Jesuit missionaries were forced to abandon the mission.
• Mission Nuestra Señora de los Dolores: founded on March 13, 1687. This was the first Pimaria Alta mission founded by Father Kino. By 1744, the mission was abandoned.
• Nuestra Señora de los Remedios was founded in 1687 and was abandoned by 1730. Nothing remains of this mission.
• San Ignacio de Cabórica was founded in 1687 and is located in San Ignacio, Sonora.
• Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama was founded in 1687, in Tubutama, Sonora.
• Santa Teresa de Atil was founded in 1687, in the small town of Atil, Sonora.
• Santa Maria Magdalena was founded in 1687, located in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora. Padre Kino's grave is located here.
• San José de Imuris was founded in 1687, in Imuris, Sonora.
• Nuestra Señora del Pilar y Santiago de Cocóspera was founded in 1689. It is located in Cocóspera, Sonora.
• San Antonio Paduano del Oquitoa was founded in 1689. It is located in Oquitoa, Sonora.
• San Diego del Pitiquito was founded in 1689. It is located in Pitiquito, Sonora.
• San Luis Bacoancos was founded in 1691, but was soon abandoned after Apache attacks.
• Mission San Cayetano del Tumacácori was founded in 1691 at a native Sobaipuri settlement. This was southern Arizona's first mission and Arizona's first Jesuit mission. Later a chapel was built. (San Cayetano de Calabasas was established in a different location much later, after Kino's time.) Sometime after the 1751 Pima Revolt the settlement and mission were moved to the opposite side of the river and became San José de Tumacácori.
• Mission San José de Tumacácori, the presently known location that is a National Historic Park. The farming land around the mission was sold at auction in 1834 and the mission was abandoned by 1840. It is now a National Monument in Tumacácori National Historical Park in Southern Arizona.
• La Misión de San Gabriel de Guevavi was founded in 1691. It became a cabecera or head mission in 1701 with the establishment of what Kino described affectionately as a "neat little house and church." Through the years its name changed many times so that now it is known by the generic name referencing many saints: Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi. The chapel was initially established in a native settlement, but then was destroyed by fire, probably during an indigenous uprising. The church rebuilt in new locations twice, the final and largest one being built in 1751. Its ruins are part of Tumacácori National Historical Park.
• San Lázaro was founded in 1691, but was soon abandoned after Apache attacks.
• San Xavier del Bac (O'odham [Sobaipuri-O'odham]: Wa:k), 16 m south of Tucson, Arizona, founded as a missionary location in 1692. The present building, located 1 mi from the original Kino-period location, dates from 1785. The interior is richly decorated with ornaments showing a mixture of New Spain and Native American artistic motifs. It is still used by Tohono O'odham Nation members (Wa:k community members especially) and Yaqui tribal members.
• San Cosme y Damián de Tucson: founded 1692
• La Purísima Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Caborca: founded 1693
• Santa María Suamca: founded 1693
• San Valentín de Busanic/Bisanig: founded 1693
• Nuestra Señora de Loreto y San Marcelo de Sonoyta: founded 1693
• Nuestra Señora de la Ascención de Opodepe: founded 1704
• Los Santos Reyes de Sonoita/San Ignacio de Sonoitac: a rancheria near Tumacacori, founded 1692.

In addition, several buildings were established as places to say mass in many more native settlements throughout the region. For example, such structures have been identified at the Sobaipuri settlements of San Pablo de Quiburi and Santa Cruz de Gaybanipitea on the San Pedro River south of Benson and in many more settlements to the north and along the Gila River. Full-scale churches were never established in these locations, but the special buildings and rooms in which to say mass were prominent features in these indigenous settlements.

Movie

A 1977 movie titled Father Kino, Padre on Horseback or Mission to Glory: A True Story starring Richard Egan as Padre Kino seeks to portray the struggles of the early padres. The movie, though interesting and well-cast with stars like Ricardo Montalban, Cesar Romero, John Ireland, Kennan Wynn, and others, is often difficult to follow without a basic knowledge of events. The movie is available in DVD format.

References

• Bolton, Herbert Eugene, Kino's Historical Memoir of Pimeria Alta, vol. 1 (Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark, 1919.
• Bolton, Herbert Eugene, Rim of Christiandom, New York: The MacMilliam Co, 1936.
• Bolton, Herbert Eugene,Padre on Horseback, Loyola Press, 1963.
• Polzer, Charles W., Kino Guide II: a Life of Eusebio Francisco Kino, S.J., Arizona's First Pioneer, and a Guide to His Missions and Monuments , Southwest Mission Research Center, 1982.
• Polzer, Charles W., Kino: His Missions, His Monuments, Jesuit Fathers of Southern Arizona, 1998.
• Polzer, Charles W. & Sheridan, Thomas H., Presidio and Militia on the Northern Frontier of New Spain: A Documentary History, Volume Two, Part One: The Californias and Sinaloa-Sonora, 1700–1765, University of Arizona Press, 1997.
• Seymour, Deni J., 1989 The Dynamics of Sobaipuri Settlement in the Eastern Pimeria Alta. Journal of the Southwest 31(2):205-222.
• Seymour, Deni J., 1997 Finding History in the Archaeological Record: The Upper Piman Settlement of Guevavi. Kiva 62(3):245-260.
• Seymour, Deni J., 2003 Sobaipuri-Pima Occupation in the Upper San Pedro Valley: San Pablo de Quiburi. New Mexico Historical Review 78(2):147-166.
• Seymour, Deni J., 2007 Delicate Diplomacy on a Restless Frontier: Seventeenth-Century Sobaipuri Social And Economic Relations in Northwestern New Spain, Part I. New Mexico Historical Review, Volume 82(4):469-499.
• Seymour, Deni J., 2007 A Syndetic Approach To Identification Of The Historic Mission Site Of San Cayetano Del Tumacácori. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 11(3):269-296.
• Seymour, Deni J., 2008a Delicate Diplomacy on a Restless Frontier: Seventeenth-Century Sobaipuri Social And Economic Relations in Northwestern New Spain, Part II. New Mexico Historical Review, Volume 83(2):171–199.
• Seymour, Deni J., 2009 Father Kino’s 'Neat Little House and Church' at Guevavi. Journal of the Southwest 51(2):285-316.
• Seymour, Deni J., 2011 Where the Earth and Sky are Sewn Together: Sobaípuri-O’odham Contexts of Contact and Colonialism. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
• Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, "Soneto. Aplaude la ciencia Astronomica del Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino, de la Compania de Jesus, que escrivio del Cometa....", Inundacion castalida de la unica poetisa, musa decima...; Madrid, 1689. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/jines/12826401998062638532624/ima0186.htm

Portions of this biography are courtesy National Statuary Hall.