Missions

After reading about these two missions south of Tucson, I knew we had to go.  First stop was San Xavier del Bac on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.  Built in 1692 by native American converts, it has been a continuously operating Spanish Catholic Church since.  $20 million has been spent on maintenance and restoration in the centuries since.

Now, having seen it, we understand why it has been dubbed "The White Dove of the Desert".

Weekends and holidays tribal members make and sell frybread here in the grounds.   We chose a weekday to visit - our mistake.  Frybread is so very good - the proverbial heart attack on a plate!

Second stop was San Jose de Tumacacori, now a national monument.  This mission was started in 1691 a year prior to San Xavier and is a ruin that has been stabilized by the National Park Service.

The bell tower is as it was originally.  It was never completed.

Under the bell tower the walls are nine feet thick.

This mission too was built by natives, perhaps as many as 20-40 families.  The holes held the scaffolding.  Higher in the walls are more holes that were used as the walls higher and higher.

Note the paint which is original - now over 3 centuries old.

This is the Mortuary Chapel where vigils for the dead converts were held before burial.