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.
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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.
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.
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."[1]
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 (300 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 </ref>[2] 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.
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 Father 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 do 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." [3][4][5][6]
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. Father 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 U.S. 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, 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 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.
Father 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. [7]
Father Eusebio Francisco 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.
Father 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 Father 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.
Padre 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.
Father 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.
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.
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.
Portions of this biography are courtesy National Statuary Hall.
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