Mission San Xavier del Bac

“The White Dove of the Desert” founded in 1692—built 1783. One of the best preserved and most exquisite old Spanish Missions in the Southwest. Established in 1692 by Father Kino—a pioneering Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order)—it stands in the center of a Tohono O’odham (formerly Papago) settlement along the banks of the Santa Cruz River, 9 miles south of Tucson. The Mission is also known as the “place where the water appears,” as there were once natural springs in the area. Catholic services are held here regularly for the native Tohono O’odham people, who are the direct descendants of those for whom the mission was conceived. (post cards)