San Xavier del Bac Mission

Local Legends, p. 20-21
Players: Beth and Josh - June 2010
Directions: 1950 West San Xavier Road
Tucson, AZ 85746-7409
Entrance Fee: $0

This was mission number 6 (see the first 5 under July) on Beth and Josh's fabulous Tucson trip. Ironically all the sites we saw this trip were not actually in Tucson... This church was beautiful and one of my favorite stops during our trip. The views, the culture, the entire spirit of the place I thought had a magical element to it. We visited the site during the week and it was quite busy! The mission attracts nearly 200,000 visitors a year that enjoy the architecture and ambiance of the site. This mission still holds regular mass and also has a small catholic school attached to it.

This church was constructed by Spanish settlers in the late 18th century. The Spanish claimed this land as their own and built this mission to bring Christianity to the Apache. They considered this land New Spain, but unfortunately the Apache had no plans of giving up their plot of soil. They attacked and destroyed the structure. The Spanish decided to rebuilt two miles away. The building has forever remained incomplete because of a missing dome that should adorn the top of one of the two 80 foot towers. Rumor has it that the structure was left incomplete because property taxes where exempt for buildings under construction.

Above the front doorway of the a stone mouse is perched in a swirl on the outer construction. On the other side of the entryway is a stone cat. They say if the cat ever catches the mouse Armageddon is surly upon us...

In the mission a mummy like carving of St. Francis Xavier lays in the church's west transept. If you rub his head you are supposed to be blessed with good luck. I rubbed it...but I couldn't quite tell if I was blessed with luck...People have left hair, pictures, and charms on the carving hoping that St. Francis will relieve their afflictions.

See my shutterfly site for more pics!