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Today marks the tri-centennial since the death of Jesuit missionary and explorer Eusebio Francisco Kino, for whom the diocesan Kino Institute and Kino Library are named. He was known as “The Padre on Horseback” and founded Tucson’s San Xavier del Bac among 23 other missions.

Image source: www.nps.gov/cagr/historyculture/historicfigures.htm.

The chancery staff received other tidbits via e-mail today about Padre Kino:

• Spent 24 years ministering to the Native people and was a peacemaker and agriculturist.
• Introduced into Arizona horses, cattle and other herd animals and the cultivation of Old World crops.
• Taught that evangelization begins with the respect for Native People and the physical betterment of their lives.
• Was a gifted scientist, historian and mapmaker. He spent the first half of his life as a student and professor in Europe’s greatest universities.
• Made 50 expeditions as a priest totaling over 19,000 miles beyond the Spanish frontier.
• Died in Sonora after saying a dedication Mass at a chapel for his patron saint, Francis Xavier.
• A statue of him represents Arizona in the U.S. Capitol Building.
• Petition for canonization got underway five years ago.

Tucson is holding a series of special events honoring the life and influence of Padre Kino. Details about a Phoenix commemoration are forthcoming.