Tucson Arizona

San Xavier del Bac

Click on thumbnails for larger picture. 

        Early Picture of San Xavier, looking west.

      Main altar and door detail.  

1890 Picture of San Xavier

Xavier, Saint Francis, Spanish SAN FRANCISCO JAVIER, or XAVIER (b. April 7, 1506, Xavier Castle, near Sangüesa, Navarre [Spain]--d. Dec. 3, 1552, Sancian Island, China; canonized March 12, 1622; feast day December 3), the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times, who was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India, the Malay Archipelago, and Japan. In Paris in 1534 he pronounced vows as one of the first seven members of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, under the leadership of Ignatius of Loyola.

"Del Bac" is Papago meaning "Where the river reappears in the sand." This area has been lived in and farmed, beginning around 300 AD.

Foreground houses have been torn down for parking spaces.