Eusebio Francisco Kino
A Timeline of His Life
-
Eusebio Francisco Kino was born
August 10, 1645, in Segno, Italy, the only son of Francesco Chini and Margherita
Lucchi.
-
Worked on the family farm at
Moncou, Italy until it was sold in 1660
-
Kino registered at the college
of Hall near Innsbruck, Austria, in the program of rhetoric and logic where
he contracted an unidentified illness that brought him close to death.
He vowed that if his patron, St. Francis Xavier, would intercede for his
recovery, he would enter the Society of Jesus.
-
Kino transferred to Freiburg
in 1664.
-
Entered the novitiate at Landsberg
and pronounced his first vows in 1667. He then entered an intensive
course of studies at Ingolstadt, beginning with philosophy, and delving
into mathematics, geography, and cartography. Kino moderated a mathematics
club that concentrated in the field of astronomy, and converted one of
the university towers into a mini-observatory.
-
Minor orders were conferred
in April, 1669.
-
Kino petitioned the order for
assignment to the Americas, to China, or any other difficult foreign assignment
on four separate occasions.
-
Ordained a priest on June 12,
1677, at Eistady, Austria
-
In March, 1678, Kino received
notice, after his sixth petition, that he was to be assigned to the
missions of the Spanish empire. Kino traveled to Munich, offsetting
his travel expenses with money earned from the sale of scientific instruments
he had been making.
-
Nineteen Jesuits,
including Kino, left Genoa, Italy, for Spain, where he taught mathematics
at Jesuit colleges in Seville and Puerto Santa Maria, while awaiting an
America-bound armada. He learned Spanish, some Portuguese, and made
scientific instruments for use in the missions.
-
Kino and other Jesuits spent
their third winter in Seville. A brilliant comet debuted and the
Jesuits used instruments of their own manufacture to speculate on the nature
and meaning of the comet.
-
Kino left for Cadiz to board
a small mail ship, part of an armada, that arrived in Veracruz, Mexico,
May 3, 1681.
-
Kino left for Mexico City and
was assigned to Atondo, the Governor of Sinaloa and the Californias,
who needed the skills of Kino on an expedition to Baja California.
Kino was signed on as rector of the mission and Royal Cartographer for
the Californias.
-
His astronomical observations
of two years were published in Mexico in 1682, entitled Exposicion
Astronomica, bringing him into local prominence.
-
In April, 1683, Kino arrived
at the Bay of La Paz, aboard the frigate Almiranta. Kino spent
his days learning the Indian language and reaching out to the natives of
the area. His job was to befriend the Indians with the necessities of life
and teach them the ways of civilization and Christian doctrine, as well
as draw maps for the military. Following a military altercation with
the natives, the Spanish venture ended and established a new site at San
Bruno in October, 1683. As Royal Cartographer, Kino mapped
the area and befriended the natives in the San Bruno area.
-
On August 15, 1684, Kino took
his final vows in the Society of Jesus.
-
In December, 1684, Atondo and
Kino, with their party, were the first Europeans to cross Baja California
by land, arriving at what is known today as San Gregorio. Kino continued
to develop maps of the explorations, but San Bruno was abandoned
in May, 1685.
-
In 1686, Kino was given permission
to establish three missions. Traveling inland in Sonora, he established
his first mission, Nuestra Señora de los
Dolores, at Cosari, his second mission at Carburica,
and his third at Ímuris -- all within
just a few days. Under Father Kino, gardens and cattle-raising were
established, river lands were cleared and planted, and chapels were built.
Additionally, he promoted apprenticeships of artisans and similar trades.
-
Kino continued to establish
a chain of missions on his seventy-five mile circuit -- San Ignacio, Magdalena,
San
Xavier del Bac, Cocóspera, Caborca,
Tumacácori, and Tucson, with
much success in Christianizing the natives.
-
In 1687, the church was completed
at Dolores, the site which became Kino’s main base. Father Visitor
Gonzalez, in 1689, upon visiting the area, declared that he'd never seen
such growth and expansion in such a short time, resulting in the addition
of four more Jesuits assigned to the missions.
-
In 1691, accompanied by Padre
Juan Maria Salvatierra, empowered as Jesuit Visitor General, Kino and Salvatierra
were met at Tumacácori, where Pimas
carrying crosses and flowered arches appealed for Jesuits to reside in
their villages.
-
In December, 1692, Father Kino,
accompanied by Fathers Campos and Leal, explored
the Altar River. They arrived at Cerro El Nazareno overlooking California.
Upon his return, he established Nuestra Señora
de la Purisma Concepción in Caborca.
-
In November, 1694, Kino explored
the Gila River up to the Casa Grande ruins.
-
Father Kino re-established peace
in the Pimeria Alta in April, 1695, following the murder of Padre Saeta
at Caborca and rebellions at Tubutama and Oquitoa.
-
In January, 1696, Padre Kino,
while in Mexico City, received authorization to be assigned six months
in the Pimeria Alta and six months in California. While there, Kino
also had five new missionaries assigned to the Pimeria.
-
Father Kino made several incursions
north with the Sobaipuris, exploring the Santa Maria and San Pedro Rivers,
as far as its merger with the Gila River.
-
In the fall, 1698, Kino mounted
an 800 mile, three week expedition, with the intention to survey the Gulf
coast where he sighted for the first time the Gulf of California, also
resulting in an expedition on the Gila River.
-
In 1699, Kino and Manje, while
resting at a Yuman village just east of the Gila Range, were presented
with beautiful blue shells that Kino recognized as coming from the “opposite”
shores of the Pacific. In April, 1700, Kino convened a “Blue Shell
Conference” where chiefs and couriers indicated that the blue-crusted abalone
didn't occur in the Gulf waters, but had been traded hand to hand from
the distant Pacific. Father Kino heads towards this area, leading
to his discovery of California.
-
Padre Kino received permission
to be transferred to Bac which would be closer to his mission expansion
to the northwest, but he needed to wait for a replacement-- a replacement
that never came.
-
Padre Kino was named Procurator
of the northwest missions in 1706 -- an official recognition of what he
had been doing for years.
-
Kino dedicated the newly completed
chapel at Magdalena, became weak, and died about midnight, March 15, 1711.
-
On February 15, 1965, Father
Kino’s statue, representing the state of Arizona, was unveiled in Washington’s
Capitol Rotunda.
-
In May, 1966, Kino’s remains
were found in the city of Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, by a group of researchers
from Mexico and the United States.
-
On May 2, 1971, a monumental
square in memory of Father Kino was inaugurated in Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico.
Home
| Planning Your Visit | Park
Tour | Special Events | Anza
Trail | Priests |
Father
Kino | Kino Missions | Natives
| Natural Resources | Educational
Resources |
Preservation
Efforts | Volunteering | Mission
2000 | Site
Map