Residence: San Xavier del Bac

Race or Tribe:  Vizcaino (Basque)

Notes:  Padre Belderrain was born in Cizúrquil, Spain on August 11, 1747, and baptized the next day..  He was described as a tall Basque with black hair and gray eyes.  He took his first vows in San Sebastian, the capital city of Gipuzkoa, in 1763.  Less than six years later at the Convent Grande in Vitoria he volunteered for the Mission of 1769 to the College of Querétaro.  In 1773 he was a missionary to the Pimas Jojos of Tecoripa and Suaqui. In the face of much adversity he built a church at Suaqui. In 1776 the College of Querétaro negotiated the transfer of eight despised Pimeria Baja missions to the Franciscan province of Jalisco.  His was one of these.  Belderrain took refuge at Tumacácori, joining his fellow Basque, Padre Pedro de Arriquibar, for two months.  By early 1777 he moved to San Xavier del Bac and studied the Piman language under Padre Garcés.  Garcés left for the Yuma Crossing and Padre Belderrain began construction of the famous "White Dove of the Desert."  He died suddenly, vomiting blood,  well before the church was completed.  Padre Carrillo of Tumacácori arrived too late to administer the sacraments. Padre Juan Bautista Llorens replaced him at Bac and completed the magnificent church. Padre Belderrain's full surname as given in his and his seven siblings baptismal entries was "Belderrain Igarza."   He always signed this name "Juan Bauptista de Velderrain."