Residence: Tumacácori

Race or Tribe:  Español

Notes:  Although an exact birth date is not known, Padre Moreno was born sometime in 1744 in Almarza, Spain.  He was described as an eager man, about five feet six inches tall with a pallid, pock-marked complexion.  He joined the Franciscans on June 21, 1761 at seventeen years of age.  He came to the new world with the Mission of 1769.  He lived part of the time at Calabazas.  His first entry in Tumacácori was made on October 17, 1773 and his final entry on December 22, 1774.  He left Tumacácori early in 1775 and went to Caborca.  While in Caborca he helped build the church at Pitiquito.  He joined Padre Diaz on the Río Colorado in 1780.  Padre Moreno was obsessed with martyrdom and won his crown in the Yuma Massacre when his head was cut off with an ax. One of four missionaries to die in the massacre on the Colorado River near present day Yuma, Arizona (Francisco Garcés, Juan Barreneche, José Moreno, and Juan Díaz), he was killed on July 17, 1781.