| Notes: Father Garrucho professed his vows on January 6, 1731. He had black hair, light skin, blue eyes and a sparse beard. He sailed for the New World in 1743 at the age of 32. Arrived in the Pimeria Alta in 1744 and went straight to Guevavi. Professed his final vows on 10 Dec 1748 at Arizpe. He fled Guevavi on 24 Nov, 1751, during the Pima uprising. He went to Oposura to work with the Opatas. He had to defend himself at court in Mexico city due to accusations made by Luis of Pitic during the Pima revolt. He served at Oposura for fifteen years, until the expulsion. At Guevavi, he brought in Indians from the rancherías to replace the Indians who had died. He kept the mission ranch at Tubac producing. Got along well with the gente de razon. The Guevavi mission prospered as never before. He built a church there in 1751. He endured longer than any other Jesuit at Guevavi, and made it into a prosperous frontier community. The expulsion reserved “a special reception [for this] Jesuit who spent more of his life at Guevavi than any other. When he disembarked at Cádiz he was not permitted to go with his fellow expulsos to the hospice at the Puerto de Santa María. Instead, he was placed under heavy guard and marched halfway across Spain to Madrid, there to be imprisoned. An ex-missionary who had lived on New Spain’s vulnerable northern frontier was, in the eyes of Spanish authorities, potentially dangerous. His knowledge in enemy hands could be used against the empire. Perhaps they considered Joseph Garrucho, the Sardinian, more suspect than the rest. Perhaps they were making an example of him. In his cell, which he shared with a German lay brother, the congenial Father and his companion drew maps to pass away the time. Later, while he was being held in a Hieronymite monastery, they told Garrucho he could go home. He refused. There in the sheltered atmosphere of the religious community he chose to set his soul in order. Where and when death finally closed the remarkable life and ministry of Joseph Garrucho, once of Guevavi, is still a mystery.” (Kessel, Mission of Sorrows, pp. 186-87) |
