An amazing Mission in Tucson - Oct 2, 2009

Randy fixed his special oatmeal with nuts and bananas for breakfast today, which is a great way to start the day. We only have one day in Tucson, so our Tucson agenda is small. We drove out to the Mission San Xavier Del Bac. It was built between 1783 thru 1792. It was not quite completed – one of the bell towers does not have the decorative top that the other one has – because the Franciscan friars could not get further credit (some things never change, the banks still control everything!). The friars were expelled from 1828 but came back in 1911, and they’ve been in charge of it since then. The church is really beautiful and it’s hard to imagine how they built it, way back then. An extensive restoration project has been going on for a few years, and they are doing a wonderful job. 

 It looks restored, not updated. The interior, especially the front where the priest stands, has every inch decorated with paintings, carvings and statues. There were excellent carved angels and statues, and two “golden” stylized lions flanking the front of the high alter. Personally, not being Catholic, I haven’t seen anything like this. 

The feast day of St. Francis and St. Xavier is October 3, so the carved wood effigy of St. Xavier, which is normally stored in a glass coffin on the left side of the nave, was put out for parishioners to touch. When you come into the church and your eyes haven’t adjusted to the change in light, it looks like a body has been laid out for visitation. There is a legend that only the pure of heart can lift the effigy’s head, so everyone who stopped by the pray also slipped their hand behind the head and lifted it slightly. Just a bit, just enough to be comfortable that they could.

The building complex behind the church has been expanded to include classrooms around a plaza with a fountain, gift shops, and several rooms that hold artifacts and information about the history of the church. Some of the statuary is remarkable. There is also a small mortuary where 3 priests are buried, one each from the late 1700’s, the 1800’s and the 1900s. All the buildings are surrounded by a low adobe wall and there are several excellent cacti gardens just inside the wall. Nearby is a mounded hill with a grotto where the Virgin Mary was reported to be seen. In the plaza in front of the church there was a small market set up, under a rough cover of prickly cacti branches. Randy and I shared Indian fry bread with beans and cheese. Fry bread is a lot like a St. Louis elephant ear, except that this one was really greasy. 

We decided to drive to downtown and look at another church - the St. Augustine church. It is a somewhat similar style to Mission San Xavier Del Bac on the outside, but totally different on the inside. Inside this church are gorgeous stained glass windows but not a lot of other decorations. The church ceiling is full of simple, clean lines.

Next we went to the local 6th annual October fest. There were craft booths, food booths, and a polka band. We had a cheeseburger but there wasn’t much else going on there, so we got a late lunch at Church’s and came home for a nap – I could get used to napping every day!