Jesuit Missionary (1645–1711)

Eusebio Kino was born in 1645 in the principality of Trent. At the age of twenty he joined the Jesuits, hoping to be sent to Asia. Instead, he was sent to New Spain, where he was assigned to the region of Pimería Alta—“the outskirts of Christendom”—an area comprising present-day Sonora in Mexico and Arizona. For twenty-four years he covered this vast territory—almost twenty thousand square miles—on horseback and foot. Kino was a skilled astronomer and mapmaker. Armed with an astrolabe, he drew remarkably detailed and accurate maps. Among other things, he was able to prove that Baja California was not, as was supposed, an enormous island.

Kino’s style of mission proved highly successful. Among the Pima Indians of the Southwest he tried to enter into friendly dialogue, sitting and conversing with them before ever attempting to preach. In the end he established two dozen missions and baptized thousands of Indians. He strenuously opposed the enslavement of Indians to work in silver mines, and his outspokenness resulted in complaints and efforts to have him expelled. Among other things, Kino successfully introduced cattle ranching into the territory; the success of his own ranch covered the costs of his mission work. In the midst of all his labors, he found time to write twenty books on astronomy, cartography, and religion.

Kino died on March 15, 1711.

“The adversities of this world, and rightly so, have to do with the celestial favors done for us by God.”

—Eusebio Kino, SJ