Sanctuary - Mission San Xavier del Bac

When I finally got around to looking at the photos I took of the sanctuary as I prepared this post, I was somewhat disappointed.  There was so much to see and I was fascinated by the stories told by our docent guide that I suppose I must have just shot pictures at random with little or no regard to composition, much less focus. But now I have a good excuse to return someday!

Mission San Xavier del Bac has been a work in progress its entire life.  Beginning in 1790 artists from central New Spain worked to complete the interior. They were paid double wages because of the constant threat of attack by the Apache Indians.  But in 1797 funds were depleted and the artists and master artisans were dismissed.  The east tower was left with bare brick and no dome or lanern.  Choir loft and baptistery paintings were left unfinished.  But del Bac's parishioners, the local Tohono O'odham Indians, continued to build and rebuild.

The Franciscans left in 1837 and the area which is now Arizona became part of the United States in 1854 as part of the Gadsen Purchase.  Regular services resumed in 1866 and in 1913 the Order of Friars Minor returned to Bac where the faithful parishioners had guarded their church and its sacred artifacts by burying them in the desert to protect them from the Apaches.

I was obviously most fascinated by the many sculptures of various saints found in the sanctuary.

Most of the paintings and sculptures are original pieces of art from the late 1700s.

Bac has been damaged by an earthquake (1887), a lightning strike on the west tower (1939), and the discovery of major water infiltration issues which caused the necessity of major repairs in 1989.  A five-year interior conservation effort was begun in 1992 and the west tower was restored in 2009.

Patronato San Xavier was formed in 1978 for the sole purpose of restoring and preserving the church.  Over $10 million has been raised and spent to remove water-trapping cement plasters on the exterior, remove soot, dust and grime in the interior, and stabilize salt-endangered pigments.  Brick fired in the 1780s has been repaired and protected with soft lime and sand plaster as used originally.  But substantially more remains to be done to complete the project, including restoration of the east tower and future renovation including a four-column facade at the entry, the mortuary chapel to the west, and the graveyard walls.