The fame

_THE FAME 

The great and deeply popular devotion handed down for generations received scientific corroboration at the beginning of the last century, when the diaries of Padre Kino "The Celestial Favours of Jesus and Mary Most Holy" were discovered in the archives of Mexico City. They  tell the story of his missionary life, of the many difficulties encountered on his tireless explorations, and of the visions he had for the future of the Pimería. From its pages emerges a gigantic human character moved by love and compassion, a man who left an indelible mark on the history of the Americas.

To honour him, work to find his burial place began in 1965 and continued relentlessly until May 19, 1966, when Kino’s grave was  located in the city of Magdalena, Sonora. Four years later the Mexican federal government built the mausoleum over the site of his burial and transformed the plaza into an impressive monument that was dedicated on May 2, 1971, in the presence of Mexico’s President, Luis Echeverría.

Schools, universities, hospitals; monuments have been dedicated to Padre Kino even in the most remote and scattered villages in the desert. In the 1930s the city of Tucson unveiled a splendid bas-relief where the indefatigable pioneer is depicted with a Pima Indian in the desert background.  And in 1989 the same city erected a larger- than-life, equestrian bronze of the “Padre on Horseback.”

The Archdiocese of Hermosillo has officially opened the cause for Kino’ s beatification which is gathering evidence of the heroic sanctity of Padre Kino.  During the religious persecutions carried out under General Calles after World War I Kino was named “protector” of the State of Sonora.

Tucson; the statue twin of those 
in Segno and Magdalena de Kino

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