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Show HEROIC MISSiONAHY PRIEST Frederic J. Haskin's Grave Error Coro-nado Coro-nado Did Not Discover "Casas Gran-des" Gran-des" Fr. Kino, "The Penitent Priest' Did The Apostle of the Pinas a Pro-found Pro-found Scholar, Great Explorer and Successful Suc-cessful Civilizer His Travels and Remarkable Re-markable Missionary Work Enters Casas Grandes Nov. 30, 1694 Celebrates Cele-brates Mass Great Explorer His Last Days Among the Indians. (Special Cor. Intermountain Catholic.) (Copyrighted.) This morning I was handed your most welcome letter, which was two weeks on its journey to thi out of the way place. You ask me if the story of the "Casas Grandes," as told by Mr. Frederick I. Ilaskiri in the Salt Lake Tribune of October 31, and a marked copy of which I received with youi letter, is historically accurate. Let me repeat the statement made by Mr. Ilaskins in the correspondence correspond-ence addressed to the Tribune and entitled "Before Columbus Came." "These old ruins (Casas Grandes) dominate a" flat stretch of country in southern Arizona and were doubtless a valuable stronghold in ancient times. They are so old that they were sand-strewn and long deserted when Coronado's astonished followers fol-lowers saw them loom up from the desert nearly 400 years ago. Within these walls a Jesuit priest chanted a mass 200 years ago whenIie"waa cross-ing cross-ing the desert as a penance for his sins." I break the continuity of my letters to The Intermountain In-termountain Catholic from this Peninsula to comply com-ply with your courteous request and to make known to your readers the remarkable history of the heroic j "Jesuit priest" who chanted a mass 200 years ago when he was crossing the desert as a penance for his sins." The Salt Lake Tribune is among the ablest and best managed papers west of Chicago, but it would do well, if only to maintain its high standing, to notify the eastern syndicate furnishing furnish-ing the Frederik I. IFaskins' contributions, to be very careful, if only for the sake of historical accuracy, ac-curacy, how it handles subjects touching early Spanish explorations and the missionary labors of the prc-American invasion of the west and southwest. south-west. Adolph Bandelier, Charles F. Lummis and that indefatigable historical burrower and delver into musty manuscripts, the late Dr. Elliott Coues, have settled for all times, that neither Coronado nor any one of his men ever saw or heard of the "Casas "Ca-sas Grandes the great buildings, of Southern Arizona. Ari-zona. The Jesuit priest who said mass he did not chant the mass was Father Eusibio Kino, one of the most illustrious and heroic men that ever trod the southwest, if not the American continent. The record of the travels and missionary labors of this magnificent priest are to be found in Bancroft's History of Arizona and Sonora, in Elliott Coues' "On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer," in the "Dia-rio" "Dia-rio" of Juan Mateo Mange, a military officer who was with Padre Kino in some of his "entradas" or expeditions and in the first volume of the second sec-ond series of the work entitled Documento3 para la Historia de Mexico, printed in Mexico City in 1834. Lieutenant Mange in his journal writes of Father Kino whom he knew intimately: "He was a man of wonderful talents, an astronomer, ii mathtematician and cosmogropher." Before I relate the incidents associated with the discovery of the now famous ruins, the Casas Grandes, by Father Kino, let me hurriedly record something of the life and history of this remarkable remark-able priest and model missionary. THE APOSTLE OF THE PIMAS. Eusebio Francisco Kuhne or, as the Spaniards pronounced it, Kino, was born at Trent, Austrian Tyrol, in the year 1640. He was a blood relation of the famous Asiatic missionary, Father Martin-Martin. Martin-Martin. After graduating with honors, particular- I ly in mathematics, Kino declined the chair of math- ' : ematics in the University of Bsivaria, tendered to him by the Duke of Bavaria. Turning aside from the promise of a distinguished future in Austria he entered he Society of Jesus and asked for a field in the foreign missions. Arriving in Mexico in 16S0, the year of Xewton's Comet, he was drawn into a friendly discussion on the origin of comets t and the solar system with the Spanish astronomer, I then in Mexico City, Siguenza y Gongora. His re- markable familiarity with authorities and his great knowledge of the solar systems determined his a3- (Continued on Page 5.) . ; f . I HEROIC MISSIONARY PRIEST (Continued from Page 1.) signation to duty in Lower California as cosmo-grapher cosmo-grapher major on Admiral Isidore Otondo's expedition expe-dition of 1683. Returning from Lower California, he was assigned as-signed by his ecclesiastical superior to the mission of Sonora, which then embraced all southern Arizona. Ari-zona. On December 1C, 1687, he left the Jesuit college at Gaudalajara, and traveling by burro and on foot, arrived in Sonora, where he founded the mission of "Our Lady of Sorrows," which remained his headquarters until his death. Now begins his wonderful career. Leaving his Indian mission in charge of an assistant as-sistant priest he struck out for the Mayo hunting grounds and entering the valley of the Rio Mag-dalena Mag-dalena preached to the Mayos, and gathering them in, founded the pueblo or Tillage settlement of St. Ignatius. He now swung toward the north and established es-tablished among the Humori the pueblo of St. Joseph Jo-seph of Humoris, now known as Imuris. Returning to his mission of Our Lady of Sorrows Sor-rows he waited for the coming of Father Juan Maria de Salvatierra, the superior and visitador or visitor of the Indian missions of Mexico. This was the Father Salvatierra who established the "Pious Fund" for the California Indians and who afterward after-ward opened the mission to the Digger Indians and became known as the Apostle of Lower California. Cali-fornia. A few days after the arrival of Salvatierra, the two priests set out on a missionary itinerary, visit--ing and preaching to the tribes of northern Sonora, till they came to Cocaspera. near Nogales, where they separated, Salvatierra returning by Our Lady of Sorrows to Gaudelajara. Father Kino tarried for some time at Cocaspera Cocas-pera instructing the Indians, and early in May, 1691, started on his historic desert journey to the Santa Cruz valley, where he preached to the Pimas and founded the pueblo and mission of Sap Xavicr del Bac. This mission, nine miles south of Tuscon, Ariz., is still in existence, and when I visited it last winter three sisters of the Community of St. Joseph were teaching the Indian children, and the venerable church was being splendidly repaired. To describe the fatigues and hardships of a journey in those days from Nogales to Tuscon, to record the varied and very interesting interviews and experiences with the tribes, many of whom had never before seen a white man, to relate the hard- ships and trials of the great missionary, would put too severe a tax on your space, so I hurry on to the t Casas Grandes. THE PRIEST AND THE RUINS. In 109-i Lieutenant Juan Mateo Mange, nephew of Petriz de Crusate, ex-governor of New Mexico, was commissioned to accompany Father Kino on his visits to the Indian tribes and his exploring expeditions, ex-peditions, and to report in writing: what he saw and learned. Mange joined the great priest at his mission of Our Lady of Sorrows on February 7, 1694; they crossed the Sierra del Comedio, and on the loth reached the coast, first of white men from Pimeria Alto from the cast to look out upon the waters of the creat erulf. At Turbutana, Mange left the priest for a time and went up the Colorado river to a rancheria named Cups, so called from a smoking, rocky cave in the neighborhood. Returning he joined Kino at Caborca, bringing news of famous ruins said to exist on the banks of a river entering into the Colorado or River of the Immaculate Conception, as Kino christened it. This was the first intimation, writes Elliott Coues. the Spaniards had of these remarkable buildings. The party now returned to the mission of Our Lady of Sorrows, Sonora. , While here, some Indians, Pimas from San Xavier on the Santa Cruz, Arizona, Ari-zona, came on a visit to the priest, who questioned them on the existence of the pre-historic ruins on the Gila river. They informed him that these wonderful ruins were standing on the desert, but of their origin they knew nothing. DISCOVERY OF THE CASAS GRANDES. In October, 1694, Kino accompanied and settled Francis Xavier Saeta as missionary at Caborca, where he was murdered by the Yumas April 2, 1695. Leaving Saeta at this mission. Father Kino now set out alone on an expedition to the Casas Grandes. He reached the Gila, camped for the night, and on the morning of November 30 entered the region of the ruins and in the largest of the three buildings offred up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Mange on page 25 of his published report, in Spanish, gives the whole history and bestows great praise on Kino. The priest was the first white man who saw and accurately described these now famous pre-Columbian pre-Columbian ruins. This wonderful priest tramped the valley of the Santa Cruz to the Gila. Passing down the Gila to its mouth, after exploring the country, he retraced his steps, penetrating the land north of the Gila river for some distance and ascended as-cended the Salt river and other northern branches of the Gila. His explorations did not end here. Proceeding east, he explored the valley of the San Pedro and its branches, then the Gila to the Mim-bres, Mim-bres, and on to the Rio Grande and the Messila valley. He went from Yuma, crossed the Colorado desert and traced the river to its mouth. He visited vis-ited sixty-three tribes, sub-tribes and families, studying the wars, customs, traditions, folk-lore and habits of the Indians. He founded missions, built churches, made maps and tracings, took observations obser-vations and left us a mass of valuable information on the botany, geology and temperature of the country. His map was in his time and long after his death the best delineation of Sonora, southern Arizona and the gulf coast of southern California, His life was an unparalelled record of devotion, heroism he-roism and dauntless courage. Of him we may re peat what Bacon wrote of Pius V., to whom Christendom Chris-tendom is indebted for the victory of Lepanto: ''I am astonished that the Roman church has not yet canonized this great man." This was the man who, Mr. Haskins tells us "chanted a mass in the Casa Grande, when he was crossing the desert as a penance for his sins." Nothing but the deplorable darkness of Protestant readers on Catholic subjects saves men like Mr. Haskins from relegation to the scrap heap. LAST DAYS OF A GREAT PRIEST. On February 5, 1702, Father Kino, accompanied by Father Gouzalez (the same missionary who was with Kino on ln's excursion to the mouth of the Colorado) started on a missionary expedition to the Gila Indians and went from tribe to tribe till he arrived at the mission of St. Ignatius on the Colorado Colo-rado river. Here Father Gouzalez, worn out with hardship and. illness, lay down and died. After giving giv-ing Christian burial to his priestly companion, the great priest rpturned to his mission in Sonora. His report of this entrada or expedition bears the date April 2, 1702. He never again saw the Colorado or Gila. He was growing old and his strong constitution con-stitution was beginning to give way under the weight of years, and the wear and tear of missionary mission-ary travel and missionary labor. His last and, in a sense, his most extended journey"was made toward to-ward the north during the autumn of 1706. He left his mission late in October, and swinging around-by way of Remedios; made his wonderful tour to the Santa Clara mountains, preaching to and evangelizing the tribes on his way. From the summit of Santa Clara he looked out for the last time on the waters of the Gulf of California, noting not-ing the continuity of Lower California from Pimeria, Pi-meria, the main land, and fixing for all time its peninsular pen-insular character. This was the last, long earthly pilgrimage of the great Jesuit and typical missionary mission-ary whose explorations and fearless endurance on behalf of perishing souls lift him unto a plane of cononization and a pedestal of fame. He returned to his mission in Sonora, where he passed his few remaining years, training his swarthy converts in decency and clean living, making short visits to neighboring pueblos and adding by his heroism and saintly life another name to the catalogus of brilliant bril-liant and wonderful men for whom the world and the church are indebted to the Society of Jesus. He died in 1711, aged 70, having surrendered thirty of these seventy years to the saving and civilizing of the Sonora and Arizona members of that strange end mysterious race, the American Indian. Let us hope that some day a Catholic Parkman will appear, gifted with his marvelous fa'cination of style, his tireless industry, his command of language, lan-guage, with an appreciation of the supernatural and an admiration of saintly asceticism, which the Harvard master had not, and do for the dauntless Spanish missionaries of Lower California, the coast and the southwest what he did for the French missionary mis-sionary priests of Canada and western- New York when he bequeathed to us his immortal Jesuits of North America. Loretto. L. C. |