Kino Is Still At It!

TUCSON, Ariz. - At sunrise and sunset, La Purisima Concepcion de Nuestra Senora de Caborca is aglow.

This church, a model of Tucson's Mission San Xavier del Bac, and among the 21 missions founded by 17th-century Jesuit Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino, is having a bicentennial celebration May 6-9, though swine-flu concerns may put a damper on the festivities. Kino founded the missions in the Pimeria Alta, in what is now Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona.

La Purisima Concepcion de Nuestra Senora de Caborca, or the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady of Caborca, was built under the direction of Franciscan priests about a kilometer, or less than a mile, east of where Kino founded the original mission, which was built after October 1694. Construction of the current church began in 1803 and it was dedicated May 8, 1809.

This mission is about four hours southwest of Tucson. ``The festivities will go on unless the government tells us otherwise because of the swine flu,'' said Gloria Elena Santini, 46, president of the Patronato for the Restoration of the Temple of the Immaculate Conception of Caborca.

The nonprofit patronato group has raised $600,000 over five years for the latest renovations, which took four years to complete, said Santini, a 1985 University of Arizona graduate. These latest renovations include roof repairs, wood restoration, floor replacement, electrical installation and outdoor lighting, restoration of outer and interior walls and landscaping. Santini's interest in the mission came after friends and family asked about its history, and she had no answers. ``I went to Jose Jesus Valenzuela, the city's historian, and he gave me books and documents to read and he opened the mission's doors and I stepped inside it and fell in love,'' recalled Santini. ``I think Gloria is the piece that was needed for the restoration to forge ahead,'' said Valenzuela, 65. ``She is like the battery in a watch, and without the battery the watch does not function.''

Floodwaters dating back to 1890 damaged the mission, destroying the rear of the church and its convento. Santini said other floods in 1899, 1915 and 1917 destroyed large portions of the church, too.

In 1957, restoration work began again to repair the sanctuary and the main altar. The mission stopped being an active church in the 1930s, and in 1985 the Mexican government designated it a national monument. The government released it to the Archdiocese of Hermosillo in 1997, and the mission is under Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria. Mass is celebrated at the mission at 6 p.m. on Saturdays and it can be requested for special occasions. Santini and the patronato's work for the latest renovations included contacting Adopt A Work of Art, an organization that restores monuments throughout Mexico. ``For every peso raised by the community, the state and the federal government each pitched in one peso. This helped us tremendously in raising the money,'' Santini said. She noted that the patronato's effort also was recognized by the World Monuments Fund, stating that the mission was worthy to be saved.

The patronato worked with architects, engineers and restoration experts who spent months on scaffolds repairing damage and cleaning the interior walls to get to the original layer of artwork. There were 11 original religious images in the mission, Santini said while pointing to historic photographs of the church's interior that are displayed in a museum at the site. ``Only two remain, the Immaculate Conception and the baby Jesus,''

said Santini. The statues were saved because they were at the house of a seamstress who was working on clothing for them when federal agents entered the church, grabbed the statues and burned them in front of the mission.

``It was during a religious persecution in 1933 under President Plutarco Elias Calles. Many priests were killed during that time,''

Santini said. The original Immaculate Conception is displayed above the main altar. It underwent a $4,000 restoration by artist Mariana Straulino in Mexico City in 1999. ``The mission attracts families once again,'' said Margarita Borquez, 46, a member of the patronato. ``People have survived horrible conditions, and so has the mission. Now it is time to celebrate all the hard work people have done, and enjoy the beauty of it all,'' Borquez said.

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