San Ignacio de Caborica

Kino Mission San Ignacio de Caborica

The mission church in the quiet pueblo of San Ignacio, Sonora was one of the first missions established by Father Kino after his arrival in the region. The church is a nice example of Franciscan mission churches that were most likely constructed over the footprint of an existing Jesuit mission church.

Shortly arriving in the Pimería Alta region that is now Sonora, Padre Kino traveled to the rancheria of Caborica and because of the high concentration of indigenous Pima Indians there he chose to establish the Mission of San Ignacio de Caborica.

The mission’s first and longest-serving Jesuit priest was Father Agustín de Campos. His first mission church was destroyed in the Pima Uprising of 1695 but was rebuilt under his direction.

Padre de Campos had a long tenure in the mission, serving 43 years there. Because of his longevity and stability at the mission, he learned to speak various Pima dialects and provided training for incoming Jesuit missionaries.

De Campos died in 1737. His successor, Padre Gaspar Stiger, served the mission until his death in 1762. The third and final Jesuit priest at the San Ignacio Mission was Padre Francisco Pauer, who was the mission priest until 1767 when the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish territories.

Franciscan missionaries arrived at the San Ignacio Mission in 1768 and made it the cabecera (head church) for the area, with San Jose de Imuris and Santa Maria de Magdalena as its subordinate churches, or visitas.

The church of San Ignacio de Caborica has an open-hall sanctuary as did the original Jesuit Kino missions. And its interior walls are made from adobe (another Jesuit building characteristic) with an outer layer of sun-dried bricks added by Franciscans. Because of this, it appears that the church is not only in the same location as its previous Jesuit mission but was constructed over the original mission’s walls, most likely by Francisco Sánchez Zúñiga during his tenure as mission priest from 1772 to 1780.

The church is in what is now known as San Ignacio, Sonora, about seven miles away from Magdalena de Kino, Sonora. The interior of the church has basic wooden pews and various statues and paintings of Catholic saints. The altar is flanked by a large statue of the Virgin Mary on the left and a statue of Jesus on the right. A statue of Saint Ignacio stands among four columns in the upper center of back of the altar, with a painting of the Madonna, the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus in the center-top area.

The church has a rounded tower on the left and a geometrical tower on the right. A circular staircase made of steps hewn from mesquite lead to the upper level of the round tower. The entrance doors to the church have very old and intricate wood carvings.

The Church of San Ignacio de Caborica is located on one side of the grassy town plaza. It is a lovely example of a Sonoran mission church, a Franciscan church constructed on the footprint of its Jesuit-established predecessor, and is in a very quiet Northern Sonora  pueblo with very friendly people.