Patronato’s Christmas at San Xavier
returns to the Mission for 2023
Patronato’s beloved concert series that, for many, defines the beginning of the holiday season in Southern Arizona returns December 6-7, 2023.
All concert performances are SOLD OUT!
Thank you for supporting conservation and preservation at San Xavier del Bac.
Patronato’s Virtual Concert
THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS
OUR LEAD SPONSOR
OUR CORPORATE SUPPORTERS
OUR FAMILY SUPPORTERS
Pat and Chuck Pettis
The Bill Horst Family
Laura and Arch Brown
The Ginny L. Clements Charitable Trust and Tom Rogers
Mary and Fred Frelinghuysen
Barbara and Hank Peck
Kenneth J. and Margaret F. McNealy
Becky and Bill LaMear
Don Bennett Moon Foundation
Vera and Richard DeJong
In-kind Gifts
Highlights from our Virtual Concert in 2021
Our Mission
Patronato San Xavier funds and directs ethical conservation, conducts scientific research, and conveys the significance of Mission San Xavier del Bac, a National Historic Landmark in the community of Wa:k, part of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Free Docent tours return to the Mission!
COVID closed the Patronato San Xavier’s popular docent lead tours almost three years ago but starting this month, they are back. Because sections of the mission remain closed, the thirty minute tours share information outside the church about the people who populated the borderlands area, the arrival of Father Kino and the building of the present church.
Tour times vary by season. To see current times for Public Tours, click on the “Learn More” button below.
Special Group Tours and School Tours remain temporarily suspended.
The Next Priority Project
With the conservation of the art work in the highest sections of the Mission (the dome and the octagonal drum) completing this month, we are now narrowing focus to the next major project, the iconic facade. Already a number of research phase are underway that will inform the protocols to be used. These will be tested on a sample panel of the facade in the fall. The scope of the project is being expanded; the estipite columns are now likely to be replaced crafting ones that more closely align with the photographic evidence fro the 1870’s. The current balcony will also be replaced with a replica again that will draw on the earliest photographic evidence. We now feel that both the cost estimates and the timing of this major project will need to change and will be contingent on the discoveries that become apparent as research study reveals additional information.
Our thanks to Robert Shea for this incredible shot of the blood moon over Mission San Xavier del Bac on January 31, 2018.
In The News
Close look at Mission San Xavier’s intricate entrance reveals surprises
By Henry Brean | Arizona Daily Star
Art conservators found something staring back at them when they climbed the scaffolding last month to study the façade of Southern Arizona’s most famous church. As it turns out, the doomsday mouse at San Xavier del Bac has round, metal nails for eyes. That was news to Tim Lewis and Matilde Rubio, who have worked on artwork at the mission for decades.
Conservation of Mission San Xavier’s East Tower underway; work to be completed within a year
(March 22, 2021— Tucson, Ariz.)— The Patronato San Xavier has begun the second phase of work on...
Tucson Opinion: Preserving Mission San Xavier in a time of crisis |tucson.com
By Miles Green Special to the Arizona Daily Star. We don’t need to look east for our history. Mission San Xavier, designated as one of the first National Historic Landmarks in 1960, is an active parish that typically welcomes over 200,000 visitors a year. Visits inside the church are currently limited to 5 minutes.