Kino, Eusebius Franciscus b.August 10 or August 15, 1645; Segno, Diocese of Trent d. March 15, 1711; Santa Maria Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico
Jesuit explorer of California. Born in the diocese of Trent and educated in Bavaria, Eusebius Chino freely admitted being unsure how to identify himself and considered himself Italian by birth and German by education and upbringing.
His colleagues referred to him as “the Bavarian.” In 1665 Chino joined the Society of Jesus and adopted the name “Franciscus” to fulfill a vow to St. Francis Xavier for saving him from a desperate illness. A world map created by his mathematics professor at Ingolstadt and the work of his cousin Martino Martini in China further inspired Chino to become a missionary. Chino and fellow Tyrolese jesuit Antonio Kerschpamer were to decide who would go to Mexico and who to the Philippines. Chino desperately hoped to reach the Philippines, the springboard into China, but he offered the decision to his companion. When Kerschpamer refused this gesture, they had to resolve their pious quarrel by drawing lots. Chino’s fate was Mexico, and only feverish prayer restored serenity to his soul. He left Bavaria in 1678 and arrived in Mexico in 1681. Upon his arrival, he realized that “Chino,” the Spanish word for “Chinese,” bore such vivid negative connotations that he changed his name to Kino, which preserved the original Italian pronunciation.In 1687 Kino founded the mission Nuestra Senora de los Dolores in the Pimerιa Alta region, now in the Mexican state of Sonora, and fought against the Pima’s forced labor in the silver mines. Kino was a resourceful teacher of Christianity. Once he wet down some flies so that they appeared dead and then laid them out in the sun. When the heat revived them, the flies flew away, and the natives cried out, “Ibimuhueite!” Kino had found the word for “resurrection” (Kino 1985). On another occasion he used a world map to explain the global expansion of Christianity. When recruiting additional missionaries, Kino preferred German Jesuits for his missions in Mexico “because these climates are somewhat cold,” and he reported home that his spiritual charges were building a guest house for anyone who might come from his “beloved province of Upper Germany” (Kino 1683).
For Kino, missionary work went hand in hand with exploration. In 1691 he made the first of many expeditions to what would become modern Arizona, and by locating the source of the Colorado River he definitely proved that (Baja) California was not an island. A key objective of much of the land exploration was to locate a safe haven in California for the China galleons to avoid having to ship goods back from Mexico City overland to Sonora and Sinaloa. Arguing that this would follow upon the successful conversion of Sonora, Kino envisaged such a port at San Diego or at Todos Santos (modern Ensenada). In addition to allowing direct trade, Kino noted, such an arrangement would allow the galleons to restock their food supply. Kino had not been the only advocate of a Californian port of call, but the Jesuits’ work in the north made this especially vital to the society. Kino also asserted the existence north of Mendocino of a single narrow Strait of Anian, no more than twelve leagues across, that separated America from China. He predicted that explorations far to the north of what he called “Upper California” or “New Philippines” might result in a more expedient route to Europe, partly overland and partly through the North Sea. Kino sent maps of his explorations to quicken the generosity of potential mission benefactors.
Upon his death, Kino was eulogized for “discovering lands, converting souls.” However, he remained largely forgotten until 1907, when Herbert Bolton discovered his major report, Favores Celestiales, in Mexico’s Archivo General de la Nacion. Over a hundred of Kino’s letters and reports survive in Mexican, German, American, and Vatican archives.
Luke Clossey
See also Mexico, German Jesuits in
References and Further Reading
Bolton, Herbert Eugene. Rim of Christendom: A Biography of Eusebio Francisco Kino, Pacific Coast Pioneer. New York: Macmillan, 1936.
Bolton, Herbert Eugene, ed. Kino’s Historical Memoir of Pimeria Alta. A Contemporary Account of the Beginnings of California, Sonora, and Arizona, by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, S. J., Pioneer Missionary Explorer, Cartographer, and Ranchman. 1683—1711. 2 vols. Spain and the West 3-4, Semicentennial Publications of the University of California. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1919.
Burrus, Ernest J. Kino and the Cartography of Northwestern New Spain. Tuscon: Arizona Pioneers’ Historical Society, 1965.
Kino, Euseibius. Cronica de la Pimeria Alta: Favores Celestiales. Hermosillo: Gobierno del Estado de Sonora, 1985, 1913, I.ii.1, 2, 6.
Kino, San Lucas—San Bruno, to P. Paul Zingnis, with Diary of the Trip to California, September 29 to December 15, 1683, Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Munchen Jes. 607 Mappe Eusebius Kinus II 607/127.