Full Moon shines over San Xavier Mission in Tucson, Arizona

Mission San Xavier del Bac is situated in the Santa Cruz Valley nine miles south of Tucson, Arizona. The Tohono O'odham (Papago) settlement in which the Mission is located was called Bac, "place where the water appears," because the Santa Cruz River, which ran partially underground, reappears on the surface nearby. The present church was built from 1783 - 1797 by the Franciscan Fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain and Juan Bautista Llorenz. Little is know about the actual labor of the construction of the church, but many believe it was the Tohono O'odham people. Why the one tower was never completed is still a mystery.