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September 19, 2023By Carissa Krautscheid
Tucson is one of three international communities that recognizes Venerable Padre Kino as its patron. Segno, Italy, is the birthplace of Eusebio Chini, which was his birthname. Magdalena, Mexico, is where Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino, SJ, died and was buried. The regions surrounding Tucson are marked by Padre Kino’s presence here from 1687 until 1711.
On the recent anniversary of Padre Kino’s birth on August 10, local Jesuit priest, Fr. Peter Neeley, SJ, journeyed to Segno, Italy, for the town’s celebration of its native hero and a special Mass with the Archbishop of Trent. Fr. Neeley was joined by the Bishop of Nogales, José Leopoldo González González, Nogales and Tucson priests, members of the Chini family, and the local postulator of Padre Kino’s canonization, Fr. Claduio Murieta. A postulator is the person who oversees the beatification process. Fr. Murieta has met with the Vatican postulator in Rome, Fr. Pascual Cebollada, SJ, to provide him with documentation of Padre Kino’s life and legacy.
Padre Kino’s cause for canonization advanced in 2006 when he was named a Servant of God. In 2020, Pope Francis declared Padre Kino as venerable. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops defines venerable as, “the title given to a candidate for sainthood whose cause has not yet reached the beatification stage but whose heroic virtue has been declared by the pope.”
One possible miracle attributed to Padre Kino’s intercession is being investigated. Fr. Manuel Fidel, a priest in the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, was pronounced brain dead and doctors advised his mother to remove him from life support. However, she prayed for Padre Kino’s healing intercession. Two months later, Fr. Fidel miraculously regained consciousness.
The promoters of Padre Kino’s cause for canonization are working toward popular piety. They encourage the community to seek Padre Kino’s intercession, especially for healing. Having lived and served across what is now the Diocese of Tucson, for us, Padre Kino is unlike other saints in that he has walked the same paths, prayed in the same churches, tilled the same earth, and gazed upon the same Sonoran Desert as we do today.
Padre Kino is uniquely able to relate to our same struggles. He too built bridges between cultures, promoted peace amid division, cultivated crops in the middle of the desert, implemented strategies for water conservation, built mission churches, and worked tirelessly for the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as Padre Kino encouraged the holiness of the native people 400 years ago, he continues to walk with us on our own journeys towards holiness. Father Neeley encourages all of us to pray for Padre Kino’s canonization and to view him as our advocate and intercessor, someone who will pray for us, just as he prayed for the native people right here in the borderlands. Simply ask for Padre Kino’s intercession. Fr. Neeley said, “We believe that the communion of saints is still alive. They’re still part of our lives, and we ask them to intercede for us because we need some help.”
Third class relics of Padre Kino are available on some of the prayer cards used for Padre Kino’s intercession and canonization. These can be found at the Bishop Kicanas Pastoral Center in the first-floor lobby. The ribbons touched Padre Kino’s bones when his crypt in Magdalena was opened in March 2022. Relics are important because they connect us with the physical presence of saints. Just as you might treasure your grandmother’s rosary because it belonged to her, relics are physical remembrances that are either fragments of the Saint’s body (1st class relics), items or clothing that belonged to the Saint (2nd class relics), or objects that have touched the Saint’s body (3rd class relics). Fr. Neeley shared the connection of relics to the Gospel: the hemorrhaging woman simply reached out to touch the corner of Jesus’ garment and she was healed. Likewise, Fr. Neeley encourages us to reach out in faith, knowing that God is working miracles.
Padre Kino, pray for us!
