Jesuit priest Juan Maria Salvatierra arrived in the town of Cerocahui in 1680 and began the long process of converting Tarahumara Indians of Mexico‘s Copper Canyon to Christianity. During the ten years he spent in Cerocahui, he began construction of a mission church, built of simple adobe.
Lovely Mission at Cerocahui, Copper Canyon, Mexico
Salvatierra eventually moved on to Baja California, but other Jesuits arrived to carry on the work, which in addition to religious proselytizing included animal husbandry and the production of wine from cuttings they had brought over from the Old World. It was the wine that eventually resulted in the Jesuits being ousted from “New Spain.” When in 1767 the King of Spain replaced the Jesuits with Franciscan missionaries and ordered the vineyards destroyed in order to protect Spanish wine producers, the mission was closed overnight.
Interior of the Cerocahui Mission
It languished in an abandoned state until 1939, when Jesuit Padre Andres Lara arrived and began reconstruction of the mission. Lara replaced the crumbling adobe with pink quarried stone and topped the structure with a gold dome. Upon completion in 1955, rather that having a normal dedication ceremony, the church was consecrated, one of only two churches in the area that have ever been consecrated.
Today the Mission of San Francisco Javier of Cerocahui is the focal point for life in this tiny village of only 800 people, as well as being one of the most beautiful missions within Mexico’s Copper Canyon complex.
Photo Credit: Barbara Weibel
Article by Barbara Weibel of Hole In The Donut Travels
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2 Responses
[...] ever stayed in, Casa Margarita in Creel, Mexico. Creel is a major hub for visiting Mexico’s Copper Canyon and Casa Margarita is all the talk because of its cheap price of $100 pesos (~$8.50 USD) per night [...]
Buenas dias: I first saw the church when I passed by there in 1955 on my mule on my way back from months of exploring of the Barranca de Cobre. As usual I was traveling alone, and stayed at a home on the right hand side of the Church in the picture, to the west. It was the last home on the road leaving the town for the present Urique, on the curve. The town was practically abandoned. I did see and talk to the Priest at that time.
I later passed through there again on my way to look for a northern trail to the Gloria pan mine which lies to the south of Cerocahui. The abandoned mission of Tubares was on the other side of the rio fuerte..
Urique was reached by mule or foot only in those days also.
If anyone wiahes to cummunicate with me regarding conditions in those days, feel free to contact me –>
Joseph Curry Explorers Club m1-03 (www.explorers.org )
Alamos, Sonora
5760, Mexico
Real_Tayopa@hotmail.com
It was fascinating traveling in the region in those days.