An Award-Winning Author
In 1663 eighteen-year-old Eusebio Kino survives fatal illness he credits to the intercession of his patron, Saint Francis Xavier. He vows to follow his patron's missionary footsteps to China. Over the next thirty years, Padre Kino extended the frontier of Christendom west, establishing mission rancheria from the "island" of California to Pimeria Alta in present-day Sonora Mexico and Southern Arizona. He introduced cattle ranching and cultivation of wheat to the southwest. In fulfilling his purpose, Padre Kino enriched the lives of those he served while his explorations changed the face of a continent. Vaquero Padre is Eusebio Kino's story, as he might have told it.