CHINO (Kino), Eusebio Francesco. — One of the most famous Italian missionaries in America, born in Segno in Val di Non (Trento) in August 1645, died in Santa Magdalena (Mexico) on 15 May 1711. He entered (1665) the Society of Jesus, studied philosophy and theology at the University of Ingolstadt, and began to study mathematics and astronomy with a view to the missions of the East, which he aspired to. He was finally able to embark from Genoa on 12 June 1678, not for the East but for Mexico; detained in Spain by various setbacks, he disembarked in America in June 1681. From then on, he adopted the form Kino for his name, under which he is best known outside Italy.
What he accomplished in thirty years as a missionary, organizer, explorer, and cartographer is extraordinary. He was first attached, with the title of royal cosmographer, to the expedition of Admiral Isidoro Atondo, tasked with exploring Lower California, then believed to be an island, and opening it to the Gospel. Due to the extreme poverty of the region, C. had to abandon the stations at La Paz and later at San Bruno in 1686, but he had had time to explore much of the country, draw up the first maps, and prepare for the future resumption of the mission. In 1687, C. definitively entered his field of apostolate, Upper Pimeria, in what are now the states of Sonora (Mexico) and Arizona (United States). A zealous and skilled missionary (in 24 years he baptized nearly 5,000 Indians), he proved to be above all a pioneer and organizer. Not only did he ensure the economic autonomy of the flourishing central mission of Our Lady of Dolores and its immediate branches, but he also contributed to other foundations (among which the later famous mission of San Francisco del Bac); indeed, he wanted the missions of Pimeria to assist those of much poorer Lower California. All this was achieved through careful organization of cultivation and especially livestock farming. On the other hand, as a rider of prodigious endurance, he frequently visited neighboring tribes, pushing ever further north, winning the friendship of the Indians, baptizing children, and having the authority of the King of Spain recognized, even by the escorting officer. After the 1695 revolt, which cost the life of the young Fr. Francesco Saetta, he played an important role as a peacemaker.
Of C.’s great explorations, the best known for its results was the one he pushed in 1700 as far as the mouth of the Colorado River, to demonstrate that Lower California is not an island but a peninsula; the journey had to be repeated several times to convince the skeptics.
In 1705, C., already in his sixties, was tasked with the temporal organization of all the missions of Pimeria, and he multiplied his activity, especially as a builder of churches. He had gone to dedicate one of them in Santa Magdalena when death overtook him.
He left highly valuable contributions to the history and geography of colonial America. Among his principal writings are: letters to his superiors (some published in various journals, such as Archivum historicum S. I., 1934), an important group of letters to his benefactress, the Duchess of Aveiro (manuscript in the Bancroft Library, Berkeley, Cal.), the diaries of individual explorations (some printed in various Mexican collections), and the unpublished account of the martyrdom of Fr. Saetta. The most important is a kind of autobiography, entitled: *Favores celestiales de Jesu's de Maria S.ma... en las nuevas conquistas y nuevas conversiones del Nuevo Reino de la Nueva Navarra*. It was rediscovered and published in English by Prof. H. E. Bolton: *Kino’s Historical Memoir of Pimeria Alta* (2 vols., Cleveland 1919); the original Spanish text was later published by F. Fernandez del Castillo and E. Bose under the title *Las misiones de Sonora y Arizona* (Mexico City 1922).
Of the geographical maps, partly lost, which C. kept perfecting from journey to journey, the most famous are the first of California, one of which was splendidly published in *Geographia hierarchica* by Fr. Enrico Scherer, an old teacher of C.’s (Munich 1703); a *Grande teatro de los trabajos apostólicos de la Compañía de Jesu's en la América septentrional* (1696), published twice in Paris by N. le Fer (1705 and 1720), without mentioning the author; then the maps, repeatedly reprinted from 1705 onward, of the passage from the land of Pimeria to California. The originals are in Bolton, *Rim of Christendom*.