Asistencias or visitas were smaller sub-missions of Catholic missions established during the 16th-19th centuries of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Philippines. They allowed the Catholic church and the Spanish crown to extend their reach into native populations at a modest cost.
Asistencias served missions and were much smaller than the main missions with living quarters, workshops and crops in addition to a church. They were typically staffed with a small group of clergymen and a relatively small group of indigenous neophytes in order to maintain the complex.
Particularly strategic asistencias were later elevated to the status of a full mission. This typically included an expansion of existing facilities to support a larger clergy and indigenous neophyte population, improvement of basic infrastructure such as roads, and rechristening under a new Catholic saint. [1] [2]
In Spanish Florida, visitas were mission stations without a resident missionary. Church buildings at visitas were simple, or sometimes absent. [3] Visitas were often in satellite villages associated with a town with a doctrina (a mission with one or more resident missionaries). .
The Spanish mission system in America first started in what they called La Florida (Spanish Florida), which included Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
The first visita that was founded and documented seems to be a visita established in the village of Soloy (in modern day Florida). Pedro Menéndez de Avilés designated it to become a blockhouse in 1567, but it became a visita to Mission Nombre de Dios in the beginning of the 1600s. [4]
More visitas were established in Spanish Florida during the early 1600s, but the only ones that seem to have been documented were four visitas to Mission San Pedro de Mocama and nine visitas to Mission San Juan del Puerto. [4]
Starting in 1684 with the founding of Mission San Bruno in Baja California Sur by Spanish admiral Isidro de Atondo y Antillón and Father Eusebio Kino, [5] missions started to be founded in Baja California and Baja California Sur, along with visitas.
The first visita founded there was San Juan Bautista Londó in 1699, which served Mission Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó. [6] The final visita in Baja California and Baja California Sur was established in 1798 as San Telmo, which served Mission Santo Domingo de la Frontera. [7]
In 1687, Father Eusebio Kino started to establish missions in Pimería Alta, as well as visitas. In what is modern day Arizona, he established visitas at Huachuca, Quiburi, and Santa Cruz, as well as one called San Ignacio de Sonoitac. [8] [9]
Sonoitac was originally just a ranchería which was said to have a bigger population than the Guevavi, Tumacácori, and Calabazas settlements. A church was built, it became a visita, and it was named San Ignacio de Sonoitac after or around 1737. [10]
After the Pima revolt of 1751, a new church was built at Sonoitac, as well as at Tumacácori, and Toacuquita (Toaqui, which became the Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas). Sonoitac apparently turned into a formal mission and was abandoned sometime in the 1780's. [10]
In 1692, San Agustín del Tucson was established by Kino as a visita to Mission San Xavier del Bac, but became a mission in 1768 as Mission San Cosme y Damián de Tucsón. [11]
The mission system in California started with the founding of Mission San Diego de Alcala in 1769 by Father Junipero Serra. [12] The first asistencia in California, Santa Paula, was founded around 1782 to Mission San Buenaventura. [13] More asistencias were established to 6 out of the 21 missions in California.
The following are lists of asistencias in America, sorted by year of establishment.
| Name | Image | Location | Established | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz | Along the San Pedro River | 1680s or after | Santa Cruz is the name of the pueblo. The source says the visita Santa Cruz (along with Quiburi) were founded along the San Pedro River. The name might have been Santa Cruz de Pitaitutgam or Santa Cruz de Gaybanipite. | [18] [19] | |
| San Agustín |  | 32.21346, -110.98703 | 1692 | It served Mission San Xavier del Bac. In 1768, it was elevated to the status of mission and became the Mission San Cosme y Damián de Tucsón. | [9] |
| San Martín de Aribac | Arivaca | 1695 | It served Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi. Described as being 10 leagues (26 miles) away from Guevavi, which is only a couple miles off from the current measurement of 27.8 miles. | [18] [19] [20] | |
| San Pablo de Quiburi | Along the San Pedro River | 1690s or after | Quiburi (San Pablo de Quiburi is possibly the name of it rather than the visita) was a Sobaipuri ranchería. | [8] [21] | |
| San Ignacio de Sonoitac |  | Near Patagonia | Around or after 1737 | It became a visita around or after 1737 (but before 1751). It served Mission San Cayetano de Tumacácori.and Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi. | [22] |
| Huachuca | Babacomari Ranch [21] | Likely late 17th or early 18th century | Huachuca may be the name of the pueblo it was made in rather than the name of the visita itself. | [18] |
| Name | Location | Established | Notes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soloy | Florida | 1567 | Originally a blockhouse, but by the beginning of the 1600s, became a visita of Mission Nombre de Dios. | [23] |
| Santa María de la Sena | 30.57008, -81.45583 [24] [25] [26] [27] (Florida) | 1602 | It served Mission San Pedro de Mocama. | [28] |
| San Antonio | Possibly Georgia | 1602 | It served Mission San Pedro de Mocama. | [29] |
| Chica Faya la Madalena | Possibly Georgia | By 1602 | It served Mission San Pedro de Mocama. | [29] |
| Veracruz | Florida | 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was one-half league away from the mission. | [29] |
| Molo/Moloa | Florida | By 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was five leagues from the mission. | [29] |
| Potayo | Florida | By 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was four leagues from the mission. | [30] |
| San Mateo | Florida | By 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was two leagues from the mission. | [30] |
| San Pablo | Florida | By 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was one league and a half away from the mission. | [30] |
| Hicachirico | Florida | 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was one league from the mission. | [31] |
| Chinisca | Florida | By 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was one league and a half from the mission. | [31] |
| Carabay/Sarabay | Florida | By 1602 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was a fourth of a league from the mission. | [31] |
| Olatayco | Possibly Georgia | By 1604 | It served Mission San Pedro de Mocama. | [32] |
| Yoa | Georgia | By 1609 | It served Mission Santa Catalina de Guale. Identified by John Tate Lanning as "two leagues up a mainland river back of the bars of Zapala [Sapelo Sound] and Cofonufo [St. Catherines Sound]". | [33] |
| Piritiriba | Florida | 1701 | It served Mission San Juan del Puerto. It was three leagues away from the mission. | [34] |
The following are lists of asistencias in Mexico, sorted by year of establishment.
| Name | Image | Location | Established | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calamajué | 29°25′16″N114°11′42″W / 29.42111°N 114.19500°W | 1766 | It served Misión San Francisco Borja. | [35] | |
| San Juan de Dios |  | 30°10′58″N115°10′05″W / 30.18278°N 115.16806°W | 1769 | It served Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá. | [36] |
| San Telmo |  | 30°58′05″N116°05′31″W / 30.96806°N 116.09194°W | 1798 | It served Misión Santo Domingo de la Frontera. | [7] |
| San Isidoro |  | 30°45′55″N115°32′50″W / 30.76528°N 115.54722°W | It served Misión San Pedro Mártir de Verona. | [37] | |
| Santa Ana |  | 28°41′25″N113°49′14″W / 28.69028°N 113.82056°W | It served Misión San Francisco Borja de Adac. | [38] |
 |
| Name | Image | Location | Established | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concepción Curimpo | After 1614 | It served Mission Natividad Navojoa. | [48] | ||
| Espíritu Santo Cócorit | Before 1617 | Established as a mission some time before 1617. After 1617, it served Mission Santa Rosa de Bácum. | [49] | ||
| San Francisco Buenavista | 1619 | It served Mission San Francisco Xavier de Cumuripa. In 1765, a presidio was built here, as well as a new church whose construction started in 1772. The visita is now underwater. | [50] | ||
| San Francisco Xavier de Cumuripa | 1619 | It originally served Mission San Francisco de Borja de Tecoripa. Later it became a headquarters mission with two visitas. | [49] | ||
| San José de Pimas | 1620 | It originally served Mission San Francisco de Borja de Tecoripa. It became a headquarters mission in 1771. | [51] | ||
| San Joaquin y Santa Ana de Nuri | 1622 | It served Mission Santa Maria de Movas. | [52] | ||
| San Ignacio Bacanora | 1627 | It originally served Mission San Xavier de Arivechi, but by 1793, it served Mission Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Sahuaripa. | [53] | ||
| Santa Rosalía de Onapa | 1627 | It served Mission San Xavier de Arivechi. It eventually became a mission with two/three visitas. | [52] | ||
| Pondia | 1627 | It originally served Mission San Xavier de Arivechi. | [51] | ||
| Nuestra Senora Asuncion Alamos | 1629 | It served Mission San José de Mátape. | [53] | ||
| Nuestra Señora de la Concepción de Baviácora | 1638 | It was originally founded as a head mission, with a visita at San Pedro Aconchi. Later it became a visita of Aconchi. | [50] | ||
| Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Nacameri | 1638 | It served Mission San Miguel de Ures, Mission Nuestra Señora del Populo del Seri, and Mission Nuestra Señora de la Ascención de Opodepe, in chronological order. | [52] | ||
| San Pedro Aconchi | 1639 | It was initially founded as a visita of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Concepción de Baviácora. Over time, that mission became its visita. | [54] | ||
| Nuestra Señora de los Remedios de Beramitzi |  | 30.00765, -110.21768 | 1639 | It originally served Mission San Lorenzo de Güepaca. It eventually became a head mission, with the mission it used to serve (Guepaca) as its visita. | [54] |
| Nuestra Señora de la Ascención de Opodepe | 1644 | Originally served Mission Los Santos Reyes de Cucurpe. In 1762, it became a mission, with Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Nacameri as its visita. | [51] | ||
| San Luis Gonzága de Bacadéhuachi | 1645 | It served Mission Nuestra Señora de Nácori Chico. Eventually, it became a mission with two visitas (one of them being San Ignacio Mochapa). | [53] | ||
| San Ignacio Mochapa | 1645 | It served Mission San Luis Gonzága de Bacadéhuachi | [55] | ||
| San Miguel de Bavispe | 1645 | It served Mission Santa María Asunción Baserac. | [50] | ||
| San Juan Evangelista de Huachinera | 1645 | Originally served Mission Santa María de Baserac. It became a mission by 1688 and had one visita. | [48] | ||
| San Ignacio de Oputo | 1645 | It served Mission San Francisco Xavier de Guásavas. | [51] | ||
| Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Cumpas | 1645 | It originally served Mission San Miguel Arcángel de Oposura, then served Mission San Francisco Xavier de Guásavas. | [49] | ||
| San Miguel Bacoachi | 1648 | It served Mission Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Arizpe. Apparently either became a mission or was a mission at one point. | [53] | ||
| San José de Chinapa | 1648 | It served Mission Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Arizpe. Briefly an independent mission. | [49] | ||
| San Francisco Xavier de Maicoba | 1676 | It served Mission San Idelfonso de Yécora. | [55] | ||
| San José de Imuris | 1687 | It served Mission (Nuestro Padre) de San Ignacio de Cabórica. | [55] | ||
| San Juan de Bisani(n)g |  | Likely 1690's | It served Mission La Purísima Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Caborca. On Valentine's Day, 1694, it became a mission, and was named San Valentin del Bizani. However, it stayed as a visita for most of its life after. | [56] [57] | |
| Santa María Magdalena |  | 30.6302, -110.97343 | 1690 | It served Mission (Nuestro Padre) de San Ignacio de Cabórica. It may have had a visita at one point. | [55] [58] [59] |
| San Antonio (Paduano) de(l) Oquitoa |  | 30.74371, -111.73494 | 1690 | Founded by Father Eusebio Kino as a visita to Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama. In 1756 it was a visita of Mission Santa Teresa de Atil. | [51] [60] |
| Santa Teresa de Atil | 1692 | It served Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama. | |||
| San Diego del Pitiquito |  | 30.67504, -112.05761 | 1694 | It served Mission La Purísima Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Caborca. | [51] [61] |
| San Luis Baconacos | 1697 | At various times, it served Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi. Originally, Father Eusebio Kino founded a ranch here, and by 1706 its church was built. | [50] | ||
| Santa María de Bugota/Santa María de Suamca | 1698 | It served Mission Nuestra Señora del Pilar y Santiago de Cocóspera. Founded by Father Eusebio Kino. He said the first mass there in 1698, but the actual church was built in 1706. | [62] | ||
| San Ambrosio del Busanic y Tucubavia | 1698 | It served Mission Santa Gertrudis del Sáric. | [62] | ||
| San Bernardo de Aquimuri | Between 1700-1701 | Founded by Father Eusebio Kino. It served Mission Santa Gertrudis del Sáric. By 1706, a church was built here, and stood till at least 1772. | [53] | ||
| San Ildefonso de Ostimuri | It served Mission Santa Rosalia de Onapa. | [51] |
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