1752
The cross-shaped church completed
In 1752 the brick church was finished, built in the form of a cross and facing east toward the rising sun, the work begun by Fr Buttari and carried to completion by Fr Clement Thomassini. The parish's own history records that in Thomassini's time the great Feast of the Assumption took root here as its principal festival. Bertrand, writing from within the mission, gives this church a different titular feast: St Francis Xavier's, kept with a great novena every December.
Parish traditionThis moment rests on 5 sources.
What this source establishes
The Holy See's own record of the rite gives the year, and only the year. The day and month come from Auguste Jean — whose printed year for it is a misprint. The date is assembled from two sources, neither of which gives it whole.