Félix Caballero was a Dominican priest. He played an important part in the history of the

missions Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion * Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, and also the opening up of the route to

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

. Caballero arrived at

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

on December 19, 1812 and traveled to Baja California in July, 1814. The first records of his activities on the

Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

can be traced back to December 15 of that year, where he presided over a

burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

service at

Misión San Vicente Ferrer Mission San Vicente Ferrer ( es, Misión San Vicente Ferrer) was founded in August 1780 by the Dominican missionaries Miguel Hidalgo and Joaquin Valero among the Paipai Indians of northwestern Baja California, Mexico. San Vicente was one of the ...

. In 1815, he was placed in charge of the

Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera :''Another mission bearing the name San Miguel Arcángel is the Mission San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel, California.'' Mission San Miguel ( es, Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera) was a Spanish mission established on 28 March 1787 ...

. In 1822 he was one of only three Dominicans in the mission. On April 14, 1823, Father Caballero and two companions set out from Mission Santa Catalina to reconnoiter a road between

Las Californias The Californias (Spanish: ''Las Californias''), occasionally known as The Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican st ...

and

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

, closed since the revolt of the Yuma in the 1780s. They crossed the lower

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

Cocopa The Cocopah (Cocopah: Xawitt Kwñchawaay) are Native Americans who live in Baja California, Mexico, and Arizona, United States. In the United States, Cocopah people belong to the federally recognized Cocopah Tribe of Arizona. Name The C ...

territory to avoid the Yumas, then the

Tinajas Altas El Camino del Diablo (Spanish, meaning "The Devil's Highway"), also known as El Camino del Muerto, Sonora Trail, Sonoyta-Yuma Trail, Yuma-Caborca Trail, and Old Yuma Trail, is a historic road that passes through some of the most remote and inhos ...

, then turned northeast to reach the Gila River where he encountered some villages of friendly

Halchidhoma The Halchidhoma ( Maricopa: Xalychidom Piipaa or Xalychidom Piipaash – 'people who live toward the water') are an Indian tribe now living mostly on the Salt River reservation, but formerly native to the area along the lower Colorado River in Ca ...

s, then continued up the Gila through Cocomaricopa and

Pima Pima or PIMA may refer to: People * Pima people, the Akimel O'odham, Indigenous peoples in Arizona (U.S.) and Sonora (Mexico) Places * Pima, Arizona, a town in Graham County * Pima County, Arizona * Pima Canyon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains ...

territory and reached Tucson twelve walking days after leaving Santa Catalina and then continued on to

Arizpe Arizpe (or Arispe) is a small town and the municipal seat of the Arizpe Municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located at 30°20'"N 110°09'"W. The area of the municipality is 2,806.78 sq.km. The population in 2005 was ...

. He returned to Mission Santa Catalina from Tucson with a military expedition under Captain José Romero who was to establish a route for a mail service through the region. In 1834 he founded

Misión de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte Mission Guadalupe del Norte ( es, Misión Guadalupe del Norte), also known as Misión de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte, is a Spanish mission located in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California. It was founded by the Dominican missionary Fé ...

, the last Dominican mission to be established in California. The mission survived only until 1840, when a local chief, Jatñil, who had previously provided support to the missions, led a rebellion in response to forced conversions of his people.Robert H. Jackson, ''From Savages to Subjects: Missions in the History of the American Southwest'' (

M. E. Sharpe M. E. Sharpe, Inc., an academic publisher, was founded by Myron Sharpe in 1958 with the original purpose of publishing translations from Russian in the social sciences and humanities. These translations were published in a series of journals, the ...

, 2000), , p. 74
Excerpts available
at

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callallero, Felix Spanish Dominicans Roman Catholic missionaries in Mexico History of Baja California 19th-century Mexican Roman Catholic priests Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown Spanish expatriates in Mexico