Francisco María Piccolo

Who was Francisco María Piccolo?

Francisco María Piccolo, S.J., was one of the first Jesuit missionaries in Baja California Sur, New Spain, now Mexico. His letters and reports are important sources for the ethnography and early history of the peninsula.

Piccolo was born in Palermo, Sicily on 25 March 1654, then part of the Kingdom of Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1673. He completed his period of formation and was ordained. He then volunteered for the missions of New Spain

Piccolo arrived in the Americas in 1684, when he went on to serve as a Jesuit missionary for 13 years among the Tarahumara of Chihuahua before being assigned to the new Baja California mission field. During this period, in 1689, he made his final religious profession as a member of the Society. Eusebio Francisco Kino, S.J., the original driving force behind the Jesuit effort who had made two unsuccessful attempts at establishing a mission, was unable to participate when his project finally became a reality. As a consequence, Juan Maria Salvatierra, S.J., was the lone missionary in establishing Mission Loreto among its Monqui inhabitants in 1697. Piccolo crossed the Gulf of California to be Salvatierra's assistant about a month later.