About San Martin de Porres Mission · South Tucson, Arizona
San Martin de Porres Mission is a small Catholic mission chapel in South Tucson, Arizona, situated at 418 W 39th Street and administered as one of several Yaqui community chapels served by the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. It operates as a dependent mission of St. Kateri Tekakwitha Indian Mission (507 W 29th Street, South Tucson) within the Diocese of Tucson, and its Sunday Mass is celebrated primarily for the local Yaqui Catholic community. The chapel plays a vital role in the centuries-old Yaqui Lenten tradition, serving as one of the Tucson sites where Yaqui faithful gather for ritual observances stretching back to the Jesuit-era missionary work in Sonora.
- Established
- 1996
- Patron
- Saint Martin de Porres
- Diocese
- Diocese of Tucson
Why belong here
San Martin de Porres Mission is a welcoming Catholic chapel rooted in the Yaqui community of South Tucson, where St. Martin de Porres — himself a Peruvian patron of mixed-race people and the poor — lends his name to a Hispanic and Indigenous congregation that has worshipped on West 39th Street since 1996. As part of St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, it shares the missionary spirit of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity and is one of the focal chapels for the Yaqui Lenten ceremonies that have been observed in Tucson for more than a century. Visitors and parishioners who worship here join a community that values cultural heritage, simple devotion, and the witness of one Sunday Mass each week as the spiritual heartbeat of the barrio.
Mass times at San Martin de Porres Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Before Sunday Mass (per published schedule)
Identity and Mission
San Martin de Porres Mission is one of five Yaqui-community Catholic chapels in Pima County, Arizona, all served by the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity and administered under St. Kateri Tekakwitha Indian Mission in South Tucson. The chapel is named in honor of Saint Martin de Porres, the 16th–17th-century Dominican lay brother from Lima whose humility and care for the poor and sick made him a beloved patron of mixed-race people and of those on the margins — a choice that resonates deeply with the Yaqui faithful who have made this chapel their own.
History of the Chapel and Community
The Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity established San Martin de Porres Chapel in 1996 to minister to the Yaqui Indian population of Pima County, joining sister chapels Cristo Rey, El Señor de los Milagros, San Ignacio de Loyola, and Santa Rosa de Lima. The Yaqui nation (the Yoeme, 'the People') has worshipped on these Arizona lands since migrating from Sonora in the late 1800s and early 1900s to escape persecution and the loss of their agricultural homelands. Their devotion takes its distinctive form through the Lenten ceremonies introduced by Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s, which still form the spiritual centerpiece of chapel life.
- 1996: Chapel established by the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity for Yaqui Catholics.
- Late 1800s–early 1900s: Yaqui people migrated from Sonora to Arizona.
- 1921: Pascua Yaqui settlement officially established (Easter Sunday).
- 1978: U.S. government federal recognition of the Yaqui Tribe.
- Marquette University AZ-52 archival record documents sacramental records at the chapel from 1996 onward.
Yaqui Lenten and Holy Week Tradition
The chapel is one of four Tucson sites where Yaqui Catholics gather for the centuries-old Lenten and Holy Week ceremonies that punctuate the spiritual year. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Yaqui societies — the Fariseos, Chapayekas, and Matachinis — gather at chapels including San Martin de Porres on subsequent Fridays to dance, drum, and retell the passion of Christ in their own tradition. Holy Week brings nightly observances, the Good Friday crucifixion of Christ with a procession and all-night vigil, and the Easter Sunday La Gloria ceremony, maypole unbraiding, and closing Mass. The season closes in early May with the Feast of the Holy Cross (Santa Cruz). Visitors are welcomed but photography and video of the ceremonies are not permitted.
- Ash Wednesday opening through Feast of the Holy Cross in May.
- Friday Lenten devotions at Capilla San Martin de Porres.
- Holy Week with Fariseos, Chapayekas, and Matachinis societies.
- Good Friday crucifixion dramatization and vigil.
- Easter Sunday La Gloria, maypole, and closing Mass.
Parent Parish: St. Kateri Tekakwitha Indian Mission
San Martin de Porres Mission is one of six mission churches (often listed as Cristo Rey, El Señor de los Milagros, San Ignacio de Loyola, Santa Rosa de Lima, San Martin de Porres, and the parish church itself) all served from St. Kateri Tekakwitha Indian Mission. St. Kateri has been administered by the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity since 1984 and operates as a predominantly Native American (Tohono O'odham and Yaqui) parish in the Diocese of Tucson. Daily Masses and the Saturday Vigil (in both English and Spanish) are offered at the main St. Kateri church at 507 W 29th Street, South Tucson.
- Parent parish: St. Kateri Tekakwitha Indian Mission.
- Address: 507 W 29th Street, South Tucson, AZ 85713.
- Served by: Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (S.T.).
- Daily Mass Monday–Saturday at 9:00 AM (English); Saturday 5:00 PM (Spanish) at St. Kateri.
- Sacramental records held jointly with mission chapels.
Diocese and Religious Order
The chapel is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, the canonical diocesan authority. Pastoral care is entrusted to the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (S.T.), a religious congregation headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, who took on the urban Native American ministry in Tucson in 1981 and have since administered the Yaqui and Tohono O'odham pastoral mission across Pima County.
- Diocese of Tucson.
- Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (S.T.).
- Presence in Tucson since 1981 (order); since 1996 at this chapel.
Visiting and Contact
Visitors to San Martin de Porres Mission are warmly received at the Sunday 11:00 AM Mass. The chapel is located at 418 W 39th Street, South Tucson, AZ 85713. The parish office for the parent mission family (St. Kateri Tekakwitha) can be reached at (520) 622-5363, Monday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The mission's information is published under St. Kateri's website at stkateritucson.org/missions.
- Address: 418 W 39th Street, South Tucson, AZ 85713.
- Phone (parent parish): (520) 622-5363.
- Website: stkateritucson.org/missions.
- Office hours: Monday–Friday, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM at St. Kateri.