|
000761 Visit since September 1, 2005
| TRIUMPHS and TRAGEDY... A history of the Mexican people (part 41st). |
| By Prof. German Estrada - September 2005 |
The Franciscans, an order founded by Francisco de Assisi in 1215, lived by a vow of poverty; only the poor, they believed, passed through the gates of heaven. Next were the Black Friars, the Dominicans, known for their intellectual bent and their legal proclivities. The Augustinians, with reputation as architects and builders and the last of the early orders, entered Mexico in 1533. Much, much later, the Jesuits, champions of the pope and sympathizers of the Counter-Reformation, made their bow. By mid-sixteenth century, over eight hundred friars were in New Spain.
Not far behind were the nuns of the convents, adjuncts initially of the regular orders. The first of them, La Concepción, an offshoot of the Franciscans, made its debut in 1540, established by four nuns of the convent of Santa Isabel in Salamanca, Spain. As the convents multiplied, the colonial rich became their patrons, encomenderos, mine owners, merchants, and, later, hacendados. Most of their nuns were Spaniards and criollos, daughters of conquistadores and colonists. So popular did the convents become as havens for the daughter of the well-to-do that by the end of the seventeenth century the number of nuns had alarmed royal authorities. At the rear of this entourage trod the seculars, the priest to staff parishes for Spaniards, criollos, and other non-Indians, bringing along their panoply of bishops and archbishops. By the 1560s, their number were multiplying rapidly, leading inevitably to a clash with the regular orders.
The Franciscans set the one for the evangelical crusade. The twelve apostles established themselves in the principal Indian communities; the crown, likewise, appointed Franciscan Juan de Zumárraga bishop of New Spain and later its first archbishop. These early friars, true believers, identified with the Indian. They dressed poorly, went barefoot, ate the food offered to them, and made their homes among the poor. They were mendicants, members of begging fraternities, for whom evangelization of the Indian was the goal of Conquest. They, too, wanted Spaniards barred from the Indian pueblos, and the Indian segregated under their care, isolated from Old World corruption and immorality. The Indians they likened to "baby birds," with wings not yet ready for flight. Indians, as children, must be shielded from harm. This belief, wise as well as mistaken, shaped paternalistic legislation for the Indian. The views of the friars, nevertheless, did not always tally. Significant differences split them. The Franciscans, the most paternalistic, refused the Indian the sacraments of Communion and Extreme Unction. The Augustinians, on the contrary, exalted his moral capacity, conceding him the sacraments. In their view, the Indian was predisposed spiritually to accept Christianity and required only a brief tutelage. The Indian soul resembled that of Spaniards; to the Franciscans, it needed molding.
Whatever their opinion, leaders of the missionary orders were familiar with the religious and social ideas of their epoch. They walked arm in arm with the spiritual avant-garde of European thought, a belated arrival in New Spain. Erasmus's interpretation of Christ and Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia lay at the heart of Zumarraga's philosophy, outlined in his Doctrina cristiana and la doctrina breve. With patience and guidance, the Indian's simple society, "soft wax" molded easily, affirmed Jerónimo de Mendieta, could become the basis for the perfect Christian community. Zumarraga, a moral stalwart in the flabby age of Charles I, upheld the teachings of More on labor, believing no one to be naturally lazy.
One of the best salesmen for Christian humanism was Franciscan Vasco de Quiroga, bishop of Michoacán and also a disciple of Thomas More. Among the Tarascans of Pátzcuaro, a town in Michoacán, he founded repúblicas y hospitals de Santa Fe, communities of Indians on the idea of More's Utopia, where he banned private property and made the community the sole owner of the lands and goods and, in the manner of Spanish legislation, the land inalienable. The social structure of the community rested on the family, which, collaborating with its neighbors, did the work of field and shops. The fruits of labor were distributed according to need, the surplus set aside for the poor and for charity. On these repúblicas, no one was exempted from work, while administrators were elected by secret ballot. Other friars endeavored to protect the Indian, but only Don Vasco considered him ideal material for the perfect human model, the goals of humanism and primitive communism.
 |
Indians tending the land under the Spaniards |
In the next issue we'll continue with Chapter III of this fascinating book: A NEW SPAIN
Prof. Germán Estrada
estradanav@yahoo.com
Source: From the book Triumphs and Tragedy, a History of the Mexican People by his author Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, and with his authorization. (W.W. Norton & Company. New York-London).
Prof. Germán Estrada is the author of the best selling book, México Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books, Books as well as directly from his website.
Archives
by date |
Current
Weather Report
