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The Franciscans in New Mexico, 1692-1754: Toward a New Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Jim Norris
Jim Norris*
Affiliation:
University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, Arkansas
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Extract

Scholars who have studied the Franciscan effort in New Mexico during the Spanish colonial epoch have generally posited that the watershed event in the missionary program was the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Thus, the periodization for the Order's evangelical effort has been structured in two parts: pre-1680 and post-reconquest (1692-1821). One need only compare Fray Alonso de Benavides's glowing description of his brethren's work in the region in 1630 with that of Fray Silvestre Vélez de Escalante's harsh rebuke to the friars in 1777 to realize fundamental changes had occurred in the missionization process. Benavides's Franciscans are ardent, ascetic, and capable missionary priests. Consequently, prior to 1680, the Franciscan Order, in what the Spanish called the Kingdom of New Mexico, was able to maintain a high degree of authority, power, and prestige especially in regard to its relations with the local population and civil government. On the other hand, the missionaries condemned by Escalante are complacent, contentious idlers. While there are a dearth of studies on the post-1692 Franciscans, historians who have ventured into the era suggest a significant erosion in the quality and dedication of the later missionaries. The conclusion, then, is that these less committed friars were at least partially responsible for the decline of the Order's position within the Kingdom.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , October 1994 , pp. 151 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1994

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References

1 de Benavides, Fray Alonso, Benavides’ Memorial of 1630, trans., Forrestal, Peter P., ed. Lynch, Cyprian J. (Washington, D.C.: Academy of Franciscan History, 1954),Google Scholar and Adams, Eleanor B., ed., “Letter to the Missionaries of New Mexico,” by de Escalante, Fray Silvestre Vélez, 1777, New Mexico Historical Review (October, 1965), pp. 319–335.Google Scholar It should be noted that a primary purpose for Benavides’ Memorial was to enlist greater support for the New Mexico mission program and to seek the elevation of the custody to provincial status. These scholars would include Gutíerrez, Ramón A., When Jesus Came the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality and Power in New Mexico, 1500–1846 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991), especially chapters 1–4;Google Scholar Kessell, John L., Kiva, Cross and Crown: The Pecos Indians and New Mexico, 1540–1840 (Washington, D.C: National Park Service, 1979), especially pp. 302–303 Google Scholar; Spicer, Edward H., Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533–1960 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1981 [1962]), especially pp. 504–506.Google Scholar

2 Norris, Jimmy D., “The Breakdown of Franciscan Hegemony in the Kingdom on New Mexico, 1692–1752,” (unpublished dissertation, Tulane University, 1992).Google Scholar This study was primarily concerned with the operation of the missionary effort, the Order’s internal policies and their deteriorating position with local Spanish government.

3 All statistical data presented herein on the New Mexico Franciscans, unless specifically noted, was compiled from the following sources: Instituto Nacional de Anthropología e Historia (abbreviated INAH), Fondo Franciscano (Mexico City: Museo de Instituto Nacional de Anthropología e Historia), Volumes 0–12, 22–29, and 80–84; Papeles de los Angeles (Informaciones de novios) (Providence: John Carter Brown Library), Volumes 11–17; Prontuario general y específico y colectivo de nomenclaturas de todos los religiosos que ha habido en esta Santa Provincia del Santo Evangelio desde su fundacíon por Fray Francisco Antonio de la Rosa Figeruera (Austin, Texas: Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Library, Manuscript Collection, University of Texas); Adams, Eleanor B. and Chavez, Angelico, The Missions of New Mexico, 1776: A Description by Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1956), pp. 328–340 Google Scholar; Kessell, , Kiva, Cross and Crown, pp. 498–501.Google Scholar

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5 Ibid., p. 73, for the 1703 report.

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24 Ibid., p. 92.

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31 For the López Tello-custos Tagle disputes see Norris, , “Breakdown,” pp. 115–117 Google Scholar; for problems during the Peñuela and Flores years see Kessell, , Kiva, Cross and Crown, pp. 313–319 Google Scholar; for controversy between Montaño and Varo see Greenleaf, , “Inquisition,” pp. 43–45.Google Scholar

32 A copy of Ornedal’s Informe is found in the Special Collections, Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico as Biblioteca Nacional de México, Archivo Franciscano, Legajo 8, Part 2, Number 56.

33 Dozier, Edward P., The Pueblo Indians of North America (Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 1983), p. 181.Google Scholar A more detailed examination of most Pueblo languages is found in Ortiz, Alfonso (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians, Volumes 9 and 10, (Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institute, 1979, 1983).Google Scholar

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