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The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico: An Essay on the Apostolate and the Evangelizing Methods of the Mendicant Orders in New Spain, 1523-1572
“This is a classic and standard work. . . crammed with facts but written so engagingly, and the story is so exciting, that it can be both profitably and enjoyably read through. Were there not 379 pages of text and notes (not counting the bibliography and index) one might well desire to ingest this fine volume in one long sitting.”—Church History “First published in 1933, this classic analysis of the missionary methods of the pioneer mendicant friars who laid the foundations of the Mexican Church is still the definitive work. , . .The study covers the period 1523 to 1572, when the arrival of the Jesuits on the Mexican scene opened another age. The work deals with such major topics as the ethnographical and linguistic training of the friars, the social organization of their missions, their schools, hospitals and churches, their proselytizing techniques, including the use of the religious theatre as a means of calechizing.”—BulIetin of Hispanic Studies, “Objective, detailed, and interpretive of the means used in the light of the theological and social thinking of the missionaries, the work is valuable in contributing to the understanding of Mexico past and present."—Booklist “The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico still towers above any other related work."—Western American Literature
- GenresHistory
436 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 30, 2024
If you want to watch nerds fight, ask specialists in Mexican anthropology to tell you how many natives were living in central Mexico in 1519 at the moment of Spanish contact. I’ve seen estimates ranging from 4.5 million to the widely-quoted figure of 25.2 million.
Either way, it’s astonishing when you consider the scope of the task Spain set itself in Christianizing its conquests. By the lowest estimates, the friars meant to baptize the equivalent of the British Isles. By the highest, they aimed at the mass conversion of the populations of Spain and France combined.
French historian Robert Ricard’s book on the first generation of Spain’s evangelical efforts is a classic. Times have changed since the 1930s, and Ricard’s generally positive appraisal wouldn’t fly today. Current interpretations take, shall we say, a more nuanced view of this 16-century intersection of blood, gold, and faith.
That’s not to say his view is all rainbows and unicorns. He makes no secret of the fact that the friars often functioned as shock troops of the imperial order. The Church Militant is reflected in the architecture of colonial churches, which were sited in defensible positions and built to serve as fortified redoubts should the heathens backslide.
Still, Ricard’s more charitable interpretation is valuable in that it allows us to see the friars as they saw themselves. They believed in the flames of Hell and the grace of God, the power of the Virgin and the works of the Devil. It would be a mistake to write them off as nothing more than exploiters in tonsures.
This is illustrated not merely by efforts to introduce literacy and establish hospitals, to build roads and sponsor morality plays, to administer the sacraments and defend their charges against depredation. Ricard points out that the catechism, translated into Nahuatal to facilitate understanding, was the same catechism used in the Iberian peninsula to instruct Spanish villagers and Muslim converts alike. This demonstrates a conviction that Mexicans were just as worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as any European.
Still, Ricard highlights two fatal misfires of the founding generation. First, low confidence in native capacity aligned with the greed of Spanish settlers to prevent the emergence of a native clergy or native entry into the monastic orders. Second, the friars first resettled natives in villages the better to oversee them, then prohibited intermixing with colonists whom they considered largely immoral and rapacious, and finally grew accustomed to unlimited domination over their flocks.
This left natives isolated from the life of the colony, subject to arbitrary rule, and ill-prepared for political independence. Along with the failure to evangelize thoroughly beyond the core territories, these flaws left the Church in Mexico struggling for centuries as a colonial fixture rather than an indigenous enterprise, part of the machinery of extraction and vulnerable to a syncretistic blending of its traditions with pre-conquest rituals.
I found this a useful and enjoyable exploration of its topic. Ricard is more enthusiastic for the program of mass conversion than I am, but for that reason provides a healthy tonic to my 21st-century Protestant cynicism. I’ll still defend the separation of church and state, but I can better appreciate what the Catholics thought they were doing — however far their efforts fell short of their hopes.
Either way, it’s astonishing when you consider the scope of the task Spain set itself in Christianizing its conquests. By the lowest estimates, the friars meant to baptize the equivalent of the British Isles. By the highest, they aimed at the mass conversion of the populations of Spain and France combined.
French historian Robert Ricard’s book on the first generation of Spain’s evangelical efforts is a classic. Times have changed since the 1930s, and Ricard’s generally positive appraisal wouldn’t fly today. Current interpretations take, shall we say, a more nuanced view of this 16-century intersection of blood, gold, and faith.
That’s not to say his view is all rainbows and unicorns. He makes no secret of the fact that the friars often functioned as shock troops of the imperial order. The Church Militant is reflected in the architecture of colonial churches, which were sited in defensible positions and built to serve as fortified redoubts should the heathens backslide.
Still, Ricard’s more charitable interpretation is valuable in that it allows us to see the friars as they saw themselves. They believed in the flames of Hell and the grace of God, the power of the Virgin and the works of the Devil. It would be a mistake to write them off as nothing more than exploiters in tonsures.
This is illustrated not merely by efforts to introduce literacy and establish hospitals, to build roads and sponsor morality plays, to administer the sacraments and defend their charges against depredation. Ricard points out that the catechism, translated into Nahuatal to facilitate understanding, was the same catechism used in the Iberian peninsula to instruct Spanish villagers and Muslim converts alike. This demonstrates a conviction that Mexicans were just as worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as any European.
Still, Ricard highlights two fatal misfires of the founding generation. First, low confidence in native capacity aligned with the greed of Spanish settlers to prevent the emergence of a native clergy or native entry into the monastic orders. Second, the friars first resettled natives in villages the better to oversee them, then prohibited intermixing with colonists whom they considered largely immoral and rapacious, and finally grew accustomed to unlimited domination over their flocks.
This left natives isolated from the life of the colony, subject to arbitrary rule, and ill-prepared for political independence. Along with the failure to evangelize thoroughly beyond the core territories, these flaws left the Church in Mexico struggling for centuries as a colonial fixture rather than an indigenous enterprise, part of the machinery of extraction and vulnerable to a syncretistic blending of its traditions with pre-conquest rituals.
I found this a useful and enjoyable exploration of its topic. Ricard is more enthusiastic for the program of mass conversion than I am, but for that reason provides a healthy tonic to my 21st-century Protestant cynicism. I’ll still defend the separation of church and state, but I can better appreciate what the Catholics thought they were doing — however far their efforts fell short of their hopes.
September 4, 2022
Es uno de los mejores ensayos que leído sobre la etnografía religiosa que hay en México desde la conquista hasta la época de la colonización. Bastante recomendable para aquellas personas que están comenzando en la historia como yo que a pesar de mi edad tengo la curiosidad de conocer más a detalle la historia de México especialmente en el aspecto religioso.
February 3, 2024
assignment
November 7, 2014
Es un trabajo destacado en una edición excelente pero, otra vez, no es para mí.
January 13, 2016
Este estudio es simplemente grandioso. Una amplísima compilación de datos con una buena narración interpretativa.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews