Habig, Marion. The Franciscan Provinces of South America 1945

The Franciscan Provinces of South America
Author(s): Marion A. Habig

Source: The Americas, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jul., 1945), pp. 72-92
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/978543
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THE FRANCISCAN PROVINCES OF SOUTH AMERICA
DURING the three centuries of the colonial period, Franciscan

friars devoted themselves to the Christianization and civili-
zation of the natives and the spiritual care of settlers in
all the regions now comprising the' nine Spanish American Republics
of South America, in the Portuguese American Republic of Brazil,
and even in the Guianas; and though the various units of the
Franciscan Order suffered considerable reverses during the wars for
independence and subsequent disorders of the nineteenth century,
the sons of St. Francis are today in all these countries with the
exception of Venezuela and the Guianas.
" South America," writes Dr. Leonard Lemmens, " became the
largest mission field of the Franciscans in modern [colonial] times.
Missionaries of the Order were here, and, if we except Guyana and
Patagonia, remained in every country up to the time of the Revolu-
tion. In some territories they were the first and for some time
the only missionaries. Their number was never equalled by any
other religious order. When other religious orders which partici-
pated in the missionary work at the beginning restricted themselves
afterwards to the sacred ministry among Christians, the Fran-
ciscans followed the pagan Indians who withdrew into the virgin
forests and plains, and continued the work amid a thousand dangers,
in some places down to the present day" (Geschichte der Fran-
ziskanermissionen, p. 269).
The history of the friars' work in South America, however,
is even less known than that of Spanish North America. Rippy-
Nelson's Crusaders of the Jungle, for instance, mentions only in
passing the work of the Franciscans in some of the eight " principal
frontier mission fields of Spanish South America, 1600-1800; " and
they could very well have increased the number of " principal
frontier mission fields " by adding such Franciscan mission fields as
(1) Putumayo, (2) Ucayali, (3) Cerro de la Sal, (4) Tucumin.
These and others, at any rate, deserve no less to be ranked among
the principal frontier mission fields of Spanish South America dur-
ing the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
During the colonial period nine fully organized Franciscan
Provinces were established in South America from 1553 to 1675;
and during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries twenty-four
additional Franciscan Apostolic Colleges were founded in Spanish
South America. At the present day there are nine Provinces, three
Independent Commissariats and ten Dependent Commissariats,
72
MARION A. HABIG, O.F.M. 73
which have charge also of five Vicariates Apostolic and three Pre-
latures nullius; and the total number of Franciscan friars in South
America is now 2,432, with 335 friaries. Add to these figures the
3,671 friars and 346 friaries of North and Central America, and
there are thus in the Americas of today 6,103 Franciscan friars and
781 Franciscan friaries.
It may be well to mention that we shall follow the same method

here as in the survey of the Franciscan Provinces of Spanish North
America (THE AMERICAS, I, 88-92). By Franciscans we mean
the Order of Friars Minor, and hence the Capuchins are not in-
cluded. First we shall present an outline of the missions of the
nine Provinces of South America in this order: Peru, Ecuador,
Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and the two of
Brazil. The work of the Dutch friars in colonial Guiana and the
islands of Curagao, Bonaire and Aruba will be described separately,
following the section on Venezuela. The Apostolic Colleges are
reserved for another study. At the end of each section we shall
offer a brief bibliographical essay.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Besides the works mentioned in the general introduction (THE AMERICAS, I,

91-92), especially: Conspectus Missionum; Lemmens, Geschichte; Civezza, Storia;
Gonzaga, De Origine; Maas, Las Ordenes; Parras, Gobierno; Truxillo, Exhortacio'n;
Ocafia, Relacio'n; Streit, Bibliotheca; and the Espasa Enciclopedia, it will be well
be well to list the following for South America.
An English translation of Alcedo's Diccionario, mentioned together with the
above, was published in London, 1812: The Geography and Historical Dictionary
of America and the West Indies, 5 vols.
A general history of the Franciscans in Latin America is that by Francisco
Alvarez de Villanueva, Relacio'n histdrica de . . . los pp. Franciscanos en las Indias
(Madrid, 1892). This is the only Franciscan reference given by Edwin Ryan,
The Church in the South American Republics (Milwaukee, 1932).
Helpful also are the following: Cartas de Indias, published by the Ministerio
de Fomento, Madrid, 1877; Recopilacidn de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, 4 vols.
(Madrid, 1774); Juan Sol6rzano Pereyra, Politica Indiana, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1739);
and to some extent Jorge Juan y Antonio Ulloa, Noticias Secretas de America of
the eighteenth century, republished in London, 1826, and in Madrid, 1918, and also
translated into English: A Voyage to South America, 2 vols. (London, 1806).
Failing as it does by excessive generalizations, the latter work has been misused,
very much like those of Las Casas and Thomas Gage (A New Survey of the West
Indies, published in London, 1677).
Of early travel books may be mentioned: A. F. Frezier, A Voyage to the
South-Sea and along the Coasts of Chili and Peru in the Years 1712, 1713, and
1714 (London, 1717); F. Depons, Travels in South America, 2 vols. (London,
1807); and especially Alexander von Humbolt, Personal Narrative of Travels to
the Equinoctial Regions of America, 3 vols. London, 1852).
74 FRANCISCAN PROVINCES OF SOUTH AMERICA
Many travel books, especially later ones, are unsympathetic and create false
impressions of the work of the friars in South America, but those of J. A. Zahm,
who wrote under the pseudonym of H. J. Mozans, are excellent: Up the Orinoco
and Down the Magdalena (New York and London, 1910); Through South Amer-
ica's Southland (New York, 1916); The Quest of El Dorado (New York, 1917);
and Along the Andes and Down the Amazon (New York, 1923).
Good general works in English are: George E. Church, Aborigines of South
America (London, 1912); the histories of Bernard Moses: The Spanish Depend-
encies in South America, 1550-173o, 2 vols. (New York and London, 1914),
Spain's Declining Power in South America, 1730-18o6 (Berkeley, 1919), and
South America on the Eve of Emanicipation (New York, 1908); J. Fred Rippy
and Jean Thomas Nelson, Crusaders of the Jungle (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1936);
John W. White, Our Good Neighbor Hurdle (Milwaukee, 1943); and as guides,
two books of the College Outline Series: Wilgus and d'Ega, Outline-History of
Latin America, 3rd edn. (New York, 1943), and Wilgus, Latin America in Maps
(New York, 1943) --of which the former has a quite comprehensive bibliography
of English books on Latin America.
Other notable bibliographical works are: Juan de San Antonio, Bibliotheca
universa Franciscana (Madrid, 1731), and Jose Toribio Medina, Bibliotheca his-
pano-Americana, published 1898-1907.
It may be worth while to mention also two articles by the writer in Fran-
ciscan Herald and Forum (Chicago): " Franciscans in South America," March,
1943, pp. 73-74, and " Our Good Neighbors to the South," June, 1944, pp. 167-
171.
I. PROVINCIA DE LOS DOCE AP6STOLES DE LIMA, PERU, 1553

The Franciscan Province of the Twelve Apostles, in Peru, itself
a foundation of the Province of the Holy Gospel in Mexico, re-
sembles the latter inasmuch as it became the mother Province of
most of the other organized units of the Franciscan Order in the
various countries of Spanish South America.
The first Franciscan to go to Peru was Fr. Marcos de Niza, early
missionary in Mexico and subsequently (1539) explorer of the route
from Mexico to Cibola (Zufii), New Mexico. Various dates are
given for his arrival in Peru. Either he accompanied Pizarro on
his third and successful expedition in 1531-1532, or he followed
hard upon the heels of the conquistador. According to Alvarez de
Villanueva, Fray Marcos and six other Franciscan friars witnessed
the execution of Atahualpa at Caxamarca (August 29, 1533), and
five of these friars became the first missionaries of the Rio de la Plata
country in 1537. If the latter part of this statement is true, Fr.
Bernardo de Armenta and his four companions shortly left Peru and
went back to Spain; for, as Fr. Bernardo himself declares, he and
his four confreres went with the expedition of Alonzo de Cabrera
which was sent by Charles V to the aid of the survivors of the
Mendoza expedition of 1535 (which had several Franciscan chap-

lains), and they landed on the cost of southernmost Brazil in 1538,
traversing the intervening territory to Asunci6n.
In any case it is certain that Fray Marcos protested in vain
against the mistreatment of the Incas by both Pizarro and
Benalcaizar; and after accompanying the latter to Quito, he sent to
the Spanish court a report in which he sought to present a true
picture of conditions and begged for a more humane treatment of
the natives. Returning to Mexico, Fray Marcos caused the first
Franciscan missionaries to be sent to Peru, and probably also to
Ecuador.
The names of the first Franciscan missionaries sent from Mexico
to what is now Peru are as follows: Fray Francisco de la Cruz,
Fray Juan de Manz6n, Fray Francisco de los Angeles, Fray Francisco
de Santa Ana, Fray Alonso de Escarcena, Fray Francisco Portugues,
Fray Mateo de Jumilla, Fray Francisco Alcafiices, Fray Pedro
Cabellos, and Fray Antonio de Horo-the first six being priests, and
the other four being lay brothers. Basing his statement on
Wadding, Holzapfel mentions as prominent missionaries among the
first friars who went to Peru: Francisco de Morales, Francisco de
Alcozer, and Gaspar de Vafios; but by Peru may be meant present
Ecuador, the northern part of the Old Inca Empire. In any case
we know that Fr. Francisco de Morales arrived in Ecuador in 1552.
The first Franciscan missionaries of Peru were sent to that coun-
try probably in 1535, the year in which they founded in a Peruvian
Custody, dependent on the Province of the Holy Gospel in Mexico.
In January of the same year Pizarro had founded the city of Lima,
" the City of the Kings," so called not because of the Incas or the
Spanish kings or their viceroys but because Lima was founded on
the feast of Epiphany, the feast of the Holy Kings or Wise Men
from the East. As Lima became the center of colonial Spanish
America, so also the Convento de Jesuis, usually called "San
Francisco," established by the Franciscan pioneers in 1537, became
the principal friary in Spanish South America.
The first structure was of a primitive type; but because of
the frequent bloody encounters between Spaniards and natives, and
probably also because the original building no longer sufficed to
house the constantly growing community, it was found necessary
to put up a safer and larger building--the present well-planned
and spacious friary with its several patios.
As early as 1553, the Franciscan Custody of Peru was erected
into the Province of the Twelve Apostles. From Lima, this

Province sent missionary friars into all parts of Peru, as well as
south into Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile; and though independent
Franciscan beginnings were made in the northern countries of
Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, these foundations were likewise
dependent on the Province of Lima for some time, until in each of
these countries, north and south, a new and separate Franciscan
Province was established. This occurred in Colombia, Ecuador,
Bolivia, and Chile in 1565 (though the decree was not carried out
in Bolivia and Chile until later), and in Venezuela in 1585.
After these subtractions the Province of the Twelve Apostles
still had fifteen friaries in Peru; and it continued to grow rapidly.
About a century later, it counted 848 friars with 28 friaries; and
in 1700, there were 864 friars with 32 friaries. In the eighteenth
century, however, it began to decline, so that in 1786 it had 364
friars with 19 conventos.
Conversion of the Incas and Others. During the half century

after their arrival in Peru the Franciscans, besides caring for
Spanish colonists, devoted themselves for the most part to the con-
version of the Incas (Quechuas) and other tribes in western and
central Peru, including the montafia. Among the tribes evan-
gelized by them were the (1) Acomayo, (2) Cascay, (3) Challa,
(4) Churubamba, (5) Chinchas, (6) Liacon, (7) Mugna, (8)
Pachabamba, (9) Panao, (10) Pillao, (11) Pomachuco, (12) Quera,
(13) Tambogan.
These missions among the natives may be roughly grouped as
follows:
(1) Province of Caxamarca (Cajamarca) in northern Peru,

where all the natives were Christians by the year 1587, largely as
a result of the work of Brother Mateo de Jumilla, one of the first
friars who came to Peru. The achievements of this Brother were
similar to those of Brother Peter of Ghent in Mexico. For more
than four decades he employed the same methods in the province
of Caxamarca, teaching the Indian youths and through them win-
ning the adults, and enjoying the same success. Journeying from
place to place, he prepared thousands for Baptism. He died in the
friary at Chachapoyas on January 29, 1578.
(2) Province of Huinuco, in the Andes northeast of Lima.
Troops entering Huinuco on August 14, 1542, were accompanied
by the Franciscan Fr. Pablo de Coimbra; and by 1587 all the natives
in and around the city of Huinuco were Christians. The friary
at Hu~nuco was founded in 1580 by Fr. Andres Corzo.

(3) Valley of the Huallaga, a tributary of the Amazon, beyond
Huainuco. In this territory there were no less than 30,000 baptized
Indians by 1587.
(4) Valley of the Jaquijaguana, where in 1587 there were 12
doctrinas with 12,000 baptized natives.
According to Gonzaga, in 1587 the Province had 18 friaries
in Peru, a few of them in present Bolivia which was known also
as Upper Peru. Of these, eleven were in cities where Spaniards
had settled, e. g. Lima (where the friars had also opened two colleges
or schools which seem to have been similar to those in Mexico),
Cuzco, Arequipa, Trujillo; and seven were in Indian mission
territory.
Expeditions in the Pacific. In addition to this extensive activ-
ity in Peru, the Franciscan Province of Lima supplied four friars
for the Mendafia de Neyra expedition of 1567 and that of Fernaindez
de Quir6s in 1605.
Carrying out an order of Philip II " for the discovery of certain
islands and a continent" in the Pacific Ocean, Alvaro Mendafia
de Neyra sailed with 150 men in two ships from the port of Callao,
near Lima, on November 19, 1567, and discovered the Solomon
Islands in February of the following year. They stopped on the
islands of Santa Ysabel, Guadalcanal, and San Crist6bal; and on the
homeward voyage discovered Wake Island, naming it San Francisco
because they came upon it on October 3 (1568), the eve of the
saint's feast. Afterwards the two ships became separated, but the
Capitana finally reached the coast of California and proceeded to
Colima, Mexico, where it arrived on January 23, 1569, six months
after leaving the island of San Crist6bal. Three days later the
Almirante, which they had not seen for two months, likewise
anchored at Colima. From this port, the two ships continued south,
stopping for five weeks at Realejo in Nicaragua, and returning to
Callao in September, 1569, twenty-two and a half months after
beginning the expedition. The four friars who accompanied this
voyage were: Fr. Francisco de Gilvez, Fr. Juan de Torres, Fr. Pedro
Maldonado, and Fr. Pedro de Laguna. The last two, and two of
the men who desired to become friars, remained in Mexico.
When Mendafia de Neyra made his second voyage in 1595 to
establish a colony in the Solomons he was accompanied by two
secular priests. However, they failed to find the Solomons and
landed on Santa Cruz Island, near New Guinea. Here many of the
party died, including Mendafia de Neyra and the two priests; and
the survivors went to the Philippines.
On December 21, 1605, another expedition of three ships set
out from Callao under the command of Pedro Fernaindez de Quir6s.
The party consisted of about 300 sailors, with six Franciscan friars
and four Brothers of St. John of God. The captain and all his
officers, being Tertiaries, wore the large habit of the Third Order of
St. Francis. After passing the Tahiti Islands, they reached the large
island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides group in May, 1606.
Here they landed and " in the name of His Majesty, the King of
Spain and of the Eastern and Western Indies," took possession of
" all this region of the south as far as the Pole, which from this
time shall be called Australia del Espiritu Santo." The six Francis-
can friars who accompanied this expedition were: Fr. Martin de
Monilla, Fr. Mateo de Vascones, Fr. Juan de Merlo, Fr. Antonio
Quintero, and Brothers Francisco L6pez and Juan Palomares.
The Province of Lima had received instructions from Pope
Clement VIII, issued in 1602, to send along a group of friars; and
it was their purpose to begin a new mission. However, the natives
of Espiritu Santo Island showed themselves stubbornly hostile and
would not permit the missionaries to remain. Hence the entire
expeditionary party was compelled to leave; and on the return voy-
ager Fr. Martin de Monilla died and was buried at sea. The rest
arrived in the harbor of Acapulco, Mexico, in November, 1606.
St. Francis Solano. While on his way to the Custody of
Tucumin in Argentina, in 1590, the great St. Francis Solano
stopped and rested for a short time in Lima. After a very extra-
ordinary missionary career in Tucumain from 1590 to 1601, he was
recalled to Lima and arrived there about the middle of 1602,
twelve years after his first visit. At the time, a second Franciscan
friary, Santa Maria de los Angeles, now called Convento de los
Descalzos, had been opened in Lima as a " house of recollection,"
and Fr. Francisco Solano was selected as its Father Guardian, 1602-
1603 and 1604-1606. For one year, 1603-1604, he served as
superior of the friary in Trujillo. From 1606 till his death in
1610, he resided in the Convento de San Francisco in Lima. By
his remarkable activity as a preacher in Lima and Trujillo during
these eight years, he earned for himself the title of "Apostle of
Peru." He was declared blessed in 1675, and canonized in 1726.
Fr. Luis Gerdnimo de Ore'. An outstanding member of the
Province of the Twelve Apostles was the contemporary of St.
Francis Solano, Fr. Luis Ger6nimo de Ore, author of numerous

books. Born in Peru in 1554, he joined the Franciscan Province
of Lima and was for a time its Provincial. Like St. Francis of
Solano, he fulfilled the office of preacher at Lima and Trujillo, and
also in other Peruvian cities. In 1605, or about that time, he went
to Spain. He was official visitor of the Franciscan missions in
Florida in 1614 and again in 1616. In 1620 he left Spain to enter
upon his duties as Bishop of Concepci6n, Chile, where he died in
1629.
The Ucayali Missions. By the end of the sixteenth century the

missionary work of the friars in the villages which they had estab-
lished in western and central Peru had advanced far enough so that
many of them could be turned over to the secular clergy. The
Franciscans then founded new missions in eastern Peru, those in the
valley of the Ucayali and those in the Cerro de la Sal.
Formed by several branches in southeastern Peru, such as the
Apurimac and Urubamba, the Ucayali flows north through almost
the entire length of eastern Peru and empties into the Maraiion
(or Amazon) not far from Iquitos. It runs parallel with the
Huallaga, where the friars had developed missions in the preceding
century. Now they extended these missions into the territory
lying between the two rivers, including the Pampas del Sacramento,
and throughout the region of the Ucayali. In these missions they
have labored down to the present day; and after the expulsion of the
Jesuits (1767) from the Maynas missions on the Marafion, the
Franciscans were the only missionaries in eastern Peru down to the
beginning of the twentieth century.
As early as 1585 the friars founded missions among the Cunibos,
near the Ucayali, especially Mission San Miguel de Cunibos. In
1619 Fr. Gregorio Bolivar passed through eastern Peru on his way
to Bolivia. Missionary work on a larger scale was inaugurated here
when Fr. Felipe Luyando and Fr. Juan Velasco entered these parts
in 1631, and soon afterwards were joined by other friars. Presently
they were evangelizing not only the Cunibos, but also the Panata-
huas, Carapachos, Payansos, Caillisecas, Setebos, and other tribes.
(a) Panatahuas. King Philip IV wrote a special letter to Fr.
Luyando, thanking him for the work he was doing among the
Panatahuas who dwelt on the confines of the province of Huinuco,
for delivering that province from the raids of wild Indians, and
for the six churches he had built on the frontier among the Panata-
huas. Later, however, a fearful epidemic broke out among them
and raged for several decades, so that by 1691 only four small
villages remained. In 1704, the pagan Caillisecas allied with the
Shibipos destroyed these villages and killed Fr. Jer6nimo de los
Rios. Only a few Christian Indians escaped and moved to the
Cuchero farther south.
(b) Carapachos. So successful was Fr. Luyando that the Cara-

pachos of their own accord requested him for a missionary, and
he sent to them Fr. Juan Rond6n who had been his companion for
some time.
(c) Payansos. Among the neighbors of the Panatahuas, the

Payansos, missionary work was commenced in 1645, and three years
later five large Christian villages or reductions, with a population
of 7,550, had been established among them. Additional friars en-
tered this promising field, and by 1650 the whole tribe, numbering
about 20,000, had embraced the Catholic Faith.
(d) Caillisecas. Mission work among the Caillisecas, however,
proved to be far more difficult. At the hands of these and other
Indians, some seventeen to twenty Franciscans working among them
won the martyr's crown during the second half of the seventeenth
century. In 1657, after two Christian villages had been founded
among the Caillisecas, Fr. Alfonso Caballero, with two other priests
and three brothers, entered this mission field; but not long afterwards
five of the friars and the ten Spaniards who were accompanying
them were killed by pagan Indians. Fr. Crist6bal Carillo, who
arrived in 1661, was well received and converted 3,000. Fr.
Emmanuel Biedma, an Italian friar, began work among other mem-
bers of the tribe in 1663; and for some years, assisted by other friars,
he was quite successful. But then those who were still pagans joined
the Setebos, attacked the missions, and killed seven friars, two priests
and five brothers. Fr. Biedma then spent some time in the Cerro de
la Sal missions. While engaged in an expedition on the Ucayali
in 1686 or 1687, he and two other priests and one brother and several
Christian Indians were killed by Piros and other Indians. This so
frightened the Christian Indians of Mission San Buenaventura de
Chavini that they fled into the mountains, and thus this reduction
came to an end. Some other friars lost their lives in 1704 at the
hands of cannibal Cashibos in the Pampas del Sacramento.
The Cerro de la Sal Missions. South of the Ucayali proper, the
first mission chapel was built in 163 5 at Quimiri by the Franciscan
Brother Jer6nimo Jiminez; and in answer to his appeal for assist-
ance, Fr. Crist6bal Larrios came from Huinuco to join him. This
excellent beginning came to naught, however, when thirty Spanish

soldiers appeared on the scene and so scared the Indians with their
firearms that they fled into the mountains. On December 8, 1637,
they waylaid Brother Jimenez and his companions, five Spaniards
with some boys, on the Perend River, a tributary of the Ucayali,
and killed them all, shooting them with arrows or clubbing them
with oars. Fr. Larrios was likewise killed by Indians on December
11 or 12, 1637.
The work and sacrifice of these pioneers was not in vain. Those
Indians whom they had converted were inspired with fervor by
the heroic death of the two friars and welcomed the new mission-
aries who came to Quimiri, Fr. Jose de la Concepci6n and Fr.
Crist6bal de Mesa; and these were soon followed by others. When
the news of the death of Brother Jimenez reached Tarma, Fr.
Matias Illescas and Brothers Pedro de la Cruz and Francisco Piiia
went to the Cerro de la Sal missions and on the banks of the Chan-
chamayu founded seven reductions, besides exploring the whole
territory. In 1641, Fr. Illescas and the two bothers were killed,
probably by Shibipos; and in 1645 two more Franciscans were mur-
dered. The Cerro de la Sal missions were then abandoned until
1673, when Fr. Emmanuel Biedma came from the Ucayali missions
with Brother Juan Ojeda and founded a flourishing mission on the
Pangoa, where he also distinguished himself as a builder of roads.
Fr. Francisco Izquierdo and Fr. Francisco Gutierrez joined Fr.
Biedma soon after his arrival; and the three priests began their work
by preparing a grammar and dictionary of the Indian language and
writing a catechism of Christian doctrine for the natives. Addi-
tional friars then came to their assistance.
The Indian chief, Mangord by name, accepted the Catholic

Faith; but after Fr. Izquierdo had insisted that as a Christian he
could have only one wife, he attacked the missionary on September
4, 1674, killing him with an arrow. Mangor6 despatched in the
same manner Brother Andres Pinto and a boy who were with the
priest in the mission church at the time. On September 7, he
murdered another priest and a brother, Fr. Francisco Carri6n and
Brother Antonio Cepeda. Then he proceeded to Quimiri to com-
plete the work of wiping out Christianity in this territory; but the
Christian Indians rose up in arms and assassinated the impious chief.
The two missions which survived, Quimiri and Huancabamba,
were placed in the case of secular priests in the same year; but in
1689 the Franciscans were recalled, Fr. Francisco Huerta and Fr.
Juan Zavala going to Quimiri, and Fr. Blasio Valera going to Huan-
cabamba. However, these two missions were likewise destroyed and

the three missionaries were put to death in an uprising of the Indians
which took place when Spanish soldiers arrived in 1694.
In 1709 the Cerro de la Sal missions were reestablished by the
great missionary Fr. Francisco de San Jose, who later founded the
Apostolic College of Ocopa (1732, at Pisco). After the establish-
ment of this Mission College, the Province of Lima withdrew from
the missions east of the Andes, including Huainuco; and the friars
of the College cared for and extended the Ucayali and Cerro de la
Sal missions of eastern Peru throughout the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries.
During this period the Province of the Twelve Apostles suf-

fered a regrettable decline, to which various factors contributed;
and for many of these the Province was not to blame. Even so, it
would be historically inaccurate to make such unfavorable generali-
zations as were made by Jorge Juan and Antonio Ulloa in their
Noticias Secretas.
Mention should be made, for instance, of " Padre Guatemala," an

outstanding and holy Franciscan missionary in western Peru during
the nineteenth century. He was thus called because he had come
from Guatemala, from which country he had been driven by a
hostile government. His real name was Fr. Ram6n de Jesus Rojas.
By his self-sacrificing work in the region south of Lima, he won for
himself the title of "Apostle of Ica "; and only recently the Arch-
bishop of Cuzco expressed the hope that this saintly friar be raised
soon to the honors of the altar.
While the Province of the Twelve Apostles had charge of the
missions in eastern Peru, about 31 friars were killed by the Indians,
20 in the Ucayali missions and 11 in the Cerro de la Sal missions.
During the sixty years that the Ucayali missions were in the care of
the Province, no less than 70,000 natives were baptized.
According to one writer's count, if one includes the subsequent
period up to 1866, in northern and middle Peru (which no doubt
includes Ecuador) 129 Franciscan friars suffered violent deaths at
the hands of Indians whom they sought to Christianize and civilize;
and this total does not include lay brothers nor those who ventured
out on the frontier and were never heard of again. The same
writer, who had personally visited eastern Peru, declared: " No-
where in Peru does one find such well-behaved and conscientious
Indians as in the Franciscan missions on the Ucayali " (cf. Holzapfel,
Geschichte des Franziskanerordens, pp. 512 and 513, citing an article
in Historische-politische BlJitter, LVII (1866), 448 and 451).

In 1940 the Province of the Twelve Apostles had 9 friaries and
136 friars.
II. PROVINCIA DE SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO, PERU, 1907

The Franciscan College of Ocopa, together with several other
Apostolic Colleges and friaries in Peru, were organized in 1907 into
a second Province, the Missionary Province of St. Francis Solano,
having its headquarters at the Convento de los Descalzos in Lima;
and to it were entrusted the Franciscan missions in eastern Peru. In
1940 it had 15 friaries and 251 friars.
Recently one of the members of this Province, Fr. Leonardo

Rodriguez Ball6n, was appointed auxiliary bishop to the archbishop
of Lima. His appointment raised the number of Franciscan bishops
in Peru to five, and in all of South America to seventeen.
Vicariate Apostolic of Ucayali. The Franciscan missions in
eastern Peru were erected into a Prefecture Apostolic in 1900. At
this time, a section in the south was placed in charge of Dominicans,
and a section in the north was entrusted to Augustinians. In 1921
the Passionists likewise received the care of a part of the northern
section, and at the present time the Canadian Franciscan Province
is preparing to take over another part. Lastly, Maryknoll Fathers
have recently entered the diocese of Puno, southernmost Peru.
The Prefecture of Ucayali was raised to the rank of a Vicariate
Apostolic in 1925. In 1933 there were in the Vicariate 33 Fran-
ciscan missionaries (18 of them priests), 57,000 Catholics, and
60,000 pagans.
Custodia de Panamad, 1632-c. 1645
The Custody of Panamai was established by the Province of the
Twelve Apostles in 1632, when it sent Fr. Matias de San Francisco
and Fr. Juan de San Antonio to Gorgona in present Colombia. The
two missionaries labored side by side until 1642, when Fr. Matias
died. Later, when a plague broke out and the pagan medicine men
put the blame for it on the missionaries and their neophytes, Fr.
Juan and four Christian Indians were murdered. Thus the Custody
seems to have come to an end.
Custodia de San Jorge de Tucumdn, 1565-1612

Though the Custody of Tucumin was later made a part of the
Franciscan Province of Rio de la Plata, it is well to give an outline
of its history here, because, unlike the Paraguay-Plata Custody
which was established independently by friars coming from Spain

as early as 1538, the Tucumain Custody was one of the foundations
of the Peruvian Province of the Twelve Apostles. Moreover,
through the missionary work of St. Francis Solano and Bishop Trejo
y Sanabria, the Tucumain Custody enjoyed the most spectacular
success.
Tucumain was the name given to a vast territory in the interior

of South America. According to the Espasa Enciclopedia (LXIV,
1319), it comprised all of northern Argentina, extending from the
Paraguay and Parana rivers in the east to the Andean confines of
Chile in the west, and from the deserts of Atacama and the land
of the Chiriguanos in the north to La Cruz Alta on one side and
Rio Quinto on the other in the south. This will be more under-
standable if we express it in terms of present districts, as Bernard
Moses does (Spanish Dependencies, II, 154): in the seventeenth
century Tucumain embraced the present districts of C6rdova,
Tucumain, Salta, Jujuy, La Rioja, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero,
and part of the Gran Chaco. The seat of the government was first
at Santiago del Estero and later at Salta.
This extensive territory, which comprises one of the largest areas
of prairie land in the world covering 600,000 square miles, was first
visited by Spaniards in 1543; but its conquest was not commenced
until 1549, when Juan Nifiiez del Prado, accompanied by Mer-
cederian friars, was sent out by the clerical savant and "Pacifier
of Peru," Pedro de la Gasca, with instructions which are another
striking proof of the honorable and commendable policies of the
Spanish crown working in cooperation with the Church.
The first Franciscans and Dominicans, a group of fifty-four
missionaries, arrived on the scene in 1554; and these were joined by
a dozen more in 1572, and a group of twenty-four in 1589.
Theatines and Jesuits likewise entered the field.
The Franciscans, being the most numerous, were organized into
the Custody of St. George of Tucumain in 1565; and this Custody
remained dependent on the Province of Lima until 1612, when it
was united with the Paraguay-Plata Custody to form the Province
of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin or Rio de la Plata. From
1575 to 1597 the two Custodies of Tucumin and Paraguay-Plata
were likewise merged in one Custody dependent on the Peruvian
Province; but we shall outline the Franciscan history of the Para-
guay-Plata territory during this period of union in connection with
the Rio de la Plata Province.
According to Gonzaga, in 1587 the Custody of Tucumain had

four friaries, which also served as mission centers; namely, at
Santiago del Estero (the principal friary), at San Miguel de
Tucumain, at (Nueva) C6rdoba with two doctrinas, and at Nuestra
Sefiora de Talavera or Esteco (the Indian name). Alcedo (Dic-
cionario, II, 107, 108) informs us that the town of Talavera was
situated forty leagues to the northeast of Santiago del Estero. It
had been founded in 1576 by Diego de Heredia in a fertile and
pleasant spot on the bank of the Rio Salado (or Rio Juramento, as
the upper course of this river is now called); and soon it increased
in population and importance as a trade center. But in 1692 the
town was entirely destroyed by an earthquake and flood; and it
was never rebuilt.
To the four friaries mentioned two others were soon added, one
at La Rioja and the other at Salta; but the number of friars was
insufficient for such a vast mission field, and hence the Padre
Custodio, Fr. Baltasar Navarro, went back to Spain to enlist new
recruits. Among-the friars whom he conducted to the New World
and to Tucumain was St. Francis Solano.
St. Francis Solano. The arrival of Fray Francisco Solano in
Tucumain marked the beginning of a new spring for the Custody
and its missions. This great missionary spent only eleven years
(1590-1601) in Tucumain; but during those years he achieved the
most astounding results. His missionary career in Tucumain may
be divided into two periods: (1) the first five years, 1590-1595,
when his headquarters were near Talavera; and (2) the last six years,
1595-1601, when he was superior of the entire Custody.
1. 1590-1595. When Fr. Francisco Solano arrived in Tucumain
he was assigned to the task of converting the Indians in the vicinity
of Talavera. Near the town there were two primitive Indian settle-
ments, Magdalena and Socotonio, on both sides of the Rio Jura-
mento; and here Fr. Solano established his headquarters whence he
made frequent missionary expeditions into the surrounding country.
In less than fifteen days Fr. Solano learned the difficult language
of the Tonocotes Indians so well that he spoke it better than the
Indians themselves. At the time, these Indians comprised not
merely a few small settlements near Talavera, but rather a large
number of natives who had taken up a more or less permanent abode
in the region of the upper Salado, that is, the Rio Juramento and
its tributary, the Rio Pasajes. In point of fact, at the invitation
of Fr. Solano, the Indians who had formerly roamed from place to
place settled down in more than fifty villages in the vicinity of
Talavera. The fact that the biographers of the saint declare he

baptized hundreds of thousands, even if we make allowances for
exaggeration, indicates that the Indians must have been quite
numerous.
The Bollandists, it is true, sought in vain to discover the location

of Magdalena and Socotonio by consulting maps and descriptions
of America, as they themselves remark; but that was due to the
fact that these reductions were destroyed at the same time as
Talavera in 1692.
Not content with this spiritual conquest on the Juramento, Fr.

Solano also ventured into the adjoining Gran Chaco, and sought to
win the inhabitants of this region who were wild and restless and
showed little inclination to accept the Gospel message. The fruits
of his tireless and courageous journeys in this territory, which has
been described as a " Green Hell," were numerous converts and the
incorporation of the district of the Mataras Indians, lying to the
east of Santiago del Estero, into the ecclesiastical life of the far-
flung mission field of Tucumain.
Referring to Fr. Solano's missionary activities in the Gran Chaco,
Fr. C6rdoba y Salinas, one of the early biographers of the saint,
writes as follows:
Filled with sorrow over the fact that so many unhappy Indians in the
distant hills were slaves of Satan and were living like wild animals, he
nobly and courageously disregarded all dangers and penetrated into this
territory, seeking out the Indians in their hiding places; and he preached
the law of Christ to them with words that were afire with heavenly love.
And the Indians gave up their barbaric ways, and with reverence received
this apostle into their midst. So great was his reputation in the whole terri-
tory, that not a few of these wild tribes voluntarily went in search of him
upon the mere report they had received about him.
About 1594, Fr. Solano also turned his attention to the Lules
Indians in the district to the south, between Talavera and the town
of Tucumain; and these he likewise caused to settle down, although
they had a very strong inclination toward nomadic life, and suc-
cessfully introduced Christianity among them.
2. 1595-1601. By appointing Fr. Francisco Solano superior of
the Custody of Tucumain in 1595, the Franciscan authorities in
Peru unwittingly made him the missionary, not merely of one sec-
tion, but of entire Tucumin. As Padre Custodio, Fr. Solano had
to visit all the friaries and missions in the Custody; and this afforded
him an opportunity of lending a helping hand to his fellow mission-
aries everywhere, and preaching constantly in the reductions of

the Indians as well as the settlements of the Spaniards. For the first
three years of his term of office, the Franciscan missions of Paraguay-
Plata were also under the jurisdiction of Fr. Solano; and so he may
also have visited that territory.
Allowing himself no rest, he made apostolic journeys from town
to town and from mission to mission. By correcting the abuses of
which Spanish colonists, soldiers, and officials were guilty, he removed
one of the greatest obstacles to missionary work among the natives,
namely the scandals of Europeans who professed to be Christians.
In the missions, he not only made better Christians of the converted
Indians, thus consolidating the gains that had been achieved, but he
also continued to increase the number of neophytes.
When several tribes in the neighborhood of Santiago del Estero
engaged in a bloody conflict, he hastened to them and induced them
to come to terms, ending the war then and there.
Even as Padre Custodio, he devoted himself to pioneer mission
work among pagan Indians, similar to his earlier work in northern
Tucumain. This occurred principally in the vicinity of La Rioja.
Spanish settlers had been attracted because of the rich silver mines
discovered at La Rioja; but until the arrival of Fr. Solano they had
suffered many reverses at the hands of hostile pagan Indians. Fr.
Solano devoted himself to their conversion and induced a large
number to give up their nomadic habits and to become Christians
and friends of the Spaniards.
But there were still many pagan and hostile Indians near La Rioja
who swore to revenge themselves upon their tribesmen who had
become Christians and to annihilate the Spaniards whom they had
joined. They planned a secret attack on the town of La Rioja,
which was to take place on Maundy Thursday when Spaniards and
Christian Indians would be assembled in the church. Thousands of
organized and well-equipped savages were gathered together, and
began to force their way into the poorly. garrisoned town. Fear
and terror took hold of the inhabitants; the women wept and wailed,
and the men prepared for a desperate attempt at defense. Father
Solano alone remained unperturbed. Armed only with a crucifix,
he boldly confronted the besiegers and with a thunderous voice
castigated them and threatened them with the punishments of God;
then with his accustomed meekness, he invited these children of the
wilderness to banish hatred from their hearts and to embrace the
Christian way of peace and love. The result was almost beyond
belief. They who had come to murder and destroy were now as
meek as lambs. Although they belonged to different tribes and

spoke different languages, all of them had understood every word
of the saint. Nine thousand declared themselves ready on the spot
to adopt the Christian way of life.
This is not merely a pious story. It is an historical fact so well
authenticated that Pope Benedict XIII mentions it in the bull by
which he canonized St. Francis Solano.
Fr. Otto Maas, a well known historian of our own day, sums
up the missionary career of St. Francis Solano in Tucumin in
these words:
He possessed all good human qualities in an eminent degree; and besides

these natural gifts and their proper development, there were the noble
qualities of his heart, deep piety, his imperturbable trust in God, his hours
of prayer, his good example such as only saints can give; and in addition
to all this, a full measure of supernatural assistance which the scientific in-
vestigator, like everyone else, must take into account when discussing mis-
sionary methods. A much more favorable picture of the Apostle of Argen-
tina is thus presented than has been given to us by certain writers of the
past; and it becomes fully apparent that he has every right to that title of
honor. Whoever delves into the testimonies of his contemporaries and the
detailed descriptions of his biographers must admit that in the history of
the Church there have not been many missionaries to the pagans who have
surpassed the "Apostle of Tucumin."
Bishop Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria. Another outstanding

Franciscan in Tucumin was the missionary bishop, Fernando de
Trejo y Sanabria, who came to this outpost in the same year in which
Fr. Francisco Solano was appointed Padre Custodio of Tucum in.
Born at Asunci6n, Paraguay, in 1554, sixteen years after the found-
ing of the city, he studied at Lima and there entered the Franciscan
Order. He was Provincial of the Province of the Twelve Apostles
in 1590 when St. Francis Solano came from Spain. In 1592, when
he was the Father Guardian of the friary in Lima, Philip II selected
him as fourth bishop of Tucum in; and he was consecrated at Quito
by Bishop Luis de Solis.
The diocese of Tucum~n had been erected as early as 1570,
though neither its first nor second bishop, both Franciscans, were
able to take possession of the see. The third, a Dominican, was
appointed in 1576 and died in Spain in 1592. Bishop Trejo y
Sanabria took charge in 1595, and for nineteen years (until his death
in 1614) labored zealously for the development and welfare of his
diocese. The organization of his diocese was one of his principal
cares; and for this purpose he held two synods, one in 1597 and
another in 1606. Probably St. Francis Solano attended the first

in his capacity as Padre Custodio.
Bishop Trejo y Sanabria distinguished himself particularly as
the father and protector of the Indians and the negro slaves in the
colony. He caused them to be organized into brotherhoods at the
churches in all the towns and reductions of the diocese. On behalf
of the Indians he wrote several very outspoken and truly solicitous
letters to the Spanish king. To promote the proper instruction of
the Indians he fostered the printing of the Indian books in Quechua
and Aymara written by his contemporary, Fr. Luis Ger6nimo de
Ore, and made Fr. Or6's Catholic Indian Symbol (Creed) the official
catechism of his diocese.
Bishop Trejo y Sanabria is best known, however, for the extra-

ordinary interest he manifested in the higher education of youth-
the youth of a colony which was still in the pioneer stage and, be-
sides, was situated in the heart of the South American continent
with long stretches of wilderness on all sides. In 1609 he established
a seminary, the Colegio de Santa Catalina, at Santiago del Estero;
and a few years later he laid the foundations for the University
of C6rdova, the third to be opened in the New World.
Since Rodriguez del Busto denies that Bishop Trejo y Sanabria
can be called the founder of the University of C6rdova, it will be
well to give a more detailed account of the bishop's connection with
this institution. He undoubtedly called in the Jesuits to teach
" Latin, the arts, and theology," at an institution of higher edu-
cation which he founded at C6rdoba. It was originally called
Colegio Mdximo and first opened its doors to fifty students in
February, 1614, while the bishop was still living. Eight years later,
1622, Pope Gregory XV formally proclaimed it a university, the
first in the Americas after Mexico and Lima.
How much the bishop was interested in this institution is shown

by the fact that on June 19, 1613, he made out a formal document
in which he agreed to give to it $40,000 within three years; and in
the meantime he promised to provide $1,500 annually for the sup-
port of instructors and for the building. It was supposed that
$40,000 would yield $2,000 annually-enough, it was thought, to
defray ordinary expenses. To make provisions for additional ex-
penses, the bishop agreed to give a donation " pure, perfect, and
irrevocable, which the law calls inter vivos, of all my property, real
and personal, which I have or may have, money, wrought silver,
books, slaves, and inheritances, and in particular that which I have
called Quimillpa, within the jurisdiction of the city of San Miguel

[Tucumin], with all the lands, mills, goats, asses," and all the other
property.
A year and a half after making this gift the bishop died; and
though the Colegio inherited all or the greater part of the property
constituting the bishop's patrimony, the $40,000 which the bishop
had hoped to provide were never actually turned over to the
institution.
Early in October, 1614, he commenced the visitation of his

diocese, and was at C6rdova when his health began to fail rapidly.
On the advice of his physician he set out to return to Santiago del
Estero. The Jesuits with whom he had been staying were opposed
to his leaving, but the bishop insisted. On the second day of the
journey he had to come to a halt, and sent Fr. VTsquez Trujillo
ahead to Santiago to take possession of his property in the name of
the Colegio Mdximno. Before his death he made out a second docu-
ment, confirming the gift of 1613. Finally the bishop reached
Santiago, and there he died on Christmas eve, 1614.
Though busy with many cares, Bishop Trejo y Sanabria led a
very saintly life. He was guided in all matters by lofty ideals, and
he promoted all that was good and noble. Fr. Guevara, a Jesuit,
wrote of him:
He was a true son of the seraphic Father Francis, and never went astray
from his model's poverty, humility, and self-denial. Though the honors of
a bishop were conferred upon him, he lived a life in conformity with the
regular observance of a Friar Minor. While wearing a mitre, his brightest
ornaments were his zeal for souls, his compassion for the poor, and his
piety toward God. The income which he received as a bishop, he turned
over to churches, convents, colleges, and the poor, thus converting it into
heavenly treasures.
When the Jesuits were banished from Spanish America, the

University of C6rdova was placed in the care of the Franciscans
until 1807, when it was turned over to the secular clergy.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The outstanding historical works on the Franciscans in Peru are: Diego de

C6rdova-Salinas, Crdnica de la religiostsima provincia . . . del Perzd de la Orden de
S. Francisco (Lima, 1651); Jose Amich, Compendio Histdrico de los Trabajos,
Fatigas, Sudores y Muertes, que los Ministros evange'licos de la Serdafica Religidn han
padecido en las Montafias de los Andes, pertenecientes a las Provincias del Perz'.
Van en seguida Noticias histdricas sobre las Misiones en la Repllblica de Bolivia
por el P. Ceferino Mussani (Paris, 1854); Bernardino Izaguirre, Historia de las
Misiones Franciscanas y Narracidn de los progresos de la Geograffa en el Oriente
del Perz. Relatos originales y producciones en lenguas indtgenas de varios mision-

eros, 14 vols. (Lima, 1922-1928); Resei~a Histdrica de las Misiones Franciscanas
en el Peru (Lima, 1924); Atanasio L6pez, " Las Misiones del Cerro de la Sal,"
Archivo Ibero-Americano, XVIII, 174-222. Other works are listed in Conspectus
Missionum (Quaracchi, 1933), pp. 350-351.
Diego de C6rdova-Salinas, mentioned above, must be distinguished from Fray
Buenaventura Salinas y C6rdoba, author of Memorial de las Historias del Nuevo
Mundo Peru' . . . (Lima, 1631), and Memorial, Informe, y Manifiesto . . . (to the
Spanish king), printed in 1646 or later, since the last document in the book bears
the date 1646.
In regard to Fr. Marcos de Niza's report about Peru and Ecuador, vide Wad-
ding, Annales, old edn., XVI, 309; doubts concerning the martyrdom of Fr.
Matias Illescas and companions, Izaguirre, op. cit., I, 183-185 (cf. Holzapfel, Ge-
schichte, pp. 511-512); letter of Philip IV to Fr. Luyando, Izaguirre, op. cit., I,
117; the martyrs of 1657 among the Caillisecas, Amich, op. cit., p. 29; the Custody
of Panama, Izaguirre, op. cit., I, 86-88.
Of importance for Franciscan history are the more general works: Roberto
Levillier, Organizacidn de la Iglesia y Ordenes Religiosas en el Virreinato del Peri'
en el siglo XVI. Documentos del Archivo de Indias, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1919), of
which the greater part of vol. I has reference to the Franciscan missions in the
dioceses of Lima, Charcas, Tucumin, and in the Rio de la Plata region; and Fer-
nando Montesinos, Anales del Peru' (1498-1642), 2 vols., edited by Victor M.
Maurtia and published in Madrid about 1920, especially vol. II. Both works were
reviewed at length by Fr. Atanasio L6pez in A.I.A., XVI (1921), the first on pages
407 and 412-421, and the second on pages 407 and 408-412.
Other helpful works of a general nature are: Ricardo Beltrain y Rozpide, ed.,
Coleccidn de las memorias o relaciones que escribieron los virreyes del Peru" acerca
del estado en que dejaban las cosas del reino, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1921 -); L. Ayarra-
garay, La iglesia en America y la dominacidn espafiola (Buenos Aires, 1920). Man-
uel de Mendiburru, Diccionario histdrico-biogrdfico del Perdi, 8 vols. (Lima, 1874-
1890); Victor M. Maurtuia, Juicio de limites entre el Peru y Bolivia; prueba peru-
ana presentado al gobierno de la Repziblica Argentina, 12 vols. (Barcelona, 1906);
and the books of P. A. Means, Biblioteca Andina (New Haven, 1928), Ancient
Civilization of the Andes (New York, 1931), and Fall of the Inca Empire, which
latter contains a comprehensive list of the most important manuscripts and books
on ancient and modern Peru, pp. 301-325.
For the expeditions in the Pacific, it will suffice to mention: Lord Amherst of
Hackney and Basil Thomson, The Discovery of the Solomon Islands by Alvaro de
Mendai-a in 1568, 2 vols. (Hakluyt Society, London, 1901); Sir Clement Mark-
ham, The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quirds, 1595 to i6o6, Hakluyt Society
Series II, Volume XIV (London, 1904); Don Justo Zaragoza, Historia del descu-
brimiento de las regiones Australes hecho por el general Pedro Ferndndez Quirds, 3
vols. (Madrid, 1876); and the manuscript of an article by J. Celsus Kelly, O.F.M.,
to be published in THE AMERICAS. The latter's brief account, " Franciscans in
Search of Australia," The Crusader (Charing Cross, Waverly, N.S.W., Australia),
March, 1940, pp. 84-88, is illustrated by two striking paintings of the expeditions
of Mendafia y Neyra (p. 85) and Quir6s (pp. 96-97).
The life of Bishop Trejo y Sanabria of Tucumin has been written by Jos6
Maria Liqueno: Fray Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria, Fundador de la Universidad,
2 vols. (C6rdoba, 1916 and 1917), reviewed in A.I.A., XIII (1920), 451 et seq.
See also Bernard Moses, Spanish Dependencies in South America, 1550-173o, 2 vols.
(New York and London, 1914), which mentions (II, 156) also Garro, Bosquejo
histdrico de la Universidad de Cdrdova. A sketch of the life of Fr. Luis Ger6nimo
de Ore will be found in the Biographical Introduction (pp. ix-xvii) of Or6-Geiger,
The Martyrs of Florida, 1513-1616 (Franciscan Studies, XVIII), published 1935,
and distributed by St. Anthony Guild Press, Paterson, N. J.
Probably the earliest life of St. Francis Solano is that written by his con-
temporary and confrere, Fr. Luis Ger6nimo de Ore, entitled Relacidn de la vida y
milagros del venerable padre Fray Francisco Solano . . ., and published in Spain
about 1619. Better known is Fr. Diego de C6rdoba y Salinas' biography of the
great missionary: Vida, virtudes y milagros del nuevo Apostol del Piru' el venerable
P. Fray Francisco Solano, published in. Lima, 1630; second edn. by Fr. Alonso de
Mendieta, in Lima, 1642, and Madrid, 1643; third edn. in Madrid, 1676. Fr.
Tiburcio Navarro wrote a Latin life: Triumphus Charitatis sive de Vita, virtu-
tibus et miraculis venerabilis Servi Dei P. Fr. Francisci Solani . . . (Rome, 1671).
The latter was printed with notes by the Bollandists, Acta Sanctorum, Julii, Tom.
V, pp. 859 et seq. (the preceding pages also treat of St. Francis Solano). Another
Spanish life of the saint, by Fr. Feria y Morales, was published in Madrid, 1762.
Modern Franciscans of South America who have written lives of St. Francis So-
lano are: Bishop Zen6n Bustos of C6rdoba (C6rdoba, 1897); Fr. Pacifico Otero,
Dos Heroes de la Conquista [St. Francis Solano and Fr. Luis Bolafios] (Buenos
Aires, 1905); and Fr. Bernardino Izaguirre (Tournai, 1909). Besides these Spanish
biographies, numerous others in Italian, French, and German have appeared, those
issued up to 1909 being listed by Streit, Bibliotheca Missionum, II and III (Aachen,
1924 and 1927). Since then several additional German lives have been published,
the latest being the short life by Otto Maas, published in 1938 by the Joannesbund,
Leutesdorf am Rhein. It is the first which attempts an exact chronological ac-
count of the life of St. Francis Solano. A translation of the latter in abbreviated
form has been published by St. Anthony Guild, Paterson, N. J., 1942. In the
library of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C., there is an Eng-
lish Life of St. Francis Solano (310 pp.), published by Th. Richardson and Son,
London, 1847. At present Mary Fabyan Windeatt is engaged in writing a popular
life of St. Francis Solano.
(To be continued)
MARION A. HABIG, O.F.M.

Franciscan General Delegation,
New York City

Habig, Marion. The Franciscan Provinces of South America 1945

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The Franciscan Provinces of South America

Author(s): Marion A. Habig

DURING the three centuries of the colonial period, Franciscan

It may be well to mention that we shall follow the same method

Besides the works mentioned in the general introduction (THE AMERICAS, I,

I. PROVINCIA DE LOS DOCE AP6STOLES DE LIMA, PERU, 1553

Mendoza expedition of 1535 (which had several Franciscan chap-

into the Province of the Twelve Apostles. From Lima, this

Conversion of the Incas and Others. During the half century

(1) Province of Caxamarca (Cajamarca) in northern Peru,

at Hu~nuco was founded in 1580 by Fr. Andres Corzo.

Francis Solano, Fr. Luis Ger6nimo de Ore, author of numerous

The Ucayali Missions. By the end of the sixteenth century the

(b) Carapachos. So successful was Fr. Luyando that the Cara-

(c) Payansos. Among the neighbors of the Panatahuas, the

excellent beginning came to naught, however, when thirty Spanish

The Indian chief, Mangord by name, accepted the Catholic

cabamba. However, these two missions were likewise destroyed and

During this period the Province of the Twelve Apostles suf-

Mention should be made, for instance, of " Padre Guatemala," an

in Historische-politische BlJitter, LVII (1866), 448 and 451).

II. PROVINCIA DE SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO, PERU, 1907

Recently one of the members of this Province, Fr. Leonardo

Custodia de San Jorge de Tucumdn, 1565-1612

which was established independently by friars coming from Spain

Tucumain was the name given to a vast territory in the interior

According to Gonzaga, in 1587 the Custody of Tucumain had

Talavera. The fact that the biographers of the saint declare he

The Bollandists, it is true, sought in vain to discover the location

Not content with this spiritual conquest on the Juramento, Fr.

aries everywhere, and preaching constantly in the reductions of

meek as lambs. Although they belonged to different tribes and

He possessed all good human qualities in an eminent degree; and besides

Bishop Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria. Another outstanding

another in 1606. Probably St. Francis Solano attended the first

Bishop Trejo y Sanabria is best known, however, for the extra-

How much the bishop was interested in this institution is shown

called Quimillpa, within the jurisdiction of the city of San Miguel

Early in October, 1614, he commenced the visitation of his

When the Jesuits were banished from Spanish America, the

The outstanding historical works on the Franciscans in Peru are: Diego de

del Perz. Relatos originales y producciones en lenguas indtgenas de varios mision-

MARION A. HABIG, O.F.M.

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