Mar 10, 2020 - Sale 2533

Sale 2533 - Lot 335

Price Realized: $ 1,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS.) Manuscript compilation of letters supporting the removal of the Jesuits and other religious orders. [5], 240 manuscript leaves including detailed table of contents. 4to, later vellum, minimal wear; two light vertical folds throughout, otherwise minimal wear; typed spine label of the private library of J.E. Infantes. Mexico, 1767-70
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Additional Details

A bound transcript of 68 letters and edicts from bishops and other high-ranking church figures which were originally sent to viceregal and royal Spanish authorities, during and after the Jesuit expulsion of 1767. The authors are identified only by honorific acronyms such as SSI, or Su Santidad Ilustrísima ("his most illustrious holiness"). The letters encourage and celebrate the secularization of parishes in Mexico through removal of religious orders. Members of orders such as the Franciscans and Dominicans had been among the first to proselytize in Mexico and the Americas, amassing wealth and status, which bred resentment over the centuries from their secular counterparts. These letters unleash a torrent of arguments advocating for the removal or demotion of the orders, above all else the Jesuits. They argue that the Indians have already been converted, rendering the Jesuits unnecessary; the religious orders do not have the sufficient authority and charter to maintain their convents; and their missions amongst the unconverted Indians on the frontiers (such as California and the southwest, which some of the letters address) are in poor condition and ineffective.
Many of the letters discuss Indians and the frontier. Letter number 19 (leaves 45-46) discusses the missions in California recently vacated by the Jesuits, and the 16 friars designated to take their place. Letter number 50 (leaves 147-154) analyzes the work of the curates of Guadalajara, stating that the Indians there are keen to learn, distracted by shows and fires, dislike being rushed while learning the catechisms in Spanish, and are predisposed to drunkenness.