Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 2 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

An important feature in the history of the Spanish colonies is the condition of the Church in the latter, and its connection with the State. Ferdinand “the Catholic” was likewise Ferdinand the politic; and in his transactions with the Holy See he had a vigilant eye for the interests of his Crown. With an early precaution against the introduction of Papal dominion in America, he solicited and obtained from the Pope, Alexander VI., a grant to his Crown of the tithes in all the newly-discovered countries, upon the condition of making provision for the religious instruction of the natives. Julius II. likewise conferred upon him and his successors the right of ecclesiastical patronage and the disposal of all benefices in the colonies. It is true that these pontiffs were entirely in the dark as to the value of that which was demanded; and when this fact became better known, their successors had occasion to lament their inconsiderate liberality. But the grants were beyond recall, and their consequence was to make the Spanish monarchs the heads of the American Church. In them the administration of its revenues was vested, and their nominations to benefices were at once confirmed by the Pope. Thus was avoided all collision between spiritual and temporal jurisdiction. This limitation of the Papal authority is the more singular when we consider the character of the nation and that of the monarch by whom it was devised.

The hierarchy of Spanish America was constituted similarly to that of Spain. The inferior clergy were divided into three classes, Curas, Doctrineros, and Misioneros. Of these, the first were parish priests; the second had charge of districts inhabited by subjected Indians; the third were employed in converting and instructing independent tribes. The revenues of the Church were immense; its edifices and convents were magnificent, and its display of wealth ostentatious. Nothing could be less suitable for establishments so situated as were the Spanish colonies in South America than the introduction of the monastic system; yet that system was soon to be found there to a most flourishing extent. In a new settlement, where there is room to spread, the main object should be to encourage population; but the Spaniards, with their usual blindness, began from the first to erect convents, where persons of either sex were shut up in large numbers under a vow of celibacy. The numbers who crowded into those abodes of superstition and of listless ease were utterly lost to society; and the consequence of this was the more serious, inasmuch as none but persons of Spanish extraction were admitted into the monasteries.

A considerable proportion of the secular clergy in America were natives of Spain, being for the most part such as had little prospect of advancement in their own country. They were, as a body, not remarkable for their attainments either in science or in literature. But the greater part of the ecclesiastics in Spanish America were regulars. The missionaries of the four mendicant orders had permission from the Pope to accept parochial charges in America, without being subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese. It is to these alone amongst Spanish ecclesiastics that we are indebted for our accounts of the civil and natural history of the various provinces. Amongst them may be mentioned the history of the New World by the Jesuit Acosta, and likewise the natural and civil history of Chili by the Abbé Molina, from whose work I have quoted, and who, although a Chilian, is so singularly fair towards the sworn foes of his country, the Araucanians. The general purport of Catholic testimony gives but a poor report of the moral character of the South American regular clergy, many of whom are said to have been not only destitute of the virtues to the observance of which they were sworn, but even of ordinary decorum. The vow of poverty was treated with contempt, some of the ecclesiastics becoming amongst the chief oppressors of the natives whom it was their duty to protect. The vow of chastity received as little regard.

1757.

These irregularities did not escape the notice of the authorities, and one Viceroy of Peru took effective measures for restraining the regulars. They had recourse, however, to such influences at Madrid that their ancient practices were soon again tolerated. Being thus exempt from all restraints, they at length excited such scandal and disgust that Ferdinand VI. was constrained to issue an edict prohibiting regulars of any denomination from taking charge of parishes; and declaring that, on the demise of the present incumbents, none but secular priests, under due jurisdiction, should be presented to vacant benefices.

The early missionaries admitted natives of America into the Church with such haste that it was utterly impossible for them to comprehend the doctrines which they professed to receive; if for no other reason than that neither priests nor converts were more than superficially acquainted with the other’s language. It sometimes happened that from a desire to please their conquerors, or for some other reason altogether apart from conviction, there was a sudden rush to obtain admission into the Church. On the whole, however, it is to be feared that the Spanish ecclesiastics made but small progress in instilling into the natives the real doctrines of Christianity. Even after two centuries had passed, but few natives possessed such spiritual discernment as to be admitted to the Holy Communion. When the Inquisition was established by Philip II. in his transatlantic dominions, in 1570, the natives were exempted from the jurisdiction of that tribunal.

1545.

A fresh impulse was given to emigration to Peru by the accidental discovery by an Indian, as he was climbing the mountain in pursuit of a llama, of the silver mines of Potosí, which poured forth their treasures in such profusion as to astonish mankind. Some idea of the mineral wealth of the Spanish possessions in the New World may be obtained from the computation that, from the year 1492, gold and silver annually entered Spain to the value of four millions sterling. In this figure, which was regularly accounted for, is not included the treasure fraudulently imported free of duty, and which might perhaps amount to nearly as much more. These mines were not worked by the Crown, but by private adventurers, with the natural result that a spirit of gambling was very soon produced, which had a most debasing effect upon the colonial character.

But although the mines of Peru were the great attraction of the country, they were fortunately not the only source of wealth. To that country the world owes many products of at least as much value to it as silver and gold. It has been already mentioned that the earliest notice which we have of the potato occurs in Pizarro’s first exploring expedition. That adventurer would have smiled had any one suggested to him that the root to which his starving followers had recourse in order to satisfy their hunger might be a greater boon to mankind than even the Inca’s ransom. To Peru we likewise owe, exclusively, the Quinquina, or Jesuits’ bark, which has perhaps allayed more misery than even Pizarro caused. Cacao, and various other products of value, quicksilver being amongst them, likewise come from the same quarter.

1568.