America Pontificia, III. Documenti pontifici nell'Archivio Segreto Vaticano riguardanti l'evangelizzazione dell'America: 1592-1644 ed. by Josef Metzler

Abstract

America Pontificia, III. Documenti pontifici nell'Archivio Segreto Vaticano riguardanti levangelizzazione dell'America: 1592-1644. Edited by Josef Metzler, with the collaboration of Giuseppina Roselli. [Collectanea Archivi Vaticani, 38; Pontificio Comitato di Scienze Storiche, Atti e Documenti, 5.] (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.1995. Pp. 861.) The first two volumes of this series, America Pontificia, embracing the years 1493-1592, contain a valuable collection of papal documents relating to the evangelization of the New World. Drawn from the Secret Vatican Archive, they are published in their Latin original and were reviewed by Stafford Poole, C.M., ante, LXXVIII (October,1992), 601-606 (see also LXIX [July, 1993],602-603). This third volume, embracing the years 1592-1644, is structured differently, however, as it comprises summaries in Italian of 1409 documents that are of lesser value, as a survey will show. Only those of special importance are left in their Latin original.The fonts which this volume touches are likewise found in the Secret Vatican Archive and are representative of the various registers of bulls (the Vatican and Lateran Registers) in that Archive. Other documentation is drawn from the Archive of the Camera Apostolica and the Consistorial Archive concerning the appointment of archbishops and bishops, the erection of dioceses, and other pertinent activities. As the Church moved into the seventeenth century, papal interest in the evangelization of America moved forward despite the theological and political problems that plagued Europe during that period. Weighty American issues stemmed from the patronato and padroado systems enjoyed by the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns and, in lesser degree, from tensions among the missionaries themselves concerning popular piety, new schools, seminaries, universities, and the progress and problems of religious life. The Papacy, however, always looked upon the American Church as an integral part of the universal Church and not just as an appendage. To demonstrate Rome's concern about the overseas Church, the editor reviews some of the problems that the four popes under consideration encountered, namely, Clement VIII (1592-1605), Paul V (1605-1621), Gregory XV (1621-1623), and Urban VIII (1623-1644), the reign of Leo XI (April 1-27, 1605) having been too short for comment. Clement VIII's thorniest obstacle was the opposition of the Iberian monarchs who guarded the evangelization of their New World domains against interference from the Holy See by virtue of the patronage that had been granted their predecessors by previous popes. Like Pius V and Gregory XIII before him, he futilely endeavored to set up the Roman Office of the Propagation of the Faith, aspiring thereby to separate, in this complex problem, the Church's evangelization program from the Crowns' political policies. His efforts came to naught, but missionary activity, thanks to the religious orders, made advances. Under Paul V evangelization proceeded apace, the Carmelites and the Capuchins, together with other Orders, doing outstanding work. …