Abstract
Abstract The name Antoine Lavalette (1708–67) is infamous within the Society of Jesus. The superior of the Martinique mission in the mid-eighteenth century, he is known for triggering the 1764 expulsion from France. Less known is his torture to death of four enslaved men and women. The visitor sent to investigate Lavalette’s commercial activities, Jean-François de la Marche (1700–62), discovered these murders and reported them to Rome. This paper analyzes La Marche’s account of the atrocities within their Caribbean context. It demonstrates that Lavalette’s killings were within the established norms of the planter class. It further argues that his actions were part of the Society’s attempts to reconcile its religious calling with the gruesome realities of plantation slavery.
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