The Franciscans in Colonial Mexico ed. by Thomas M. Cohen, Jay T. Harrison, and David Rex Galindo

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Franciscans in Colonial Mexico ed. by Thomas M. Cohen, Jay T. Harrison, and David Rex Galindo John Pollock-Parker The Franciscans in Colonial Mexico. Edited by Thomas M. Cohen, Jay T. Harrison, and David Rex Galindo. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 2021. Pp. x, 344. $65. ISBN: 9780806169255.) The Franciscans in Colonial Mexico contains a collection of essays presented as part of the quincentenary celebration of the Franciscan arrival in Mexico. [End Page 617] This important collection contains thirteen carefully constructed and learned essays which examine Franciscan activity in New Spain. The stated purposes of the collection are threefold: to commemorate the quincentenary, to honor the life and work of Francisco Morales, and to fill gaps in the historiography of the Franciscans in New Spain. The full potential of this volume is apparent in two essays comparing concepts of martyrdom using two differing criteria. José Refugio de la Torre Curiel’s diachronic analysis of the discourse surrounding martyrdom (chapter 8), and Emanuele Colombo’s “comparative study of different religious orders active at the same time and in the same location” (p. 309), in this case Franciscan and Jesuit responses to martyrdom (chapter 13). Engaging the topic with two different methodological approaches illuminates how dynamic the Franciscan experience and the richness the cultural and religious landscape was in New Spain. Likewise, unique contributions such as Jonathan Truitt’s work on the role of sports and spectacle in the creation of Colonial Society (chapter 4) display the depth with which the Friars interacted with nearly every facet of colonial society. The emphasis on the Colonial Mexican location at times overshadows the particularities of the Franciscan presence, methods, and approaches to evangelization in the region. For example, Veronica Murilla Gallegos’ examination of Fray Juan Bautista’s literary production (chapter 3), an otherwise masterfully crafted essay, does not aclnowledge that the Franciscan literary production in Mexico reflected longstanding trends within the Order’s history regarding the use of the vernacular. This is not a universal trend, and largely a concern only for experts in the field of Franciscan Studies, as other contributions situate the Friars within a larger religious economy and consciously Franciscan identity. Matthew Restall’s “The Landa Conundrum” (chapter 5) reminds us that these friars, and in fact all agents in the colonization of Mexico, were products of historical forces which were transcontinental, diachronic, and shaped in these cases by participation in the Franciscan charism. Karen Melvin’s examination in chapter 8 of the reinscription of the sacred topography onto the Mexican landscape, likewise situates the Friars within a global Catholic framework. One weakness of the volume is the lack of critical engagement with unfree labor. The editors’ acknowledgement that the Franciscans “participated in the extirpation of the vestiges of Indigenous religion and culture [and] involuntarily to the demographic demise of Indigenous peoples” (p. 3) is certainly correct. As Steven Hackel in chapter 9, and Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz’ chapter 10 make clear when discussing the missions in Baja California, at certain times and places the Friars’ were invested in gaining and retaining control over the lives of Indigenous people. Nor does any essay fully account for Franciscan attitudes towards enslaved African labor. In this way the volume continues in the tradition of earlier nationalist histories which saw slavery, the encomienda, and reparimiento as vehicles for creating an organic Latin American culture. Ultimately, however, the many strengths of this volume and its utility for scholars, overcome whatever critiques might be offered, and renders it an invaluable [End Page 618] resource for higher-level undergraduate reading and scholars in the field. The Franciscans in Colonial Mexico is a timely and invaluable contribution to scholarship in the fields of Latin American History and Franciscan Studies. John Pollock-Parker Society for Lascasian Studies Copyright © 2022 The Catholic University of America Press