Capuchin Friars Research Articles

When the Priest Does Not Sympathize with el Pueblo: Clergy and Society in El Oriente Venezolano, 1843-1873

When 22 Capuchin friars landed in Barcelona in 1843, they could not anticipate the troubles they faced in the years to come. As refugees from the Spanish Carlista wars, Gallegos and Catalans who did not even speak much Spanish, the friars must have been happy enough to serve a nation that did not want them dead—yet. In their contract with the Venezuelan government, the 22 Capuchin friars who labored in Venezuela'sOrientepromised to stay in Venezuela for at least ten years. In return, the Venezuelan government promised to pay them 400 pesos annually, to leave all spiritual matters in the hands of the missionaries, and to cede to the missionaries all authority in Indian mission matters.If only things worked out that well. The Capuchin friars found themselves inextricably bound in complex relationships of race and class, often intertwined with matters of land and labor. Poverty and politics (or the politics of poverty) did not allow clergy to use their position as parish priests to maintain any degree of neutrality in the tug of war between the white elite and the poor, primarily Indians, ex-slaves, and the mixed race descendants of all groups. To the contrary, poverty and politics made clergy important players in the ongoing high stakes game of chess between the elite and the masses.

Europeans in late Mughal south Asia: The perceptions of Italian missionaries

During the last half of the eighteenth century, a group of Roman Catholic Capuchin friars from Italy were active as missionaries in various towns in Bihar and also in Chandernagore. Their principal stations in Bihar were Bettiah and Patna. Four of these missionaries wrote letters, essays, books and translations relating to their encounter with Hinduism, Indian culture, and the political events of the period. These texts shed light on what was happening in these towns during this period, and also explain in detail the reactions of the missionaries to Hindu polytheism, Hindu mythology, the caste system, and the political culture of late Mughal society. What is particularly interesting is the contrast between their perceptions, influenced by conservative Catholicism, and those of the French and British, more influenced by Enlightenment culture.

Concepts of Spiritual Nourishment in the Andes And Europe: Rosaries in Cross‐Cultural Contexts

This article explores visual imagery connected with the Christian rosary and its connotations of spiritual nourishment in European art and Andean ritual practices. Early eighteenth‐century religious art inspired by a vision received by Isidoro of Seville, a Capuchin friar, presented the Virgin Mary as the Divine Shepherdess with her flock of Christians, depicted as sheep with roses in their mouths. This imagery resonates in the flowering ceremony practised by Aymara pastoralists in Isluga, Chile. The floreo serves as a rite of passage for herd animals, its intention being to enhance their fertility by making them ‘flower’. However the congruence between the visual codes produced by Europeans and Andeans conveys related but different social and moral messages. Whereas sheep can represent human beings in Christian art, they cannot stand in for human beings in Isluga, since Isluga people recognize that both human and herd animals require spiritual nourishment.

Mudança de hábito: Catequese e educação para índios nos aldeamentos capuchinhos

A escola para índios foi um dos baluartes da política indigenista do Brasil monárquico, que se pautava pelo "Regulamento da Catequese e Civilização", de 1845. O período é marcado pela atuação da missão dos frades capuchinhos italianos e montagem de dezenas de escolas para índios nos aldeamentos católicos e nas cidades. Este artigo trata de observar a natureza das relações sociais geradas pela empresa missionária dos capuchinhos e o sentido da catequese para os diferentes agentes nela envolvidos. Focalizando a missão indígena no Paraná, destaca a montagem da destilaria de aguardente em São Pedro de Alcântara, instrumento pelo qual se buscou a "catequese e civilização" dos índios.

City Steeple, City Streets: Saints' Tales from Granada and a Changing Spain

Candace Slater's new book focuses on narratives concerning Fray Leopoldo de Alpandeire (1864-1956), a Capuchin friar from Granada and probably the most popular nonconsecrated saint today in all of Spain. In tracing the emergence of a group of contemporary legends about Fray Leopoldo, Slater discusses both the stories she tape-recorded in the streets of Granada and the friar's official biography. She underscores the essential pluralism of the tales, their undercurrent of resistance to institutional authority, and their deep concern for the relationship between past and present. Bearing witness to the subtlety and resilience of even the most apparently conservative folk-literary forms, these stories are not only about the role of saints and miracles in an increasingly secular and industrial society but, first and foremost, also about the legacy of the Franco years.