Paraquaria vulgo Paraguay cum adjacentibus. From Joannes Blaeu, Atlas Maior (Amsterdam: Blaeu, 1662).
The Guaranì was an indigenous group that lived in South America along the Rio del Plata basin. In the eighteen century the Guaranì came into contact with the Society of Jesus, a a scholarly religious congregation known for its propensity to focus on education. It was thus that, around 1600 various missions were founded, whose goal was to give birth to a pure and uncontaminated Christianity in a still unknown land.
In this blog we are going to show how the Jesuits play the role of go-between in South America, and particularly with the Guaranies. Though their catholic mission of conversion, they created a link between Europe and the New World. Thanks to a pacific approach, they were able to spread the word of Christ.
Our Group Project consists of explaining how the Jesuits acted as a go-betweens during the conquest of South America, and particularly the Guarani’s one. Was it a violent or peaceful go-between? Was it successful or not ?
The movie The Mission (1986) by Rolland Joffé is going to illustrate our researchs.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Father Gabriel founds a pacifist mission in the Gurani’s land. Help by an ex slave hunter, Mendoza, he tries to convert the Guaranis to catholicism. But the Treaty of Madrid signed between Spain and Portugal, is going to disturb the Mission equilibrium.
As Caraman Philip said in The lost paradise: the Jesuit Republic of South America:
‘The two pioneers of the first Guarani Reductions, Cataldino and Maceta, were ordered in 1609 to gather the Indian boys every morning to learn and read and sing, to instruct them in the playing of musical instruments.’
The Jesuits used music as a peaceful go-between to spread Catholicism. While in Europe the Enlightenment, with its confidence in the light of reason, took hold, in South America a more spontaneous and pure culture emerged, the one of the Guaranì ethnic Group.
Scene from the film “The Mission” 1986
The film Mission by Roland Joffé, even if it is based on an invented story, it gives a good historical overview. The movie underlines how the evident arrogance of European countries clashes with the more peaceful approach of the Jesuits to a different culture.
A key role both in the film and in the historical events is music as element of connection between two worlds. Music was very important for the Guaraní population, indeed it was tied to various expressions of the society, as religious or politic ceremonies, and that is how instruments, such as lute and oboe, turned to be the means by which the Jesuits transmitted the word of God to them.
Guaranì child singing in the film “The Mission” 9186
Missionaries as Louis Berger, Jean Vaisseau, Antonio Sepp and Domenico Zipoli, Jesuits who lived and worked in South America during the XVII and the XVIII centuries, reported how the Guaraní population was extremely gifted musically, in fact they were able to learn how to play an instrument very easily. The dominant style of western music of the time, the Baroque, flourished, giving life also to a series of realities as musical laboratories with the prerogative of the manufacture of the instruments themselves.
Antonio Sepp, in particular, arrived in 1689, bringing with him musical instruments and founding a school of music. He played a fundamental role in the diffusion of music in the various missions, writing and reproducing different pieces with instruments made by himself. In addition to the music school, he also founded a dance and a choral singing school.
The film Mission also shows us how the Guaraní had a singing predisposition, quality that allowed the Jesuits to build proper churches provided with a chorus where complete religious functions took place. Unfortunately fires and looting destroyed what can be defined as an adventure, an utopia based on the love for every representation of God, from painting, to music.
But not everything got lost, Guaraní kept transmitting what they had learned from the Jesuits and nowadays it is still possible to see how their musical culture was preserved.
Antonio Ruiz de Montoya is a Jesuit who travelled along South America to convert local populations. In 1636 he decided to publish his account called The spiritual conquest accomplished by the Religious of the Society of Jesus in the provinces of Paraguay, Paraná, Uruguay, and Tape to share with the Europeans his experience among the Guarani.
‘Montoya became a classic “go-between,” moving between different cultures and serving as an intermediary, working tirelessly on behalf of the Guaraní indigenous peoples both in South America and across the Atlantic, as a representative of the Jesuit order’
He did want to act as a diplomat between two contrasting societies through his religious mission. He devoted his life to help the Indians not only to find the true God, but also to find an agreement with the Spaniards to live together peacefully. It is clear since the beginning when he wrote:
‘My goal is to make peace between Spaniards and Indians- a task so difficult that more than a century since the discovery of the Western Indies it has been impossible to achieve.’
When he was nominated superior of the reduction missions, Montoya had to deal with political issues. The European colonists could no longer import African Slaves so they started to reduce Indians to slavery. Many Guaraní were taken from the Jesuit reduction to the point where Montoya decided to ask for aid from the Spanish throne. Andrew Redden wrote that:
‘Ruiz de Montoya, was sent by Boroa (who was then provincial) as special procurator to the Spanish court in 1637 to persuade the king to enact and enforce laws to protect the Guarani population’
From this statement it can be seen Montoya acted as a diplomat for the sake of the Guaraní safety. He showed outstanding ability to come to terms not only with the native populations, but also with the colonists and the Spanish crown.
Ultimately, the description of the Guarani culture, their customs and practices helped Historians and Anthropologist in their studies on Guaraní population. Montoya account is a vital eyewitness on the encounters between Indios and Spaniards. It shows the cultural shock the local population experiences after being relocated to other cities, facing epidemics and radically changing their lifestyle. In her article Ganson pointed out how
‘Much of our knowledge of early Guaraní culture, politics, economy, and society has been derived from Montoya’s account. It is the essential story of the early Guaraní reducciones during the beginning stage of Christianity’s expansion into remote areas of the Río de la Plata and Brazil.’
Illustration from 1640. A cherub carrying a native, representing the Society of Jesus wishes to convert natives
The accurate descriptions of the Guarani society, the narration of their complex world are crucial information to understand how a non-European society developed his religious beliefs, his political and social organisation.
Since his publication, Spiritual Conquest has been a bridge between Europe and South America, to open a sight on a far away exotic land and its people.
Montoya’s Conquista espiritual represents one of the rare case through which the reader can have an insight on native point of view. In Particular he recorded Guaraní speeches when they protest against the Fathers. One of the revolts happened when a cacique, whose name was Miguel Artiguaye, coursed against the Fathers saying:
‘you are no priests sent from god to aid our misery; you are devils from hell, sent by their ruler for our destruction.’
This quote is helpful in understanding the disorientation and the refuse of the Indios towards missionaries. Fathers Montoya gave voice to the problems that missionaries faced during they travels.
It is not common to find textual evidence of the Indios perspective, due to a multitude of factors principally their oral tradition. Moreover, most of the missionaries account have subjective narrations through which it is hard to understand how the Indios react to the European invasion.
A remarkable example is the account written by the Jesuit Martin Dobrizhoffer. While he is talking about the Guarani conversion, he said:
‘To sum up all, by continual perseverance they wrought so much, that in a few weeks, they joyfully beheld something like Christianity beginning to flourish amongst these savages.’
It is clear the author denial of any kind of Indios protest against the invaders. Dobrizhoffer presents the conversion to Christianity as an easy task to complete among these population, even if it was not always a pacific transition. In doing so he is depicting the Guaraní as infants who didn’t have power of thought. They were considered as savages without intellectual skills.
Although it is necessary to keep in mind that Montoya has a seventeenth-century mentality. He believed the pagans are devil manifestations and he judged shamans as Devil’s followers. In the account he talks about the martyrdom of three Fathers by a cacique, whose name was Nezù. He defined him as
‘counterfeit god and slave of the devil, possessed by a raging anger, plotted the death not only of these three Fathers but all the Fathers of the Uruguay’
It is interesting to observe how the Jesuits considered not only the savages as Devil manifestations, but also the European colonists.
Andrew Redden wrote an article about Father Diego de Alfaro apologia written by Diego the Boroa to justify the Jesuits use of arms as a necessary action against the European invaders. He said:
‘it is quite clear how a distinctive form of Jesuit spirituality influences their way of seeing these events and, of course, their subsequent choices. They leave no doubt in the minds of their readers that these were infernal attacks instigated by the antichrist and carried out by his hosts—the Portuguese’
Moreover every achievement he did among the Guarani preaching the Gospels and teaching them new practices is reduced to the power of Christian faith. In the Spiritual conquest while he is talking about the improvements made by the Fathers among the guarani, he said:
‘it is the power of the gospel that I seek to set forth. It potency is manifested by gentling lions, taming tigers, transforming wild beasts into human beings and even angels’
Jesuits always wanted to convert Indians to catholicism in a peaceful way. The Spanish Jesuit José d’Acosta wrote in 1576 the handbook “De Procuranda” teaching school Jesuits missionaries how to convert Indians in South America.
Jesuist José d’Acosta’s handbook ‘De Procuranda‘ (1576)
According to him, firstly it was necessary to observe and learn how the Indians were living, know their traditions and culture, and then transform their habits and convert them without the use of violence. Indeed, Acosta observed for three or four years the different missions. It is on the basis of this experience that he wrote his book. Persuasion is the most important thing in religious conversion : people need to transfer their love for pagan icons to The Christ and the Virgin. Thus, Jesuits are opposed to violence as a means to compel people to convert. However, they have no pity for the “dogmatizadores’, i.e. the keepers of ancient pagan cults, who are an obstacle to the Christian conversion. As we can see in the movie Mission, this conversion seems to be really pacific : father Gabriel is clearly against violence and uses music instead (“Gabriel’s oboe”, the theme of the original soundtrack).
2. The Treaty of Madrid (1750) completely damage the Jesuits’ work
In 1750, the Treaty of Madrid had completely damaged the pacifist work of the Jesuits. It was a reconsideration of the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494.
Treaty of Madrid (1750) English Edition
Indeed, in January 1750, the Spanish minister Don José de Carvajal y Lancaster and the Portuguese minister Dom Tomas da Silva Tellez reunited to talk about the new frontiers of the South American continent. Spain wanted to limit the Portuguese presence in Uruguay and particularly in the Rio de la Plata, to keep Bueno Aires less vulnerable. On the Portuguese side, they wanted to preserve Brazil’s security. However, the negotiators of this Treaty did not consider the work of Jesuits in South America and particularly in Uruguay and Paraguay. In Article 14 of the Treaty, Portugal ceded the region and the town of Colonia do Sacramento, which included the Rio de la Plata (which is Uruguay today).
Schematic split of Brazil in 1750
In counterpart, Portugal received the east part of the Uruguay River, which included the territory of the seven jesuit missions : San Nicolas, San Miguel, San Luis, Santo Angelo, san Juan Bautista, San Lorenzo, and San Borja. But Article 16 of the Treaty fundamentally disturbed the equilibrium of the missions and the Jesuits’ work as go-betweens. It ordered the Jesuits to leave their missions on the eastside of the Uruguay River. According to the Jesuits in 1750, there were about 26 362 inhabitants in those missions. Guaranis could decide to stay or to leave, but most of the facilities were destroyed. The seven missions tried to negotiate with the governor of Buenos Aires, begging him not to make war with the “poor Indian Christians” but it did not work. War was declared.
The Treaty of Madrid marked the turning point of the Jesuits’ go-between which could no longer be pacifist. It was the beginning of an armed uprising.
3. Whereas Jesuits wanted to be pacifist go-betweens, they had to start an an insurrection with the Guaranis and betray their original position
Jesuits completely disagreed with this Treaty and did not want to leave the mission. According to them, this treaty would eradicate more than half a century of great endeavours of conversion. They needed to protect the results of their efforts, but the only way was to fight against the Spanish and the Portuguese, and so to betray their pacifist and christian values. The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Gomes Freire de Andrada accused the Jesuits to delay their departure in order to arm themselves and the Guaraní, to better fight against colonial forces.
Gomes Freire de Andrada
With the Marques de Valdelirios, the governor of Buenos Aires, and José de Andonaegui, captain of the Rio de la Plata, they met on the Martin Garcia island, in 1753, to determine how to put the Jesuits out of the missions.
The movie The Mission, even if it is based on an invented story, it helps to identify the clash between Mendoza, who wants to teach the Guaraní how to fight, and Father Gabriel who remains pacifist. In both cases, the Jesuits are outnumbered and are decimated by the Spanish and Portuguese.
Anyway, despite many negotiations, the Guaraní war is a failure for the Jesuits. They are forced to leave by Francisco Retz, the Jesuits general in Rome, and then by his successor, Ignacio Visconti. This departure is effective only in 1753.
This movie extract is showing the violence of the battle. In one side, we can see Mendoza and the Guaraní fighting against the Spanish and Portuguese. On the other side, Father Gabriel is praying, raising the Cross to the sky. Click here to see it
Mendoza during the final Battle in The Mission (1986)
4. A failed go-between as the Jesuits must leave, and the Guaraní are left with nowhere to go
The Guaraní conquest by the Jesuits is clearly deteriorated by this Treaty and this war, and the Guaraní’s fate is jeopardized. The Guaraní were able to stay in the missions, but these were mostly destroyed by the war. However the majority decided to leave, but did not know where to go and refused to search for new lands. After this defeat, the Jesuits lost their authority over the Guaraní : Father Superior in Candelaria said “We no longer govern, they (the Guaraní) do, and we obey”.
A Guaraní family captured by slave hunter by Jean-Baptiste Debret
5. But the Guaraní still keep some aspects of the Catholic religion.
However, despite the failure of the Jesuits’ go-between efforts, the Guaraní preserved some aspects of their original Catholic faith, and continued to use Catholicsymbols : The Guaraní from San Miguel continued to invoke their patron saint (Saint Thomas). Most of the time, they were sincere and heeded the saint’s words because they still believed in the power of dreams and prophecies.
Final scene of the Mission (1986)
The Jesuits failed as go-betweens. They did not find a way to stop the Treaty of Madrid and they were forced to live their missions by the Church itself. They also betray their pacifist values by fighting against the Spanish and Portuguese.
However, it was not a futile work, according to Barbara Ganson:
‘Of all the Catholic missions in the Americas, from New France to California to Chile, the Guaraní missions established in Paraguay under the Jesuits have been considered the most successful in terms of the size of their native population, the level of economic prosperity, and the extent of religious conversion of the Indians, at least from the perspective of Europeans’
Jesuits as Go-Betweens 