Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery

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The convent of San Augustin, a mission centre established at Yuriria, Mexico in 1550

The Catholic Church during the Age of Discovery inaugurated a major effort to spread Christianity in the New World and to convert the indigenous peoples of the Americas and other indigenous peoples. The evangelical effort was a major part of, and a justification for, the military conquests of European powers such as Portugal, Spain, and France. Christian missions to the indigenous peoples ran hand-in-hand with the colonial efforts of Catholic nations. In the Americas and other colonies in Asia, and Africa, most missions were run by religious orders such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Jesuits. In Mexico, the early systematic evangelization by mendicants came to be known as the "Spiritual Conquest of Mexico".[1]

Antonio de Montesinos, a Dominican friar on the island of Hispaniola, was the first member of the clergy to publicly denounce all forms of enslavement and oppression of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.[2] Theologians such as Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolomé de las Casas drew up theological and philosophical bases for the defense of the human rights of the colonized native populations, thus creating the basis of international law, regulating the relationships between nations.[3] Important contemporary ecclesiastical documents taking a strong stance on enslaving or despoiling the indigenous peoples of the Americas was the ecclesiastical letter Pastorale officium and the superseding encyclical Sublimis Deus
.

In the early years, most mission work was undertaken by the religious orders. Over time it was intended that a normal church structure would be established in the mission areas. The process began with the formation of special jurisdictions, known as apostolic prefectures and apostolic vicariates. These developing churches eventually graduated to regular diocesan status with the appointment of a local bishop. After decolonization, this process increased in pace as church structures altered to reflect new political-administrative realities.

Background

La Virgen de Candelaria, Patron of the Canary Islands

In 1341, a three-ship expedition sponsored by King Afonso IV of Portugal, set out from Lisbon for the Canary Islands. The expedition spent five months mapping the islands.[4] This expedition became the basis of Portuguese claims to the islands.

In 1344, the Castilian-French noble Luis de la Cerda (Count of Clermont and Admiral of France), and French ambassador to the papal court in Avignon, proposed to Pope Clement VI, conquering the islands and converting the native Guanches to Christianity.[5] In November 1344, Clement VI issued the bull Tu devonitis sinceritas bestowing upon Luis de la Cerda the title of sovereign "Prince of Fortuna". Clement also urged the kings of Portugal and Castile to provide assistance to Cerda's expedition.[6] The Portuguese king Afonso IV immediately lodged a protest,[7] as did Alfonso XI of Castile.[8] Preparations were delayed and no expedition was mounted before Cerda's death in 1348.

The raids and attacks of the Reconquista created captives on both sides, who were either ransomed or sold as slaves. During the dynastic wars of the 1370s, between Portugal and Castile, Portuguese and Castilian privateers made for the Canaries for shelter or slaving raids.

In 1415, the Portuguese

cane sugar.[10] By 1427 they had reached the Azores
. Portugal and Spain continued to dispute control of the Canary Islands.

Age of Discovery

Creator omnium

The Castilian conquest of the islands began in 1402, with the expedition of Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle, on commission of Henry III of Castile. The expedition included two Franciscan friars. Lanzarote, and later Fuerteventura and El Hierro were occupied, and the Bishopric of the Canaries was established.

In 1434,

Prince Henry of Portugal attempted to invade Gran Canaria. When a landing was repulsed by the Guanches, the native Berber inhabitants, the expedition then plundered the Castilian missions on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.[11] A complaint was lodged by Fernando Calvetos, the Castilian bishop of San Marcial del Rubicón in Lanzarote, supported by the archbishop of Seville. Calvetos informed the pope of the pillaging carried out by the Portuguese "pirates". Pope Eugene IV issued Regimini gregis on 29 September 1434,[12] and Creator Omnium, on 17 December 1434, forbidding any further raids on the Canaries and ordered the immediate manumission of all Christian converts enslaved during the attack.[11]

While Creator omnium was issued in response to Portuguese depredations on Castilian settlements in the Canaries, the following month Pope Eugene issued the broader

Sicut Dudum, indicating that Castilian slavers were not exempt and requiring that residents of the Canary Islands who had been enslaved were to be set free within fifteen days of publication of the bull upon penalty of excommunication.[13]

Dum diversas

According to Stanley G. Payne, "[T]he expansion of the faith was inextricably intertwined with military glory and economic profit. Because of this it is idle to ask, as is frequently done, whether the Portuguese pioneers and Castilian conquistadores were motivated more by greed or by religious zeal. In the Hispanic crusading expansionist ideology, the two went together.[10]

When Islam presented a serious military threat to

Papal Bull Romanus Pontifex granted the Portuguese all lands behind Cape Bojador and allows to reduce pagans and other enemies of Christ to perpetual slavery.[17]

Later, the 1481

Papal Bull Aeterni regis granted all lands south of the Canary Islands to Portugal, while in May 1493 the Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI decreed in the Bull Inter caetera that all lands west of a meridian only 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands should belong to Spain while new lands discovered east of that line would belong to Portugal. A further Bull, Dudum siquidem, made some more concessions to Spain, and the pope's arrangements were then amended by the Treaty of Tordesillas
of 1494 negotiated between Spain and Portugal.

After the discovery of the Americas, many of the clergy sent to the New World began to criticize Spain and the Church's treatment of indigenous peoples. In December 1511,

Bartolomé de Las Casas and Francisco de Vitoria led to debate on the nature of human rights[18] and the birth of modern international law.[21][22] (French, English, and Dutch reactions against the maritime monopolies granted to Portugal and Spain, meanwhile, culminated in Hugo Grotius's work articulating the doctrine of freedom of the seas
.)

In 1524,

Franciscan missionaries known as the Twelve Apostles of Mexico arrived in what is New Spain, followed by the Dominicans in 1526, and the Augustinians in 1533.[23] They worked hard to convert the Indians and to provide for their well-being by establishing schools and hospitals. Because some people questioned whether the Indians were truly men who deserved baptism, Pope Paul III in the papal bull Veritas Ipsa or Sublimis Deus (1537) confirmed that the Indians were deserving men.[24][25] Afterward, the conversion effort gained momentum.[26]

School of Salamanca

An early visitor to California sketched a group of Costeño dancers at Mission San José with their bodies painted to resemble the patterns in Spanish military uniforms.[27]

The

charity, warned Suárez, and for the advantage of the Indians. More traditional theologians legitimized the conquest while at the same time limiting the absolute power of the sovereign, which was celebrated in others parts of Europe under the developing notion of the divine right
of kings.

Conversions and assimilation

The

John Paul II.[citation needed
]

Guadalupe is often considered a mixture of the cultures which blend to form Mexico, both racially

or "the first Mexican". [31] Mary O'Connor writes that Guadalupe "bring[s] together people of distinct cultural heritages, while at the same time affirming their distinctness".[32]

One theory is that the Virgin of Guadalupe was presented to the

Aztecs as a sort of "Christianized" Tonantzin, necessary for the clergymen to convert the indigenous people to their faith. As Jacques Lafaye wrote in Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe, "as the Christians built their first churches with the rubble and the columns of the ancient pagan temples, so they often borrowed pagan customs for their own cult purposes".[33]

Such Virgins appeared in most of the other evangelized countries, mixing Catholicism with the local customs:

Religious orders

Dominicans

Franciscans

Jesuits

The Altar of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines. St. Francis is the principal patron of the town, together with Our Lady of Escalera.

The first attempt by

mission work in China, ultimately introducing Western science, mathematics, astronomy, and visual arts to the imperial court, and carrying on significant inter-cultural and philosophical dialogue with Chinese scholars, particularly representatives of Confucianism. At the time of their peak influence, members of the Jesuit delegation were considered some of the emperor
's most valued and trusted advisors, holding numerous prestigious posts in the imperial government. Many Chinese, including notable former Confucian scholars, adopted Christianity and became priests and members of the Society of Jesus.

Between the 18th and mid-19th century, nearly all Western missionaries in China were forced to conduct their teaching and other activities covertly.

Elsewhere, Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier introduced Christianity to Japan. By the end of the 16th century tens of thousands of Japanese followed Roman Catholicism. Church growth came to a halt in 1635 under the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu who, in an effort to isolate the country from foreign influences, launched a severe persecution of Christians.[34] Japanese were forbidden to leave the country and Europeans were forbidden to enter. Despite this, a minority Christian population survived into the 19th century.[34][35]

Jesuit Reductions in the Southern Cone
, with present political divisions.

In

reductions. Pope Gregory XVI, challenging Spanish and Portuguese sovereignty, appointed his own candidates as bishops in the colonies, condemned slavery and the slave trade in 1839 (papal bull In supremo apostolatus), and approved the ordination of native clergy in spite of government racism.[36]

Many buildings erected by the Jesuits still stand, such as the

Jesuit Reduction
.

Empires and missions

Spanish missions

In

Los Angeles
(1781).

French missions

The French colonial effort began later than that of the Spanish or Portuguese.

Hawaii: The French Incident (1839)

Under the rule of Kaʻahumanu the newly converted Protestant widow of Kamehameha the Great, Catholicism was illegal in Hawaii and chiefs loyal to her forcibly deported French priests onto the Artemise.

Ka'ahumanu II
. In 1839 Captain Laplace of the French frigate Artémise sailed to Hawaii under orders to

destroy the malevolent impression which you find established to the detriment of the French name; to rectify the erroneous opinion which has been created as to the power of France; and to make it well understood that it would be to the advantage of the chiefs of those islands of the Ocean to conduct themselves in such a manner as not to incur the wrath of France. You will exact, if necessary with all the force that is yours to use, complete reparation for the wrongs which have been committed, and you will not quit those places until you have left in all minds a solid and lasting impression.[39]

Secularization and decolonization

Decolonization in Central and South America began with the revolutions in the 1820s, with all countries becoming independent then, except Puerto Rico and Cuba in 1898. Leaders were inspired by the American Revolution and the French Revolution of the late 18th century.

Emergence of the American Catholic Church

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Roman Catholic Church experienced unique difficulties within the United States of America. "Unlike all Protestant churches in America, the Roman Catholic church depended for its identity upon keeping doctrinal and administrative unity with a European-based authority."

John Carroll was appointed the first Bishop of the United States. He struggled to balance the desires of the US trustees to adapt and empower the laity and hold church property with the requests of the bishops and hierarchy oversees to preserve the doctrine. This controversy ran from approximately 1780 to 1850. In the end, the power and authority were too differential and the bishops won. This marked the creation of the "American Catholic Church with the laity subordinate to priest and bishop".[41] This system remained until the mid-20th century.[41]

Beginnings of the American Catholic school system

In the early-to-mid-19th century, schools in the United States were greatly influenced by

King James Bible in the classroom. Some school boards made changes to be more non-denominational.[41] Tensions were great during this time period as Americans were already fearful of immigration and Catholics. After a number of struggles, for a variety of reasons, American Catholics began creating their own schools in the 1840s. Archbishop at the time, John Hughes, insisted that Catholic education was the primary way to preserve proper Christian teaching.[42] He cited education at a young age promoted the reason and experience necessary for a strong religious background. He called American Catholics "to multiply our schools, and to perfect them".[43] By 1852 the bishops recommended "Catholic children should attend only schools that were under church control".[44]

20th century

John Paul II
.
Sanctuary dedicated to the Difunta Correa, a semi-pagan saint, located in Uruguay, between the Tacuarembó and Paso de los Toros cities.

The Catholic faith also became integrated in the industrial and post-industrial middle class as it developed, in particular through the lay movements created following the 1891 Rerum novarum encyclical enacted by Pope Leo XIII, and which insisted on the social role of the Roman Catholic Church.[45] New ceremonies appeared throughout the 20th century, such as Fidencio Constantino Sintora (known as the Niño Fidencio) (1898–1938) in Mexico, the Santa Muerte in Mexico (who has been attacked by the Catholic Church as being a pagan figure) or Difunta Correa in Argentina. The latter's pilgrimage site was visited by 700 000 persons in 2005.[45]

Legacy and issues

20th-century missions

Much Catholic missionary work has undergone a profound change since the

Redemptoris Missio (subtitled On the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate), John Paul II stressed "the urgency of missionary activity"[47] and in which he wished "to invite the Church to renew her missionary commitment".[48]

Ethnocide and challenges

After a journey among the

missionaries
towards non-Western cultures.

Pope Francis positions

On August 9, 2019, Pope argued that isolationism and populism lead to war and stated that "the whole is greater than the parts. Globalization and unity should not be conceived as a sphere, but as a polyhedron: each people retains its identity in unity with others. While 'sovereignism' involves closing in upon oneself, sovereignty is not, the Pope argued. The Pope stated that sovereignty must be defended and relations with other countries, with the European Community, must also be protected and promoted."[50] This will be addressed as part of Synod on the Amazonia,[50] which involves land in South America that was explored during the Age of Discovery.[51]

See also

References

  1. ^ Robert Ricard, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico: An Essay on the Apostolate and the Evangelizing Methods of the Mendicant Orders in New Spain: 1523–1572, translated from the French by Lesley Bird Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press 1966. The original text in French, Conquête Spirituelle du Mexique appeared in 1933.
  2. ^ Hanke, Lewis. (1946) "Free Speech in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America". The Hispanic American Historical Review, 26,2:135–149. Page 142.
  3. ^ Hernandez, Bonar (2001). "The Las Casas-Sepülveda Controversy: 1550-1551" (PDF). history.sfsu.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  4. ^ "Monumenta Henricina Volume I". UC Biblioteca Geral 1. June 20, 1969 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Viera y Clavijo, p.268
  6. ^ Monumenta Henricina vol. 1 contains copies of Pope Clement VI's bull Tu devonitis sinceritas(Nov 1344) granting the Canaries to Luis de la Cerda (p.207), the bull Prouenit ex tue of indulgences (Jan 1345) p.228
  7. ^ For Alfonso IV's protest (Feb 1345), see MH, v. 1,(p.231)
  8. ^ For the reply of Alfonso XI (Mar 1345) see MH, vol. 1 p.234.
  9. – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b "Payne, Samuel G., A History of Spain and Portugal, Vol.1, Chapt. 10" (PDF).
  11. ^ a b "Lawrance, Jeremy. "Alfonso de Cartagena on the affair of the Canaries (1436–37), Historians of Medieval Iberia, September 1989, University of Birmingham" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-14. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  12. ^ MH, V, 89–93, §38
  13. ^ Pope Eugene IV, Sicut dudum, 13 January 1435 Papal Encyclicals online
  14. ^ , p. 65-6.
  15. , p. 13, 283.
  16. , p. 39, 59.
  17. .
  18. ^ , p. 287.
  19. , p. 45, 52, 53 quote: "The missionary Church opposed this state of affairs from the beginning, and nearly everything positive that was done for the benefit of the indigenous peoples resulted from the call and clamor of the missionaries. The fact remained, however, that widespread injustice was extremely difficult to uproot ... Even more important than Bartolome de Las Casas was the Bishop of Nicaragua, Antonio de Valdeviso, who ultimately suffered martyrdom for his defense of the Indian."
  20. ^ Johansen, p. 109, 110, quote: "In the Americas, the Catholic priest Bartolome de las Casas avidly encouraged inquiries into the Spanish conquest's many cruelties. Las Casas chronicled Spanish brutality against the Native peoples in excruciating detail."
  21. p. 137.
  22. p. 327.
  23. ^ Robert Ricard, The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico: An Essay on the Apostolate and the Evangelizing Methods of the Mendicant Orders in New Spain, 1523-1572, translated by Lesley Byrd Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press 1966, pp. 2-3.
  24. ^ Johansen, Bruce, The Native Peoples of North America, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2006, p. 110, quote: "In the Papal bull Sublimis deus (1537), Pope Paul III declared that Indians were to be regarded as fully human, and that their souls were as immortal as those of Europeans. This edict also outlawed slavery of Indians in any form..."
  25. ^ Koschorke, A History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (2007), p. 290
  26. ^ Samora et al., A History of the Mexican-American People (1993), p. 20
  27. ^ Kelsey, H. (1993). Mission San Juan Capistrano: A Pocket History. Interdisciplinary Research, Inc., Altadena, CA. p. 5
  28. ^ Beckwith, Barbara. "A View From the North" Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine. St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online. December 1999. Accessed 3 December 2006.
  29. ^ Elizondo, Virgil. "Our Lady of Guadalupe. A Guide for the New Millennium" Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine. St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online. December 1999. Accessed 3 December 2006.
  30. ^ Lopez, Lydia. "'Undocumented Virgin'. Guadalupe Narrative Crosses Borders for New Understanding". Episcopal News Service. December 10, 2004.
  31. ^ King, Judy. "La Virgen de Guadalupe – Mother of All Mexico". Accessed 29 November 2006.
  32. The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
    Vol. 28, Issue 2. p. 105–119. 1989
  33. ^ Lafaye, Jacques. Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe. The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1976
  34. ^ a b Koschorke, A History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (2007), pp. 31–2
  35. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (1990), p. 318
  36. ^ Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 221
  37. ^ Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), pp. 111–2
  38. ^ King, Mission to Paradise (1975), p. 169
  39. .
  40. ^ Howard C. Kee et al., Christianity: A Social and Cultural History (2nd Edition), 2 ed. (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997), 455.
  41. ^ a b c Howard C. Kee et al., Christianity: A Social and Cultural History (2nd ed.), Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997, 456.
  42. ^ Mark A. Noll, A Documentary History of Religion in America since 1877, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), 39.
  43. ^ Mark A. Noll, A Documentary History of Religion in America since 1877 (3rd ed.), Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003, 42.
  44. ^ Howard C. Kee et al., Christianity: A Social and Cultural History (2nd es.), Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997, 460.
  45. ^ a b c Jean-Pierre Bastian, "Des foules si ferventes" in L'Histoire n°322, July–August 2007, pp.86-89 (in French)
  46. ^ François Normand, "La troublante ascension de l'Opus Dei", Le Monde diplomatique, September 1995 (in French)
  47. Redemptoris Missio
    , 1.
  48. Redemptoris Missio
    , 2.
  49. ^ "Yale-Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and Non-Western Christianity".
  50. ^ a b "Pope: isolationism and populism lead to war". Vatican News. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  51. ^ "A Brief History of Amazon Exploration". Project Amazonas. Archived from the original on 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2019-12-17.

Sources

  • Monumenta Henricina, (1960–1967), Manuel Lopes de Almeida, Idalino Ferreira da Costa Brochado and Antonio Joaquim

Further reading

  • Hanke, Lewis (1965). The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the Conquest of America. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.