In 1492, the same year that Columbus would "discover America", the Spanish Catholic Church emerged from several centuries of warfare against the muslims victorious, with immense wealth and authority second only to the crown.  The Spanish Monarchy wanted to use the church to achieve a national unity as well as control in the newly discovered American continent.  The absolute right of the Spanish kings was to nominate all church officials, collect tithes and found churches and monasteries in America.  Pope Julius had awarded this privilege to the Spanish monarchs to assist them in converting New World "heathen".
    Accompanying the conquistadors during  the initial conquest was a priest that would read a requirimiento to the indians in Latin or Spanish and after this formality the Spaniards were allowed to pillage and plunder.  The requirimiento was the only warning the natives had although they could not understand the language and sometimes it was not read in their presence.  The document stated that the indians would have to surrender unconditionally or face the consequences of slavery or death.

Excerpts from a Requirimiento

"...we will not compel you to become Christians, unless after being so informed regarding the truth, you desire to be converted to our faith..."

"But ...if you do not do this...I will come among you powerfully and make war upon you everywhere and in every way that I can"

"I will take your persons, your women and children, and will make slaves of them and sell them or dispose of them as their Highness shall command"

"...the damage and death which you suffer thereby shall be your own fault and not the fault of their Majesties, nor of mine, nor the knights who accompany me."(Braden,127)

 
    The friars that accompanied the waves of conquistadors to the New World were an elite group who through Pope Leo X were given the divine power of the Pope with "full authority...in matters relating to the conversion of the indians"(Braden, 133).  Products of a period of revival in discipline in the medieval church, they possessed a love of learning as well as a missionary zeal.  These friars were frequently impressed by the simplicity and the absence of greed among the Native Americans.  Twelve monks with specific missionary training at Sta. Maria de los Angeles undertook the challenge of converting the indians.  These men departed from Spain in January of 1524 to begin their work.  The Franciscans and Dominicans were the first friars to penetrate into the New World. The Franciscan monks were accepted more easily than the Dominicans. When the indians explained their closeness with the Franciscan monks, they said it was "because they are poor and barefooted as we are, and they eat our food; they sit on the ground with us; they converse humbly with us; they love us as their own children. Therefore we love them as our fathers"(Braden, 138).  There were two particularly pro-indian friars among the mendicant orders that had such an impact on the native populations, they are still revered to this day as saints.  Vasco de Quiroga and Bartolome de Las Casas , (shown below in the oil painting) were perhaps two of the earliest anthropologists as well.
    Bartolome de Las Casas once an encomendero himself condemned the institution of the encomienda and all other forms of indian slavery and debt servitude.  De Las Casas was an outspoken critic of the Spanish mistreatment of the indians and with his persistence was able to win certain rights for the indian.  The New Laws of the Indies were passed in 1542.  These laws legally abolished the encomienda, in practice however they were never enforced.  The Dominican bishop Antonio Valdivieso de Nicaragua, who had tried to force the abolition of indian slavery by the new laws was assassinated 1550 by greedy encomenderos.  The indianist movement entered a further decline when Philip II of Spain took the throne in 1556.  De Las Casas was very interested in the indian culture and languages.  He was one of the few clergy that wanted to study and preserve the culture of the indians.  He thought that by studying their culture conversion would be made easier. 
    Papal legislation in 1522 granted pastoral and sacramental duties previously performed by parish priests to the secular orders.  The secular orders, usually fresh from Spain and from higher social status preferred a life of ease and profit to one of austerity and service.  These priests got rich from the donations of the hacendados (large land owners) and encomenderos who in turn got rich from the coerced slavery of the indian.  The encomienda was the primary system of indian debt servitude.  The indian was forced to work for a land owner or in a mine in this system as payment for being given christianity.  This had severe demographic effects.  Millions of indians died in the encomiendas, working off their christianity.  The whole of the population of the island of Hispanola was wiped out under this system of labor.  Conditions under the encomienda were atrocious,  they were worked 20 hours a day with very little food and in constant exposure to European diseases.  All indians were burdened by excessive ecclesiastical fees as well as clerical exploitation's.  Many priests also had encomiendas were they could exploit the indian labor.  Concubinage was very common among the priests of the later period excluding only the Jesuits.
    The priests that came to the New World were faced with the enormous job of converting the millions of indians who were at that time worshiping various pagan deities.  The priests used several strategies for conversion.  Many conversions were forced with the help of Spanish soldiers.  Many other conversions didn't last very long with the indians slipping back into their ancient faiths.  However the indians that had been converted and relapsed back into their old religions could now be tried as heretics by the inquisition and many were condemned to death.
The priests recognized that they would have to compromise somewhat.  They incorporated several of the indian beliefs into the new religion that they preached to make it more realistic to the indians.   The priests also used the native custom of pictograph writing to express catholic beliefs.  Many priests appealed to the indians love of adornment by giving them christian designs to paint on their clothes.  They also allowed the indians to keep there traditional music and dances as long as it was revised by the priest and done only at certain times during the day.  Dancing at night was banned, because of the association with the devil.
    The priests that accompanied the first conquistadors thought that the best way to combat paganism was to destroy the native idols and temples.  They embarked on a systematic campaign of destruction in everything from temples to ancient Aztec and Mayan religious manuscripts.  Temples in Mexico city, Tezcuco and Tlaxcala were raised to the ground and often churches were erected on the ruins.  In 1521 the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors by command of the accompanying priests and they built the new capital of Mexico City in its place.
    A new mixture of the two religions began to take form.  This syncretism can be seen in the religious art of everywhere in the new world.   The massive churches and cathedrals erected through the centuries were only made possible by the native work force.  The native workers did not hesitate to add elements of their culture and old religion into these works. Many traditional aspects such as floral designs and pictography were woven into the new architecture.  This architecture is now referred to as American Baroque.  The cathedral of St. Domingo in Oaxaca has a tribal effect.  The religious painting of the time also show native influence.  There is particular elaboration of the garments on paintings of Jesus that make him look like an Inca prince.
    In Catholic Mexico today, many tribal religious aspects can be seen in the faith of the peoples.  The practice of making offerings before images, of flowers, copal and even animals takes root in Aztec culture.  Many Mexicans still retain superstitions, talismans and charms.  Certain religious holidays are disguised Aztec festivals.  The Fiesta de Flores was initially a day devoted to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl which is celebrated today in its original form.  All Saints and All Souls Day is celebrated every last day of October as was the Aztec Day of the Dead. The ancient Aztec Day of the Dead is celebrated much the same way with sacrifices to the dead as candles and incense are burned.  Part of the evening meal is left in vessels as offerings to dead family members.  Many indians today still believe the souls of the dead hover above the places they loved in life.  The Aztec Goddess of Rain is now worshiped as Our Lady of the Rains.  The Virgin Mary is identified with mother earth, a deity recognized among many agricultural people. An ancient altar stood in many places where a virgin is now invoked.
 There are two mythological symbols that represent Mexican nationalism associated with Catholicism.  These are the myths of the Virgin de Guadalupe and Quetzalcoatl, being the apostle St. Thomas.  The Virgin de Guadalupe is rooted in myth that the Virgin Mary appeared in 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac, near Mexico city, to an indian named Juan Diego and through him commanded the Bishop of Mexico to build a church there.  From the 17th century, the indita, the brown faced indian virgin, was venerated throughout Mexico as the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Under her banner, Miguel Hidalgo, a mestizo priest, was to lead the indian and mestizo masses in a great revolt against Spanish rule in 1810.  This marked the beginning of the Mexican independence struggle.  Quetzalcoatl is one of the most important influences in the conversion of the natives to christianity.  Many believe that this tall, white, full bearded god was the apostle St. Thomas.  In Aztec art Quetzalcoatl was adorned with red crosses on a white robe.  In the native religion, strangely enough, many christian elements were already present:  baptism by immersion, memory of a flood, confession of sins, belief in hell, fasting, abstinence, priestly hierarchy and the devil (Tlacatecolotl).  The creole Dominican Servando Teresa de Mier proclaimed December 12, 1794, that this similarity was due to the coming of St. Thomas and four of his disciples in pre-Columbian times.  St. Thomas was said to have brought a version of christianity to the indians, and therefore the peoples of this continent did not owe their religion to Spain.  Mier was soon after arrested for heresy.
    In many Latin American countries, with dictators and corrupt governments, the church is one of the only protections for human rights.  However it is always the religious orders, not the diocesan clergy that provides some charitable support.  In the past, especially in Mexico, the Catholic church has always sided with conservatives and large rich landowners in order to protect its land.  This hampered agrarian reform in Mexico.  Under the Ley Juarez, President Benito Juarez of Mexico expropriated church lands and sold much of them at public auction.  Unfortunately, the people that received the land were mostly large land owners.  In recent news, Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, the director of Guatemala City's human rights office was found beaten to death after giving a speech two days earlier concerning the human rights violations that were committed during the civil war.  This is the longest in Latin American history, spanning the years of 1961-1996, where leftist rebels fought violently against the government seeking land reforms. Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera was a friend of Pope John Paul II who highly respected him for his persistent work for human rights during the civil war.
    The Catholic church has often used the religious fanaticism of its followers for its own interests.  When Central America was a union, immediately after independence from Spain, a liberal government under Morazan had become to make some progressive social changes such as secular education, civil marriages, and land distribution.  The clergy proclaimed that a recent cholera epidemic was divine retribution for the heresy of civil marriages and divorce.  The church urged its faithful followers to take up arms against the government who was helping the same peasants.  In 1838 Rafeal Carrera took Guatemala City at the head of an army of mestizos and indians with the battle cry of "Long live religion and death to all foreigners".  He became the dictator of Guatemala and ruled until his death in 1865.  Carrera implemented a reactionary revolution that revived the authority of the church and abolished the secular education program that the liberal Morazan had worked so hard to build.  Carrera also brought back the system of forced indian labor; ironically the peasants were tricked by the church into hurting themselves.  They were kept ignorant and enslaved by the clergy.
    Presently, the Catholic teachings do not allow for birth control or abortion.  Both of these regulations have a profound demographic effect throughout all of Latin America.  However, if birth control was to be made available at the church level, poverty could be curbed and the size of urban slums might greatly reduced.

Back to Wilson's Home Page
created 4/26/98

1. Braden, Charles S.  Religious Aspects of the Conquest of Mexico, Duke University Press,       Durham N.Carolina.1930

2. Camp, Roderic. Crossing Swords: Politics and Religion in Mexico, Oxford University Press, New York.1997

3. Keen, Benjamin.  A History of Latin America, Houghton Mifflin Co. Geneva, Illinios. 1996

4. Meier, Matt S., Rive, Feliciano.  Dictionary of Mexican American History, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conneticut. 1981

5. Stevens, Anthony M.  Discovering Latino Religion,  Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, New York. 1995