The Catholic Church In Colonial Latin America
The Catholic Church played a large role in colonial Latin American society. The Church served as a unifying institution in a society made up of many different kinds of people - Europeans, Africans, Indigenous, and mixed-raced individuals - from a variety of economic backgrounds. Documents from the colonial period show that the Church was a maintainer of Iberian social order, and its officials and priests were expected to serve as exemplars of their religion. The Church maintained order and conveyed its message in a number of ways, from the content of sermons to institutions such as the Inquisition. Despite its power in colonial society, not all members of the population followed the teachings of the church.
The influence of the Church was throughout all of colonial society, …show more content…
including slavery. Maintaining the institution of slavery and making certain slaves did not try to overturn the social order were of importance to the church. This can be seen in the sermons of Padre Antonio Vieira. Vieira, while not approving of slaves being treated with extreme cruelty and criticizing slave owners who behaved in such a way, did not speak out against the institution of slaver itself (Vieira 230). On the contrary, his sermons instruct slaves to obey their masters in all respects regardless of the way they are treated. He also explains to them throughout the sermon that it does not matter what happens to them on Earth. The more they suffer here, the more rewards they will gain in heaven. He urges them to put their emphasis on the state of their souls, not their bodies (Vieira 221).
This could be seen as a way of comforting the slaves. They have miserable lives, so he is giving them something to look forward to in the next life. Vieira could also be seen as attempting to maintain order in society, not to mention reassure slave owning parishioners whom he had earlier criticized. There was always the possibility that slaves could escape their masters, and, possibly, even rise up against the European colonists. By giving the slaves something else to focus on, their souls and the afterlife, Vieira tries to take their minds off their worldly troubles. This, combined with an authority figure telling them to obey their masters, could have had the effect of making enslaved individuals more loyal to not only their masters but to the social system as well.
In addition to sermons such as those by Vieira, the Church also maintained social order by use of the Inquisition to interrogate and bring to trial those suspected of going against Catholic teachings. The Inquisition investigated everything from not living up to the teachings of the Church, to practicing Judaism, to charges of sorcery. For example, Domingos Fernandes Nobre, a late sixteenth century Mestizo inhabitant of Brazil, confessed to engaging in "heathen" practices such as participating in indigenous religious ceremonies and taking multiple wives. Nobre claimed to do this in order to better get along with the natives when he was helping resettle them, but it seems that he may have just preferred their way of life (Inquisition 240). At any rate, the Inquisition did not approve of his "heathen" activities. Not only did they run counter to Catholic doctrines, but they undermined the social order set up by the Iberian colonists. If not for the social reinforcements provided by the Inquisition, many people, especially mixed-race and indigenous individuals, might have returned to pre-colonial practices, or some sort of combination of indigenous and European ways such as the "heretical superstition" referred to in this document (Inquisition 238).
Alongside being one of the maintainers of the social order, the Church, through its officials and priests, was to serve as an exemplar of the Christian religion.
As a part of their colonization of the New World, the Spanish and Portuguese promised to convert the indigenous peoples to Catholicism. This involved not only priests and monks preaching to tem, but living among them and setting a proper example of what Christian life should be like. Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala speaks of the need fro priest to be good examples in his New Chronicle and [Treatise on] Good Government.
However, as he describes in his work, not all priests set a good example for the indigenous people. He talks of how priests abuse the natives and how they have strayed from the teachings of the Church. He argued that the priests' poor behavior and harsh treatment could often lead to natives rejecting Christianity (de Ayala 180). This could be problematic for the Spanish due to the fact that religion was one of the key factors which bound indigenous people to the colonial society. Unless the natives were totally Hispanicized, the Catholic religion was one of the few things connecting them to the European
colonists.
Of course, disobedience to the doctrines of the Church was not limited to the sort of priests criticized by de Ayala or to the slave owners preached at by Vieira. It occurred at all levels of society as can be seen in documents from the Inquisition. Some of the offences they mention, such as throwing water out of the house after a death, seem quite trivial (Inquisition 241). However, to the Inquisition, this sort of occurrence was anything but trivial. To them this was a Jewish custom which went against both the teachings of the Church and against the social order (Inquisition 242). However, as this confession illustrates, transgressions against the Church were not always out of malice towards it or society. Sometimes they simply arose out of ignorance or necessity - such as the ignorance throwing water out after a death was a Jewish custom, or the necessity of removing dirty water.
These documents seem to be in agreement with each other. They show the Church and its representatives as, ideally, exemplars of the Christian religion and maintainers of the Iberian social order. They also describe that people in colonial society, regardless of social and economic position, did not always follow perfectly the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The influence of the Church was throughout all of colonial society, …show more content…
including slavery. Maintaining the institution of slavery and making certain slaves did not try to overturn the social order were of importance to the church. This can be seen in the sermons of Padre Antonio Vieira. Vieira, while not approving of slaves being treated with extreme cruelty and criticizing slave owners who behaved in such a way, did not speak out against the institution of slaver itself (Vieira 230). On the contrary, his sermons instruct slaves to obey their masters in all respects regardless of the way they are treated. He also explains to them throughout the sermon that it does not matter what happens to them on Earth. The more they suffer here, the more rewards they will gain in heaven. He urges them to put their emphasis on the state of their souls, not their bodies (Vieira 221).
This could be seen as a way of comforting the slaves. They have miserable lives, so he is giving them something to look forward to in the next life. Vieira could also be seen as attempting to maintain order in society, not to mention reassure slave owning parishioners whom he had earlier criticized. There was always the possibility that slaves could escape their masters, and, possibly, even rise up against the European colonists. By giving the slaves something else to focus on, their souls and the afterlife, Vieira tries to take their minds off their worldly troubles. This, combined with an authority figure telling them to obey their masters, could have had the effect of making enslaved individuals more loyal to not only their masters but to the social system as well.
In addition to sermons such as those by Vieira, the Church also maintained social order by use of the Inquisition to interrogate and bring to trial those suspected of going against Catholic teachings. The Inquisition investigated everything from not living up to the teachings of the Church, to practicing Judaism, to charges of sorcery. For example, Domingos Fernandes Nobre, a late sixteenth century Mestizo inhabitant of Brazil, confessed to engaging in "heathen" practices such as participating in indigenous religious ceremonies and taking multiple wives. Nobre claimed to do this in order to better get along with the natives when he was helping resettle them, but it seems that he may have just preferred their way of life (Inquisition 240). At any rate, the Inquisition did not approve of his "heathen" activities. Not only did they run counter to Catholic doctrines, but they undermined the social order set up by the Iberian colonists. If not for the social reinforcements provided by the Inquisition, many people, especially mixed-race and indigenous individuals, might have returned to pre-colonial practices, or some sort of combination of indigenous and European ways such as the "heretical superstition" referred to in this document (Inquisition 238).
Alongside being one of the maintainers of the social order, the Church, through its officials and priests, was to serve as an exemplar of the Christian religion.
As a part of their colonization of the New World, the Spanish and Portuguese promised to convert the indigenous peoples to Catholicism. This involved not only priests and monks preaching to tem, but living among them and setting a proper example of what Christian life should be like. Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala speaks of the need fro priest to be good examples in his New Chronicle and [Treatise on] Good Government.
However, as he describes in his work, not all priests set a good example for the indigenous people. He talks of how priests abuse the natives and how they have strayed from the teachings of the Church. He argued that the priests' poor behavior and harsh treatment could often lead to natives rejecting Christianity (de Ayala 180). This could be problematic for the Spanish due to the fact that religion was one of the key factors which bound indigenous people to the colonial society. Unless the natives were totally Hispanicized, the Catholic religion was one of the few things connecting them to the European
colonists.
Of course, disobedience to the doctrines of the Church was not limited to the sort of priests criticized by de Ayala or to the slave owners preached at by Vieira. It occurred at all levels of society as can be seen in documents from the Inquisition. Some of the offences they mention, such as throwing water out of the house after a death, seem quite trivial (Inquisition 241). However, to the Inquisition, this sort of occurrence was anything but trivial. To them this was a Jewish custom which went against both the teachings of the Church and against the social order (Inquisition 242). However, as this confession illustrates, transgressions against the Church were not always out of malice towards it or society. Sometimes they simply arose out of ignorance or necessity - such as the ignorance throwing water out after a death was a Jewish custom, or the necessity of removing dirty water.
These documents seem to be in agreement with each other. They show the Church and its representatives as, ideally, exemplars of the Christian religion and maintainers of the Iberian social order. They also describe that people in colonial society, regardless of social and economic position, did not always follow perfectly the teachings of the Catholic Church.