Memoria Mea in generationes saeculorum. “My memory is unto everlasting generations” (Ecclus. 24:28). These words of the Wise Man come to mind as we are assembled at this Academic Session which is to signalize the Fourth Centenary of the Death of Don Fray Juan de Zumárraga, O.F.M., the first Bishop of Mexico City.

Our Seraphic Doctor, St. Bonaventure, who followed closely in the footsteps of that Giant among the Fathers of the Church, the “Doctor Gratiae,” St. Augustine, assigns to the human Memory a place of exalted dignity and excelling power. Ranking it with the Intellect and the Will, the Celestial Patron of the Franciscan School traces this trinity of faculties of the human soul, by his ingenious method of exemplarism, to the image of the Triune God. “Eo est mens imago,” writes the illustrious Bishop of Hippo, “quo potest esse capax et particeps Deo.” In other words, the human mind is God’s image to the extent that it can grasp, and have a share with, God. “But,” continues the Seraphic Doctor, “God cannot be fully grasped by the soul unless He be loved; nor can He be loved unless He be known; nor again can He be known unless He be present to the soul. The first is achieved by the will; the second by the intellect; the third by the memory.” In this wise, Bonaventure argues, the will is appropriated to the Holy Spirit; the intellect to the Divine Son; the memory to the Eternal Father (cf. I Sent. Ill, II, I, I. Op. Omnia, Vol. 1, pp. 80–81).

Juan Bautista Alberdi is a name not often heard in the United States, even among students of Hispanic-American affairs. Many of his Argentine compatriots and contemporaries are well known to us; we repeat their names as easily as we do those of our own national heroes: Sarmiento, Mitre, Echeverría. Yet the position of Alberdi in the historical development of the Argentine Republic is one of high honor and extreme importance. He is called “The Father of the Argentine Constitution,” and, indeed, such he was. Yet, even more important than this, Alberdi’s arguments in favor of a vast, all-encompassing program of immigration, was the impetus that stimulated his native country and made Argentina the most forward-moving and politically successful nation in Latin America.

The purpose of this study is to trace the development of Portuguese Indian policy m America from 1500 to 1755 as reflected in Indian labor legislation. Special attention will be paid to the northern, more tropical part of Portuguese America which was known during a large part of the colonial period as the State of Maranhão.

The State of Maranhão must not be confused with the modern Brazilian state of the same name. Colonial Maranhão included an enormous territory, very largely Amazonian, extending from Ceará on the East to Grão Pará on the West. It was created in 1624 as a separate administrative unit of Portuguese America, and its capital was São Luiz. The other unit of the Portuguese possessions in the New World was the State of Brazil, extending south from Pernambuco, with its capital at Baía. Our interest will lie primarily in Maranhão, although the legislation on Indian labor passed before the establishment of Maranhão will be considered for background purposes.

The European Movement to the New World began before Protestantism had made its appearance. In the sixteenth century, Spain and Portugal had the Western Hemisphere largely to themselves, and all religious and missionary effort from those countries was naturally Catholic. Protestant states did not colonize in any substantial way until after 1600. But meanwhile a few sporadic efforts had come from France, where Calvinism had begun to loom as a major religious and political force. French Huguenots played some part in these attempts. Their share in the settlement made by Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon at Rio de Janeiro in 1555 has been noticed by historians, but in general has been misunderstood.

Early in the fall of 1672 Louis Jolliet, fur trader and explorer, was selected by Intendant Jean Talon to ascertain into which body of water the Mississippi River disembogued. The remote purpose of this assignment was much like that of the one entrusted to Sieur de Saint Lusson in 1671, who in June of that year supervised the annexation ceremonies conducted at Sault Ste. Marie. In fact, the two enterprises were closely allied, that of Jolliet being a further step, on the part of the French Government, toward seizing for its own advancement the reins of political ascendancy and economic control in the new West—the Great Lakes and Mississippi River regions—so emphatically expressed in the Lusson demonstration at Sault Ste. Marie.

To Understand the conquest of Mexico, one must recognize the various human factors and the variety of motives that entered into the titanic struggle for mastery of the land. In the letters of Cortés to the Emperor Charles V, the whole gamut of ambitions—personal, national, grossly material and highly spiritual—are revealed. There can be no doubt that Cortés and the Spaniards with him were moved in the first place by a spirit of personal adventure and a desire to better their fortunes. As the panorama of the Aztec Empire opened itself before his eyes, the dream of expanding the Spanish domains came to Cortés as a justifying cause for his forward movement, so that escape or retreat appeared as treachery to his King. At the same time, as a product of the Spanish crusading era, he beheld himself in the rôle of a spiritual hero bringing the doctrine of Christian Redemption to heathen tribes sunk in idolatry and human sacrifice.

In the Year 1584, the Minister General of the Franciscan Order, Father Francisco Gonzaga, enjoined on Frei Melquior de Santa Catarina, a Portuguese Franciscan, the task of founding in the “Land of the Holy Cross,” the Custody of St. Anthony. Frei Melquior and his companions arrived in Brazil the following year, 1585, and the first friary established by them was that of Nossa Senhora das Neves in the city of Olinda, the capital of the Captaincy of Pernambuco.

The Renowned Tertiary of St. Francis, Christopher Columbus, aided by another tertiary, Queen Isabel of Castile, and the Franciscans of La Rábida, discovered the New World on October 12, 1492. It is not established whether or not on his first journey he was accompanied by a priest, although there are several statements to this effect; but it is now historically certain, with the investigations of Father Angel Ortega, O.F.M., that on his second voyage (1493) the Admiral was accompanied by the Franciscans, Fray Rodrigo Pérez, Fray Juan Bermejo and Fray Juan Tisín, and, quite probably, Fray Juan Pérez also (the Guardian of La Rábida, who was the first to recognize and patronize his genius), as well as Fray Antonio de Marchena, cosmographer, Provincial and his counsellor at the Court. Of the latter the Admiral later wrote to the Catholic Kings: “To him Your Majesties owe the possession of the Indies.” These were the auspicious beginnings of the Seraphic Order in the New World.

To Judge from the numerous monuments erected to honor Father Marquette during the past century; the festive demonstrations held at intervals to pay tribute to his name; the prominence accorded him in textbooks and literary productions as discoverer and explorer; the naming for him of localities, social groups and commercial enterprises—to judge from all this, one must conclude that Marquette deserves to rank among the foremost celebrities in American history. Assuredly, no one would think of depriving him pf this place in our annals if it tallied with the testimony which the available records of the past supply. But does it?

The Little Pueblo of Tiripetío lies at the foot of a mountain near Morelia in the state of Michoacán. Its Indian name means “place of gold”, but the adobe houses with their straw roofs plus a general appearance of shabbiness belie such a title. Tiripetío, however, was not always a ghost town. In the sixteenth century it pulsed with life and activity. The life of the place centered about a convent of Augustinian friars, with its adjoining church, hospital and school. The name Vera Cruz is closely linked with this convent and school as with many other educational activities in sixteenth century Mexico. But like Tiripetío itself, which marked the scene of his early labours, the name of Alonso de la Vera Cruz has fallen into obscurity and today counts little, even with historians of his own Order. The recent work of Oswaldo Robles, a translation of one of Vera Cruz’s philosophic treatises, the Physica Speculano, (vd. The Americas, October 1944, under article: “Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz and the Beginnings of Philosophic Speculation in the Americas”.) is truly a step in the right direction. It can only be hoped that the relatively settled political set-up in Mexico will open the way for a more thorough search for historical data on outstanding figures like Alonso de la Vera Cruz. The present article attempts, from the sources now at hand, to synthesize the many and varied activities in the field of education in which Vera Cruz engaged and to give an interpretation of the influence he exerted in the field of learning and in the development of the philosophic thought of his day in Mexico.

To Study Separately each of those elements which the Portuguese, with instinctive genius, used for their expansion throughout the world, is a task to which every student of the Portuguese colonization-effort must devote his attention if he is to make any contribution, how small soever, to that history. Convinced that the negro was among the most telling and effective elements which were used for the colonization of Brazil, we propose here to study him in one of his most significant revolts against his masters. That revolt, on the part of some, stemmed from the desire of freeing themselves from slavery and domination; on the part of others, from the wish of civilizing, colonizing and taking part in the march of progress.

The Commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the death of Juan de Zumárraga signifies more than the pious recollection of the contributions to New World culture of this great Franciscan, great Spaniard and great American. For the study and contemplation of his works plunges us once again into the heat and conflict of the Spanish conquest of America, even though Columbus first landed over four hundred and fifty years ago. No one who attempts to study and to interpret this extraordinary event can ignore the life of Zumárraga, nor can he fail to confront the pressing problem which this energetic and able bishop confronted and attempted to solve—how could the Indians be saved?

The Year 1949 is the two hundredth anniversary of the leave-taking from their native land for American missionary endeavors, of the Mallorquin Franciscans, Junípero Serra, Francisco Palóu, and Juan Crespí. They were, however, but a threesome among the thirty-three who comprised the entire group or “mission” that sailed from Cádiz in the latter part of 1749. The coming anniversary, therefore, suggests the proper occasion to study from the original sources, the methods, chronology, and personalities involved in that great missionary enterprize that meant so much for the Americas. The greater part of the material of this article is based on the expediente, No. 5546, of Contratación, located in the Archivo de Indias, Sevilla, Spain. It is entitled: “Mission de Sn. Franco, para el Collegio de Sn. Fernando de Mexico. Año de 1749.” The writer found it at Sevilla in the fall of 1946.

The Figure of Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the first Bishop and Archbishop of Mexico and one of the first prelates of Spanish America, is outstanding for the great zeal he displayed in the defense of the natives of New Spain. It is our purpose here to study, in the light of the documents that are extant, the part^played by the great Archbishop as protector and defender of the helpless natives. With this purpose in view, we shall treat: firstly, of the origin and extent of the powers granted in general to the Protectors of the Indians; secondly, of the first powers that were given to Zumárraga as Protector of Indians, of the manner in which he exercised them, as also of the subsequent limitation of these powers; and thirdly, of the definite recall of these powers. We shall conclude with an appreciation of the work of the first Archbishop of Mexico as Protector of the Indians.

Bitter experience had proved to the Jesuit superiors, especially to Father Vieira, that it was impossible at the time to obtain and enforce legislation in accordance with their desires. Consequently, when new laws on the Indians were passed from 1686 to 1693, the Jesuits, now ready to yield from their former unbending attitude, raised no objections.

The Late 1860’s and early 1870’s marked for Mexico the end of an era, for Benito Juárez was serving his last years in the presidency. At the same time there were the stirrings of a new personal order; Porfirio Díaz was making his first overt attempt to gain control. In this period some of the greatest liberals turned against Juárez and toward Díaz. The charges which they hurled against the former during the year 1871 resemble those used against Díaz during the later years of his reign. To many of the liberals Juárez was the bureaucratic leader of a personal party and Díaz was the rising dynamic liberal. Their views are well reflected in the newspaper El Mensajero, published in Mexico City from January 2 to September 30, 1871.

The Full Realization that the brave Admiral of the Ocean Sea had discovered not a new route to India and the fabled wealth of Cipango and Cathay but an otro mundo, another world, soon became inescapable. Here was another world, with all the implications of the term, inhabited by human beings gathered in various groupings, with varying degrees of development, yet none beyond the stone and precious metals stage, none with a fully integrated system of writing, none beyond the stage of human sacrifices in their religious practices. On what grounds had the crown of Spain a right to disturb the existing conditions? The problem presented was new to a Christian world just awakening from the long and troubled slumber of the Middle Ages. The norms developed by Western Europe in its relations with Islam and the Near East did not seem to apply to the peoples of the otro mundo, or New World.