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The Earliest Protestant Missionary Venture in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

G. Baez-Camargo
G. Baez-Camargo
Affiliation:
Visiting Professor, Union Theological Seminary
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Extract

A good many Protestants—mostly buccaneers, sailors and traders—entered Latin America under the Spanish and Portuguese domination. In most cases, they were promptly detected, captured and tried by the Inquisition. Under the ordeal, a majority recanted, mainly in order to avoid punishment, but some, who remained loyal to the end, were burnt at the stake.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 1952 , pp. 135 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1952

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References

1 This island still bears the name of Viilegagnon and is a part of the harbor's modern defenses.

2 Lescarbot, Marc, Histoire de la Nonvelle France. Paris: Miot, 1609, p. 157.Google Scholar

3 Sometimes spelled Richer, an ex-Carmelite D. Th. died in La Rochelle, 1580.

4 de Léry, Jean, Histoire d'un voyage fait dans le pays du Brésil. La Rocheile, Chuppin: 1558Google Scholar. It is a classic among the greatest travel stories of all times. Up to 1680 there had been altogether seven French and three Latin editions. Upon his return to Europe, after the failure of the Brazilian mission, Léry entered the Theological Seminary in Geneva and became one of the outstanding pastors of the Reformed Church. He shared with French Protestants in the ordeal of persecution, and was among the survivors when the Huguenot stronghold of La San'erre had finally to surrender to its Catholic besiegers. He wrote a dramatic account of the siege in his Histoire memorable de la ville de Sancerre, and is considered the author also of the Discovrs du siège tenu devant La Charité, l'an 1577, published under the initials J.D.L. He died in Berne, 1611.

5 Lry, , Histoire d'un voyage. Genbve: Vignon, 1600, p. 64.Google Scholar

6 Ibid, p. 64.

7 Ibid, p. 65. So also Lescarbot, op. cit., p. 184.

8 He was 50.

9 Lescarbot, op. cit., p. 187.

10 They soon quarreled, however. Villegagnon, who, it seems, considered himself also a theologian, began to proclaim viewpoints of his own, against Cointac's opinions. For this and other personal reasons, the latter parted with his master and went ashore to live with the other exiles.

11 Léery, op. cit., p. 78.

12 Lescarbot, op. cit., p. 199.

13 op. cit., p. 83

14 Ibid., p. 64.

15 lbid., p. 87.

16 Lescarbot, op. cit., p. 196.

17 This was because they had managed to store secretly enough foodstuffs for which they had been quietly trading with the Indians their tools, cutlery and trinkets.

18 In this connection, we know from Léry that the Indians did not even have in their tongue a name for God. The conception of a Supreme Being (for instance, the Huira Cocha of the Incas), which we find among other aborigines, notwithstanding their polytheism, was entirely missing there. They believed in the immortality of the soul and had a great fear of storms, particularly of thunder, of which they spoke in almost personal terms. But, strangely enough, they did believe in a supreme and personal Evil One, the head of all evil spirits. Op cit., p. 298.

19 Amsterdam edition of Calvin's Letters, 1667, p. 21. Cit. by Gaffarel, P., in a footnote to a Portuguese edition of Léry's book, Viagem a terra do Brasil. Sao Paulo: Martins, 1941, pp. 78–9.Google Scholar

20 Lescarbot, op. cit., p. 213.

21 Op. cit., p. 328.

22 Ibid., pp 272–9.

23 Ibid., p. 82.

24 The Dosyprocta aguti, a South American rodent, about the size of a rabbit.

25 Op. cit., p. 323.

26 I have been unable to find a record of what became of the fifth one, Jacques Leballcur, who seems to be the Jacques Rousseau of an earlier reference ia Léry. His name is missing among the signers of the Confession. There are only two possible reasons for this omission. He had either given up his reformed faith, or been away from the settle- meat when these things happened. Had the first been the case, it could have hardly escaped reference in Léry's record. Most likely he was absent at the time. On the other hand, it is interesting that at least ia two passages earlier ia his story, Léry seems to imply that the five altogether became martyrs, although the story of the actual martyrdom only involves three of them. It is not, however, beyond possibility that the other two were also martyred at a later date.

27 Crespin, , Jean, Acts des Martyrs. Geneva: Steiger, 1564, pp. 881–898Google Scholar. The story of the martyrdom was written by Léry, at the request of Crespin, the editor of the hook, and it is preceded by an introduction probably written by the latter.

28 Ibid., p. 881.