Chapter XIV: Some Ecclesiastics and Their Religious Books

I. _Bishop Lizárraga._ II. _Bishop Luis Jerónimo de Oré._ III.
_Bishop Gaspar de Villarroel._ IV. _Minor religious writers._

I

[Sidenote: Church as patron of learning]

[Sidenote: Bishop Lizárraga]

The mediæval tradition that the Church was the supreme patron of learning was generally recognized in Latin America throughout the greater part of the colonial period. Men of scholarly tastes and aspirations found their greatest opportunities in ecclesiastical office, or as members of a religious order, and many of those who attained the dignity of a bishop became noteworthy also for their writings. One of the early names in this list was that of Bishop Lizárraga, whose family name was Baltasar de Obando. When he assumed the habit of the order of Santo Domingo in 1560, he became Fray Reginaldo Lizárraga. He went from Spain to Lima with his parents; thence to Quito among the first European settlers; and finally he returned to Lima. He was living in Chuquisaca when Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569-1581), committed the crime of taking the life of Tupac Amarú and of furthering the extermination of the other members of the Inca family.

From the post of prior he was appointed provincial of the newly-created province in Chile. After Lizárraga’s service as provincial, he was for a brief period a missionary in the valley of Jauja, and while there he received notice of his presentation as bishop of Imperial. This office had come to him through Viceroy García Hurtado de Mendoza’s (1590-1596) recommendation to Philip II. The king’s letter of appointment was written on June 7, 1597, and on June 12 one year later, Lizárraga replied, accepting the offered dignity. His consecration was delayed until October 24, 1599.

[Sidenote: State of Chile]

[Sidenote: Lizárraga in Chile]

This was not an auspicious moment to be looking towards southern Chile as a place of residence. The Araucanian war had assumed an unfavourable aspect; Governor Loyola was dead; the Indians had organized a general insurrection, and had laid siege to the towns in the diocese of Imperial. The destruction wrought in this uprising and various other considerations induced the bishop to hesitate to take up his episcopal duties. In May, 1602, he was still in Lima, but he arrived in Chile in December of that year, or in January, 1603, thus between five and six years after his appointment. The ruined condition of Imperial led to the removal of the see to Concepción; and, in view of the discouraging prospect, the bishop, a few weeks after his arrival, sent his resignation to the king, with the request that it might be forwarded to the Pope. For this act the king wrote to him a severe rebuke, calling upon him to regard his obligations, to remain with his church, to mend the state of his diocese, to preserve it for the Church, and to offer his consolation to his subjects. The number of Europeans within the limits of the bishop’s jurisdiction was small, and these for the greater part were poor and discouraged. The bishop was about as poor as the others, and was obliged to live in a cell offered him in the Franciscan monastery. Yet he showed zeal and wisdom in the management of the diocesan affairs; more wisdom and zeal, it is said, than one had reason to expect, considering the indifference, hesitation, and timidity he had displayed in Lima. Nevertheless, he was discontented in his office, and, with its annual revenue of only three hundred dollars, he was able to maintain neither his church nor himself. His recommendation, therefore, appears reasonable, that his diocese should be united with that of Santiago, and he be permitted to return to the monastery of his order. This plan was, however, not carried out, and in 1608 he was presented by the king for the bishopric of Paraguay, to succeed Martín Ignacio de Loyola, who was promoted to be archbishop of Charcas. At the end of 1607, or at the beginning of 1608 he took final leave of Chile.

[Sidenote: _Descripción y población de las Indias_]

The greater part of his writings deal with religious subjects. There was a volume on the Pentateuch, two volumes on places mentioned in the Scriptures, a volume of sermons, a treatise on the life and eminent services of Jerónimo Loayza, the first archbishop of Lima. These and most, if not all, of his religious productions, have remained unpublished.

Lizárraga’s most important work was rather secular than religious. It was called _Descripción y población de las Indias_. Doubt has arisen as to where this book was written, whether, as indicated in the text, in “the valley of Jauja,” or in Chile. Medina has discussed the question, and has reached the conclusion that it was written in Chile, during the second sojourn of Lizárraga in that country, and from the number of known copies of it, he infers that it must have enjoyed a certain popularity, if that may be said of a manuscript necessarily confined to a few readers.[173]

[Sidenote: Contents of Lizárraga’s book]

Among the topics treated in this book are the geography of Chile and Peru, the viceroys and the governors, the bishops and the provincials, the territory of Cuyo, and the road over the cordillera. One notes in this part of it the imposing effect of these mountains with their grand panoramas and their majestic summits of eternal ice. Lizárraga, like many other writers, was moved by the grandeur of nature here displayed. At the same time some of his views suggest the crude faith of his generation. For instance the appearance of the comet of 1577 he interpreted as an announcement that God was about to punish the people for their sins, and that Drake the same year was sent to inflict the punishment.

[Sidenote: Bishop of Paraguay]

As bishop of Paraguay, like the great majority of the priests who attained episcopal rank in America, Lizárraga led a life of virtue and devotion. He died at the age of eighty, and the time of his death accorded with his own prophetic announcement: “a las seis de la tarde iré a dar cuenta a Dios.”

[Sidenote: _Desengaño del mundo_]

In the last half of the sixteenth century, while the New World was displaying to Europeans its magnificent scenery and its untold wealth, there were persons, particularly among the clergy, who, in the midst of the general hopefulness, assumed to be disillusioned respecting earthly affairs. Julián Martel’s reflections of this character were set down in a book entitled _Desengaño del mundo_. He was born in Granada, and went from Spain to Peru as a member of the secular clergy, but he became an Augustinian friar, and later rector of the college of his order and prior at Lima. He was esteemed for his austere life and for his learning, particularly for his knowledge of Latin and of the writings of the Fathers of the Church.[174]

II

[Sidenote: Jerónimo de Oré]

[Sidenote: _Símbolo católico indiano_]

Two especially prominent writers among the ecclesiastics of the first half of the seventeenth century were Luis Jerónimo de Oré and Gaspar de Villarroel. Oré was the successor of bishop Lizárraga in the diocese of Imperial. During the first period of his active life he was a zealous missionary among the Indians; later he was in Spain and Italy, where he appears as a writer; and this activity was followed by a period of devotion to his duties as bishop of Imperial. He was born in Guamanga, Peru, in 1554, and was the third of the four sons of Antonio de Oré, who, besides these sons, was blessed with three daughters. He entered the order of the Franciscans at Lima, and here won distinction through his studies. His work called _Símbolo católico indiano_ was published at Lima in 1598. It contains the matter of two distinct books, the first treating of the mysteries of the Catholic faith, “a philosophico-theological treatise on God and his attributes,” in a word, “the dogmas of the Catholic church;” the second being a description of the New World and its native inhabitants. Like certain later writers Oré would have the name of the continent derived from Columbus instead of from Amerigo Vespucci.

[Sidenote: _Relación de los mártires_]

[Sidenote: _Rituale seu manuale peruanum_]

Shortly after publishing his _Símbolo católico indiano_ Oré went to Spain, and in 1604 published, in quarto, _Relación de los mártires que ha habido en la Florida_.[175] From Spain he passed to Italy, and in Rome published a treatise on Indulgences, written in Latin. Three years later, in Naples, was issued his _Rituale seu manuale peruanum_[176] which contains the prayers and forms of the Roman ritual in Latin and in Spanish, together with translations into Quichua, Aymará, and other Indian languages. It was designed to govern the priests and missionaries to the Indians in the administration of the sacraments, and to guide them in giving instruction in Christian doctrine. On account of its translation of the Roman ritual into the Indian languages of South America, this work is of special importance for the study of these languages.

[Sidenote: Garcilaso to Oré]

In 1612 Oré visited Garcilaso de la Vega in Córdoba, and Garcilaso has given an account of this visit in his _Historia general del Perú_ (Madrid, 1722, II, 460): “He told me that in the Franciscan monastery in Lima there were deposited five heads, that of Gonzalo Pizarro, that of Francisco de Carvajal, that of Hernández Girón, and two others which he could not identify; that that religious house had them on deposit, not buried, but in keeping; and that he desired very much to know which of them was that of Francisco de Carvajal, on account of the great renown he had left in that kingdom. I said to him that he might know which of them was Carvajal’s by the inscription there was on the iron cage; but he informed me that they were not in iron cages, but free, each one by itself, without any sign by which it could be identified.

[Sidenote: Oré and the priests for Florida]

“This monk, Luis Jerónimo de Oré, was going from Madrid to Cadiz, under orders from his superiors and from the Council of the Indies to send two dozen monks, or to go with them, to the kingdom of Florida, to preach the gospel to these gentiles. It was not determined whether he would go with the monks, or return, having despatched them. He requested me to give him some part of my history of Florida, which those religious might take with them for their information concerning the provinces and the customs of the inhabitants. I gave him seven books; three were of the _Florida_, and four were of our _Comentarios_, for which he acknowledged himself greatly obliged.”[177]

[Sidenote: Some mystical books]

[Sidenote: Bishop of Imperial]

After his return from Cadiz to Madrid, Oré continued his religious or mystical writings. Two of his books of this character were _Relación de la vida y milagros del P. Fr. Francisco Solano_ and _Corona de la sacratísima Virgen María_. The religious character of his writings had doubtless much influence in causing him to be presented for the bishopric of Imperial in Chile in 1620. The appointment by Philip III was confirmed by Paul V, and near the end of 1620, or in the beginning of 1621, the new bishop arrived in Lima. Oré’s return to his native country, clothed with literary and ecclesiastical honours, was naturally a source of supreme satisfaction to his relatives and friends, with whom he spent nearly two years; and finally, in 1622, he took possession of his church at Concepción, and entered upon the exercise of his episcopal functions. He continued to discharge the duties of his high office for a period of five years, and spent a year of this time among the untamed inhabitants of Chiloé and the adjacent islands, whom he found less docile than had formerly appeared to him the Indians of Peru. He died in 1627.[178]

III

[Sidenote: Gaspar de Villarroel]

Fray Gaspar de Villarroel, another writer already referred to, was born in Quito about 1587, of parents who were extremely poor, but who are said to have descended from a noble family. His father was a lawyer, and for a certain period was a judge in Cuzco. While his son was still young, he removed from Quito to Lima in order that the lad might have the advantage of instruction. In Lima he lived in extreme poverty, but continued his studies.

[Sidenote: Villarroel in Spain]

The zeal of the father to attain a higher degree of education stimulated the son to pay special attention to his own cultivation. Like many others of his time, who would be scholars, Villarroel entered the Church and assumed the habit of St. Augustine. This was in 1607-1608, and after this event he turned with new energy to studies in letters and theology. Later he received the degree of doctor. After a few years his attainments warranted him in becoming a candidate for a professorship that was vacant in the university at Lima. His rival, Pedro de Ortega Sotomayor, was successful, but Villarroel’s candidacy made his merits so well known that he was elected prior at Cuzco. This office he held until his departure for Spain, a journey that he made by way of Buenos-Aires.

[Sidenote: _Semana Santa_]

Born and educated in America, Villarroel was unknown in Spain, where there existed a strong prejudice against all creoles, against their intellectual attainments, and their fitness for positions in the public service. To allay this prejudice with reference to himself was one of the purposes of this journey; and he took with him a manuscript for the first volume of a work to be entitled _Semana santa, tratado de los comentarios, dificultades y discursos literates y místicos sobre los Evangelios de la Cuaresma_. This he caused to be published in Lisbon in 1631 with an adulatory dedication to the king. This work was a commentary and an interpretation of passages from the Bible, involving much that appears frivolous, sterile, and commonplace, when considered from the viewpoint reached after these intervening three hundred years. A second volume was published in Madrid in 1632, and a third and last volume in Seville in 1634; in 1626 he published a commentary on the Book of Judges. This was written in Latin, and contained an abundance of extracts from the Scriptures and from the Fathers of the Church.

[Sidenote: Appreciation by the court]

These publications gave evidence of his spirit and his learning; they made an impression on influential persons at the court; and García de Haro, after he had heard him preach, became his enthusiastic champion. Moreover, the court and other persons of distinction conceived an especially favourable opinion of Villarroel; he was frequently called to preach before the king and the Council of the Indies; the fashionable applauded him; and the poetasters wrote verses in his honour. The practical result of all this for Villarroel was his presentation in 1637, after a residence of eight years in Madrid, as the bishop of Santiago. He was consecrated the next year in his monastery in Lima.

[Sidenote: Villarroel’s pastoral influence]

In its isolation the limited society of Santiago, like other colonial communities, was afflicted with social antagonisms. There was rivalry between the civil and ecclesiastical officials, and the task that devolved upon Bishop Villarroel was to establish and preserve a just balance between the conflicting parties. This task he appears to have performed with marked success. Herrera, the historian of Ecuadorian literature, affirms that “he made himself not only notable among the bishops of America for his wisdom, but also for his eminent virtues and for his indefatigable zeal in the exercise of his pastoral functions.”[179]

Villarroel’s benevolence and charity found ample opportunity for exercise in the afflicted community of Santiago after the earthquake of May 13, 1647, when the earth is said to have trembled and fluctuated like the sea. The shock caused a terrifying noise, threw down the houses and churches, and killed six hundred persons in the ruins.

[Sidenote: _Gobierno eclesiástico pacífico_]

_Gobierno eclesiástico pacífico_, Villarroel’s most important work, was written during his incumbency as bishop of Santiago. It was originally published in 1656-7, and in 1737 Padre Francisco Vásquez de Sandoval caused a new edition to be issued. This book treats of the prerogatives and duties of holders of ecclesiastical and civil office. In it the author makes manifest his desire for harmony and conciliation, and shows that no opposition exists between the legitimate designs of the church and the state. It is not possible to describe this treatise in terms applicable to a modern work on government. It has the character of a voluminous mediæval book, containing much that is relevant to the general subject and much more that from the modern point of view is irrelevant. It is interspersed with numerous and extensive quotations, and is crowded with references to both pagan and Christian authors. According to tradition, these two massive volumes were written within a period of six months, but they were not published until ten years later than the date assigned as that of their completion, and there are various reasons for believing that the work of composition occupied at least some part of these intervening years.[180]

[Sidenote: _Historias sagradas_]

_Historias sagradas y eclesiásticas morales_ was also written in the years during which Bishop Villarroel was a resident of Santiago. It was divided into fifteen _coronas_, each _corona_ into seven _consideraciones_, and each of the latter into _historias_. The mystical significance and religious use of these divisions are pointed out by the author, but neither the explanation nor the book itself makes any effective appeal to modern thinking; in fact, only the _Gobierno eclesiástico pacífico_ retains a place among books at present useful. Villarroel’s other works are important chiefly as illustrating the mental attitude of a distinguished ecclesiastic of South America in the seventeenth century.

[Sidenote: Villarroel: “Tengo a Lima en el corazón”]

[Sidenote: In Arequipa and Las Charcas]

In spite of the esteem in which he was held by the inhabitants of Santiago, Villarroel felt himself an exile in Chile. His thoughts always turned with longing towards Lima, the scene of his youth and early manhood, and of the development of his religious life. “Tengo a Lima en el corazón” was often the refrain of his conversation. But in spite of absence the Spanish court had kept his memory green in Spain, and in 1651 he was promoted to the bishopric of Arequipa, where he enjoyed a larger income and a more benignant climate, and where, by his control of more extensive means, he was able to expand the field of his charity. Even his library he distributed among various monasteries, and shortly after his transfer to Las Charcas, as archbishop, he died leaving no earthly possessions, and he was buried at the expense of his chaplain.

Bernardo Torres, chronicler of the Augustinians, asked him for data concerning his life, and received this answer:

“Nací en Quito en una casa pobre, sin tener mi madre un pañal en que envolverme; porque se había ido a España mi padre; entreme fraile, y nunca entró en mi la frailía; porteme vano, y aunque estudié mucho, supe menos delo que de mí juzgaban otros.”[181]

IV

[Sidenote: _Semana espiritual_]

[Sidenote: San Nicolás and Bautista de Toro]

Books like the _Semana espiritual con meditaciones del principio y fin del hombre para cada día, y documentos de oración_, by Juan González Gutiérrez (Madrid, 1656) and the numerous religious works of the friar Andrés de San Nicolás have little significance except to illustrate the prolific industry of certain ecclesiastical writers in the realm of mysticism. San Nicolás’ _Historia general de los Agustinos Descalzos de la Congregación de España e Indias_ (tomo I, Madrid, 1664), is, however, accorded value as an account of the establishments of his order in Europe and Asia, but it treats only briefly of the history of the order in America. In spite of his voluminous writings San Nicolás appears to have been little known in New Granada, and Vergara naively remarks that he has considered this forgetfulness as a punishment inflicted by posterity for the author’s lack of love for his country.[182]

[Sidenote: _El secular religioso_]

Another voluminous ecclesiastical writer of Bogotá was Juan Bautista de Toro. The most important of his works is the big volume called _El secular religioso_, published in Madrid in 1721, and republished there in 1778. A feature of the work which the historian is bound to consider is its denunciation of the injustice and greed of the corregidores and the inhumanity of their treatment of the Indians. In an article on _Curiosidades literarias_, Miguel Antonio Caro, in _Repertorio colombiano_, calls attention to the fact that Toro wrote a natural, simple and harmonious style at the time when “Gongorism with the authority of the peninsular writers had passed to the Indies and perverted completely the literary taste.”[183] The fact is also noted that in spite of Toro’s constant eulogy of the Jesuits, and his energetic condemnation of the conduct of Spanish officials in America, a second edition of this book was issued from the royal press of Charles III.[184]

[Sidenote: Juan de Alloza]

In the seventeenth century mystical writings encountered fewer obstacles to their publication, and were more extensively read in the Spanish colonies than were books treating of purely secular subjects. The works of Padre Juan de Alloza were chiefly of this kind. His _El breve oficio del nombre de María_ was reprinted many times. His _El cielo estrellado de María_ and his other books of a similar character found numerous devoted readers. This was assured by the great reputation acquired by the author in his lifetime. In gaining this reputation he had the advantage of membership in an eminent colonial family. One of his brothers, who was a priest at the cathedral, became rector of the University of San Marcos, and died as bishop-elect of Santiago de Chile. Another brother in 1651 and in 1652 was also rector of the University, and an uncle, Gregorio de Loaysa, was vicar-general of the archbishopric.

[Sidenote: No todos eran Alloza]

Juan de Alloza studied at the Jesuit school in Lima, passed to the university, entered the Society of Jesus, and became the most forceful preacher of his time. In a sermon delivered on the occasion of the festival of St. Paul, he commented on the bad example set by the viceroy’s speech and acts. For this he was reprimanded by the superior ecclesiastical authorities, and his right to preach was withdrawn. The viceroy, informed of this action, ordered that Alloza should be permitted to continue his preaching. “If Alloza,” he said, “does not tell us the truth, who will tell us what especially concerns us? Let him continue in the pulpit, and let the first sermon which he pronounces be preached in my palace.” Acting on the suggestion of this episode, a preacher of another order undertook to exercise a similar freedom of criticism, but he was called to account, and the viceroy, on imposing the merited punishment, bade him remember “que no todos eran Alloza.”[185]

[Sidenote: José Silva]

Padre José Silva’s life falls principally in the first half of the eighteenth century. He was born in Lima in 1703, became a Jesuit in 1720, and died two years after the edict of expulsion. He served many years as a professor of philosophy, part of the time in the University of Cuzco. Besides a treatise on the civil law in two volumes, he wrote extensively on ecclesiastical subjects; on the evils of Calvinism; on the necessity and the existence of a divine revelation; and on the eucharist.

[Sidenote: Francisco de la Cruz]

Francisco de la Cruz, a Dominican, was not less prolific than Alloza as a writer on religious questions. He was born in Granada, studied in Lima, made his profession of faith in the monastery of his order in Cuzco in 1616, and became a professor in the University of San Marcos. Entrusted with various important ecclesiastical offices he finally attained the dignity of a bishop, and was charged with relieving the Indians of Potosí from the burdens imposed upon them by the miners. In executing this commission he aroused the hostility of the Spaniards, whose interests were affected. The mystical character of his writings is sufficiently indicated by some of the titles of his books, such as _De la concepción de María_ (Lima, 1653), _Historia del rosario a coros_ (Alcalá, 1652); and _El jardín de María_ (Salamanca, 1655).

[Sidenote: Juan Cajica]

[Sidenote: The manuscripts of Cajica]

In the vast mass of unpublished writings by ecclesiastics are comprised the numerous manuscripts by Juan Cajica, an Augustinian who arrived in Peru in 1573. His extensive knowledge of the native languages greatly facilitated his missionary labours, and his diligence and persistence in writing are made abundantly evident by the statement that he produced thirty-two volumes. Twelve of these were designed to be printed in folio, and twenty in quarto, all in Spanish. They were, however, never printed, because, according to Calancha, the publication of them would have cost one hundred thousand pesos, and no fund of that amount was available. They treated extensively of religious instruction and of the doctrines requisite for a knowledge of the Catholic faith.

[Sidenote: Juan Pérez de Menacho]

[Sidenote: Menacho’s writings]

Few writers of Peru achieved greater distinction while living than Padre Juan Pérez de Menacho, who was born in Lima in the last half of the sixteenth century. He studied in the schools of his native city, and entered the Society of Jesus. He was called to a professorship of philosophy in the University of San Marcos in 1601, and served in that office for twenty years. Many statements were current during his life concerning his marvellous memory and profound knowledge, among others that he knew by heart the works of Thomas Aquinas; and these statements were heard not merely in America, but also in Europe, where, referring to him, it was affirmed that the mind of St. Thomas was in Peru. In later centuries he passed to a certain extent out of public knowledge, largely because the bulk of his works were never published.[186]

[Sidenote: _El perfecto confesor_]

_El perfecto confesor y cura de almas_ was a purely religious book of the middle of the seventeenth century that had a certain vogue in its day. It was written by Juan Machado de Chávez, who was born in Quito, and who was educated in Lima and in his native city. He held various offices in the Church, and was appointed bishop of Popayán in 1651, but died two years later, before assuming the duties of his episcopal office. _El perfecto confesor_ was published in Barcelona in two folio volumes about 1641. In 1661 Francisco Apolinar published in Madrid a summary of Dr. Machado’s works.

[Sidenote: Fernando de Vergara]

[Sidenote: José de Vergara]

Fernando de Vergara Azcárate and his brother José de Vergara Azcárate, added materially to the mass of ecclesiastical writings of the first half of the eighteenth century. They were both natives of Bogotá. Fernando de Vergara was born near the end of the seventeenth century, studied at the college of San Bartolomé and entered the order of the Jesuits. He became the rector of the Jesuits’ college at Cartagena, and, after his return to Bogotá, he became the rector of the Jesuits’ college in that city, where he died on October 12, 1761. José de Vergara was born on January 22, 1684. He inherited from his father the encomienda of Serrezuela, which had been held by his grandfather. In 1703 he left the college of San Bartolomé, and was appointed to the office of corregidor. After the death of his wife and of all of his numerous children but one son, within a period of two months,[187] he became a priest. He received the degree of Doctor of Theology at the University of Santo Tomás, became the cura of Topaga in 1726 and was transferred later to Socorro, where he died in 1746. His surviving son conducted the negotiations at Socorro with the rebellious comuneros. The works of these writers are noteworthy now chiefly as indicating what subjects claimed the attention of colonial ecclesiastics of superior education and standing.[188]

[Sidenote: Domingo Antomas, mystic]

Another Jesuit whose name is set down in the list of the mystics was Domingo Antomas. From his birthplace, Carcar in Navarre, he went to Chile, and in 1742 was assigned to the projected missions on the island of Juan Fernández, where he remained a year. After his return to Santiago he was charged with the direction of the monasteries of Carmen and Rosas. While in the island he wrote his little book called _Arte de perseverancia final en gracia_. José Torres wrote on the privileges and prerogatives of the Spouse of the Mother of God. The most striking of the works under consideration is Manuel Lacunza’s _La venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad_, which Vicuña Mackenna describes as “an indecipherable myth, of which all speak as if it were one of the nation’s titles to glory, without having opened the volume.”[189] As the title indicates, the book deals with the second coming of the Messiah, the millennium, the Last Judgment, presenting pictures of the imagination that suggest the visions of Milton.

[Sidenote: Manuel Lacunza]

Lacunza was born in Santiago in 1731; he entered the Society of Jesus at the age of sixteen. After his expatriation, in 1767, he lived at Imola, in Italy, until his voluntary withdrawal from the order, when he retired to the suburbs of the city, and lived there for more than twenty years the life of an anchorite, preparing his own food and permitting no one to enter his habitation. He died there in 1801.

[Sidenote: Ignacio García]

[Sidenote: _Desengaño consejero_]

[Sidenote: _Respiración del alma_]

The influences of colonial life generally stimulated practical activity rather than philosophical or religious reflection, but now and then minds appeared so predisposed to mysticism that they could not be awakened out of their dreams even by the uproar of the frontier. Among such persons, Medina mentions Ignacio García, Domingo Antomas, José Torres, Pedro de Tula Bazán and Manuel Lacunza. García was born in Galicia in 1696, studied at Coruña, entered the order of the Jesuits, and completed his academic career at Salamanca. His request for service in America having been granted, he sailed from Cadiz for Buenos Aires, and made the journey of nearly a thousand miles from that town across the plains and over the Andes into Chile. The first field of his mission was Coquimbó. From this place he was transferred to Santiago, but in 1730 he was in Concepción, where he gave instruction in philosophy. This was the year that witnessed the destruction of Concepción by an earthquake, and after that event García returned to Santiago, where he performed the duties of a professor of theology. He died in that city in 1754 as rector of the Colegio Máximo. His work entitled _Desengaño consejero_ was published in Lima the year of his death. In this he emphasized especially the need of fervent prayer, confirming this by citations from the Scriptures, and proposing exercises for meditation in retirement. Another work of a similar character was called _Respiración del alma en afectos píos_, which set forth the exercises needed to keep alive the spirit, as respiration keeps alive the body. In view of approaching death he requested Padre Javier Zevallos to present to bishop Alday the manuscript of a volume entitled _Cultivo de las virtudes en el paraíso del alma_ (Barcelona, 1759).