Földvári Books

Important History of the Jesuits in Paraguay

Cárdenas, Bernardino de

Coleccion general de documentos, tocantes a la persecucion, Que los regulares de la Compañia suscitaron y siguieron tenázmente por medio de sus Jueces Conservadores, y ganando algunos Ministros Seculares desde 1644 hasta 1660, contra […] Bernardino de Cardenas, […]. Tomo Primero [Segundo].

Madrid: En la Imprenta Real del a Gazeta, M. DCC. LXVIII [1768]. First edition. Two volumes. In contemporary, uniform vellum. [4] L [2] 502 [2 (blank)]; [8] [1]-95 [1] 96-[97] [1] [1]-284, 64 p. Title inked on spine. Shelfmark vignettes on the spine to both volumes. The binding and the last leaves of the first volume are damaged with loss of the rear panel and the pages at the lower corner, with no effect on the text. The second volume’s rear panel is damaged at the upper edge and the spine. Inside clean, in fine condition.

An important historical source of 17th-century Paraguay.

The documents related to the “persecution” of Bernardino de Cárdenas (1579?–1668), the Franciscan bishop of Asunción, who “violently engaged the Jesuits, to the point of an armed confrontation that resulted in the burning down of the Jesuit college of Asunción and a retaliatory expedition against the bishop’s supporters by a squadron of reduction Guarani armed with fire weapons. According to the Jesuit provincial, Joan Baptista Ferrufino (1581–1655), the conflict originated in the Jesuit negative to recognize Cárdenas as the legitimate bishop of Paraguay. Cárdenas had obtained local support by promising to expel the Jesuits and to redistribute the natives from the reductions among the Spanish settlers, who could thus put them to work in their fields. […]. Ultimately, the conflict between the bishop and the Jesuits was resolved favorably for the latter when Cárdenas left Asunción in 1651, freeing the Jesuits to continue their accommodating strategies” (Pieto, 2017).

The collection of these documents were published some one-hundred years after the events in four volumes, two first two in 1768, the further ones separately in 1770. Apparently, the 1768 edition appeared in two variants with the same content but in a different typographical settings, our copy, a longer version, is the less common.

Literature: Prieto, A. I. (2017). The Perils of Accommodation: Jesuit Missionary Strategies in the Early Modern World, Journal of Jesuit Studies, 4(3), 395-414. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/22141332-00403002

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Price: €1,200.00