Читать книгу A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture - Группа авторов - Страница 40

Some scholars believe that one of the goals the Franciscans had for the Colegio was the ordination of native priests (Ricard 1966, 342). Perhaps Franciscan optimism and desire to build a new Christian society (Baudot 1995, passim), further fed by the success of the first Indigenous students, was what gave birth to the belief that the Colegio would produce the first generation of Indigenous priests. The Colegio’s intent to ordain natives was assailed almost immediately, however. Some critics doubted the capabilities of neophytes to interpret Christian dogma, and feared errors would lead to heresy. To friars such as the Dominican Domingo de Betanzos, Indigenous education must be limited to tutelage because the natives lacked the authority and understanding for preaching (Cuevas 1946, 440). Indeed, only three years after the Colegio’s inception, ex-student Don Carlos Ometochzin, lord of Texcoco, was condemned for apostasy. There is little doubt that this development raised questions about the effectiveness of native education (Ricard 1966, 343–397; Cuevas 1946, 439). Perhaps these pressures from the opposition (along with rejection of celibacy vows by many students) contributed to Friar Juan de Zumárraga’s disappointment in 1540 (Cuevas 1946, 441). In a letter written to visitador Juan de Ovando in 1570 the Franciscans recognized that the initial goal of teaching theology had to be abandoned, stating that the students proved to be better in grammar (Documentos para la historia de México, 1941, 63).

The decline of the Colegio by the late 1580s had much to do with power conflicts among different factions in an increasingly established colonial structure. In the first years of evangelization of New Spain the religious orders were granted by papal bulls the authority to convert the Indigenous peoples. Members of the religious orders even served as bishops and archbishops; positions held usually by the secular clergy. The Franciscan order, the first group to come upon the scene in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, had many schools and monasteries in the central Nahua-speaking areas. Whether or not they had utopian projects to begin a new Christian society, they did clearly acquire an early monopoly on Indigenous matters. They were accepted by the Indigenous people, knew the native tongues, and controlled many monasteries.

By 1555 opposition to native higher education and literacy had swelled and was formally addressed by the formal Provincial Council. The policies that emerged prohibited the natives’ access to catechisms and sermons, their study of native languages, and even their right to paint without supervision by an ecclesiastical authority (Romano 2004, 269; Gruzinski 1993, 56). “The composite of contradictory administrative directives and policies coming out of this council illustrates how ecclesiastical or secular assumptions about reading and writing, race and authorship, had begun to diverge from those of the Franciscans who had been developing policy via practice since the 1530s” (Romano 2004, 268). These drastic policies were enacted not only in response to the spread of literacy among the Indigenous people, but also to the existence of clandestine circles reproducing texts independently of the Church (Gruzinski 1993, 56).

The decline in support of native higher education was also precipitated by a shift away from pro-Indian policies. The era of debate about the natural right of natives, promoted by Bartolomé de Las Casas in 1552, was closely followed by an era of anti-Indian crown policies, with a series of royal orders mandating the confiscation of all works concerning Indigenous antiquities. In Peru these policies spurred Viceroy Francisco de Toledo to campaign to discredit the Inca rulers and Las Casas’ doctrines (Keen 1990, 108). Las Casas’ pro-Indian policies were also muffled by the Council of Trent (1563). Ultimately, Spain became a model for the Counter-Reformation, in which Christian orthodoxy was carefully controlled by the Tribunal of the Inquisition (1571), and economic motivations would favor colonizers’ rights to continue Indigenous exploitation (Keen 1990, 108).

The native population declined in numbers during the 1570s as a result of devastating epidemics of disease, while growing populations of criollos (Spanish born in America), mestizos (offspring of Spaniard and natives), and other ethnically diverse individuals additionally reduced their profile in society. Hispanicization, first advocated at the first Provincial Council, gained increasing support from religious and secular factions. They feared that continued study of Indigenous affairs without controlled official supervision might only encourage resistance to acculturation. This view is reflected in a royal decree in 1577 in which Sahagún was ordered to submit to the Crown his Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España and suspend all research on Indigenous affairs. Economical support for the Colegio decreased, contributing to its decline as a higher education institution.