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Saint Paul and Saint Sebastian in the “Nahuatl Bible”

We (Nahua nobles) no longer believe and still we will love those you (Spaniards) do not yet take to be gods; still before our gods we will kill people; it will again be like it was before you came here.

—“Nahuatl Bible,” before 1560

Religiously trained Nahuas and Mayas composed religious texts under varying degrees of ecclesiastic supervision. A small manuscript cataloged in the Schøyen Collection as “The Nahuatl Bible” provides an excellent example of a Nahua-authored religious text that received virtually no oversight from religious authorities. The anonymous text is a sermon recounting a Nahua version of the conversion of Saint Paul and the ministry of Saint Sebastian and dates to sometime before 1560. The manuscript itself spans eight folios, or sixteen pages, and has two vellum sheets sewn on either side that serve as its cover. Interestingly, the manuscript contains sixty-four profiles of Nahua heads on the front pastedown, which is made of amatl, or fig-tree bark paper (see fig. 1). Over the years various scholars have proposed diverse explanations for the heads that range from tributaries to actors in a play. Yet when composing manuscript works, authors sometimes employed pieces of heavier paper to make covers.¹ Thus, it is possible, and even likely, that the heads correspond with a separate work altogether and not the sermon. The manuscript fails to reveal its origins, and today resides in Europe as part of the Schøyen Collection, MS 1692.²

A variety of evidence exists to confidently suggest the Nahua authorship of the sermon. First and foremost, the sermon contains numerous deviances regarding the history and lives of Saint Paul and Saint Sebastian—deviances that a priest would never have allowed knowingly. In the Bible, Paul was once Saul, a Pharisee who zealously persecuted Christians in the first century and even witnessed the stoning of the prophet Stephen. When traveling to Damascus on a mission to arrest Christians, “suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’ And he said, ‘Who art thou, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.’ ” The encounter caused Saul to lose his sight until his companions took him to Damascus, where the Christian, Ananias, blessed him. Saul then became baptized and began a lifelong ministry preaching of Christ. The moment at which Saul adopted the name Paul is unclear, but it was not at his baptism.³

Adding to the biblical history of Paul is the Vision of Saint Paul, which relates Paul’s visit to heaven and hell in a vision to witness the rewards of the righteous and the punishment of the damned. Reportedly, versions of the text first appeared in Latin Antiquity in Greek, then in Latin; subsequent renditions in the vernacular then emerged throughout Western Europe. Dante even references Paul’s vision in his fourteenth-century Divine Comedy.⁴ Although various religious authorities expressed their doubts as to its doctrinal validity, the tale was popular and very influential during the Middle Ages, and many of the friars who trained the Nahuas in religion and writing certainly would have been familiar with its contents.⁵ That the friars used such tales to instruct the Nahuas is very likely, especially when considering that similar medieval stories were used to educate the Yucatec Mayas (see chapter 2).

Our knowledge of Saint Sebastian derives not from the Bible but from later hagiographies (biographies of saints and religious leaders) and texts that became popular in the Middle Ages, such as Jacobus de Voragine’s The Golden Legend (ca. 1260). At the time of the arrival of the Spaniards in Mexico, The Golden Legend was available in Spanish as the Flos sanctorum. According to these works, Sebastian died as a Christian martyr in 287 A.D. at the orders of the Roman emperor Diocletian and, subsequently, at the hands of Roman soldiers who shot him with arrows. After Sebastian miraculously survived the arrows and reprimanded Diocletian, the emperor ordered Sebastian beaten to death and his body thrown in a sewer.⁶

The Nahuatl sermon, which itself resembles a hagiography, alters nearly every part of these two accounts (see tables 1 and 2).⁷ The religious training of the Nahua author(s) surely provided a familiarity with Saint Paul and Saint Sebastian. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s Psalmodia christiana (1583) describes the life of Sebastian in some detail.⁸ Moreover, the Flos sanctorum was a “best seller” of sorts and commonplace among the libraries of ecclesiastics and the laity of central Mexico.⁹ Yet the Nahua author(s) alter various elements of the individual story lines. For example, in the sermon Paul and his followers kill Sebastian with arrows; an event strangely familiar with Paul witnessing the stoning of Stephen. And whereas the Vision of Saint Paul recounts a vision awarded to a converted Paul for his righteousness, in the Nahuatl sermon Paul is a sinner who not only witnesses the torments of hell but also is a victim of them.

In other instances, the Nahuatl sermon adds elements to the story lines to serve its own didactic agenda—in this case, the cessation of idolatry and the promotion of Christian virtues. As a result, Paul the Pharisee becomes an idolater who tries to kill Sebastian, is turned to dust, goes to heaven and hell, miraculously regains his body, burns his idols, and is baptized by Peter. On the other hand, Sebastian—whose role of sweeping the roads to heaven parallels Nahua culture, where precontact priests regularly swept the temples of their gods—is shot by Paul with arrows and subsequently preaches repentance to nobles with strong Nahua characteristics. Above all, the Nahuatl text transports, however figuratively, these two prophets to the Americas, where they speak, dress, and behave like—and, for all intents and purposes, become—Nahuas.

The early date of the sermon and its goal to reform the Nahuas, particularly the nobility, remind us of the concerted effort among ecclesiastics in the 1530s to reform many of the baptized Nahua nobility who continued to practice precontact traditions that conflicted with Christianity—specifically polygamy, idolatry, and avaricious living. Trained Nahua youth were often the messengers of such reform, and certain Nahuas, such as don Carlos Ometochtli, scoffed at the audaciousness of such young boys in instructing them to relinquish their idolatry and polygamy.¹⁰ Although the assertion is speculative, it is tempting to consider this sermon as reflective of the messages these young religious assistants brought to the ears of the Nahua nobility.

The Nahua authorship and influence of the text also emerges in its native rhetoric and misspelling of common Spanish words (such as “diaplos” or “tiablos” for diablos). Interestingly, the orthography and penmanship of the sermon indicates that two individual Nahua hands wrote the script, suggesting that the sermon we have today is a copy of a separate Nahua-authored manuscript.¹¹ Regardless, the Nahuatl sermon itself represents an excellent example of those texts ecclesiastical authorities would surely have confiscated had they known about them or their contents. Here, it seems the goal of the Nahua author(s) was not to replicate a doctrinally accurate account of the conversion of Saint Paul or the ministry of Saint Sebastian but rather to use these figures in didactic stories that aligned more evenly with Nahua culture. Whether written for use in the convents and local schools to train other Nahuas, or as a Sunday sermon, the result is a wonderful example of how Nahuatl religious texts could familiarize Christian doctrine and contain very unorthodox material.

The “Nahuatl Bible” (before 1560), 1–16

Then, along with the others, Paul’s horse was running; our lord God brought about that his horse was struck by lightning. And then Paul’s body quickly crumbled greatly and all turned to dust. His demons just gathered it up and put it in a cloak. And then Paul went straight to heaven.

And when our lord God saw Paul, he said to him, “Why did you kill Sebastian, for he builds temples for me and sweeps on the road by which they enter my home in heaven? I am merciful to my children, the poor or humble who are afflicted, who endure hardships and earn their way with effort. I am not merciful to those who have possessions, belongings, and many houses but to those without houses on earth who greatly suffer.

“Now, Paul, really look where the humble come to settle. I am caring for the happiness, prosperity, riches of those who cry, are sad, sigh, who always go about seeking me, languishing greatly, joining their hands, who kneel down. This heaven will be the house of them only; here are their houses, houses of gold; they will come to sit on golden seats, for no one else sits on their seats. And now that you have beheld it, Paul, can you count all that is here, the eternal happiness and prosperity? And now that you have seen it, look also at hell, for there is much fire and smoke there, and the smoke reeks badly. My children the angels will go along, taking care of you.”

Then the angels took him to hell. And Paul saw things in hell; he was very frightened and wept; he stood on the hot coals for only a short time, but it seemed to him like twenty years. He saw the semblance of the devils and demons with their iron tongs with which they cut us up; they place our bodies in metal tubs; the evil ones never give relief in all eternity. Paul saw and beheld a great deal; all the torments cannot be expressed, cannot all be told, we cannot mention them all here. And when Paul came to, he greatly wept and was very sad.

The angels told Paul, “Be afraid, look upon the evil demons with fear! Serve them no longer, no longer make offerings to them, get rid of those whom you served and venerated as gods, before whom you bled yourself and also before whom you were cutting your ears, the evil demons.”

And when he had regained consciousness, three times he said, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”

Then all those who were there, who had been keeping his body, said, “Is the ruler (Paul) a bad omen for us? And how is it that his body was collected and we gathered it up in bits?”

But Paul told them, “Don’t take me for something monstrous, my lords, let me loose. As to what I saw and beheld, now I will speak to you and tell you what I beheld; for we sinned greatly when we killed God’s beloved, such a thing should not have been done. Go and bring back Sebastian’s body; because of this I had died. But now our lord God still favors me.”

Then, they went to get Sebastian from where they had repeatedly shot arrows at him. And when they went and got Sebastian, from very far away there could be seen his light that our lord God in heaven placed upon him (Sebastian). Then they loosened his body; it was still as though he had not died; he was still very sound; the reason he was very sound was that the angels of God helped him; they brought him to Paul’s home.

Then he (Paul) said, “O my honored noble, greetings; I went to heaven and saw our lord God, and I also went to see things in hell. It was on your behalf that I went to behold things. And now, let the evil devils that are in my home be burned.” This is what Paul said.

They then removed those (idols) they had taken to be gods and cast them down in the patio and there they burned and scorched them. And when they had burned, Paul told Sebastian, “O my honored noble, Sebastian, since the devils have been burned, for your sake baptize me.”

Then, he (Sebastian) told him, “It is not I who is to baptize you; a person will baptize you who lives very far away; let them go call him; his name is Peter.”

When he had come, Paul related to him how it was when he went to see heaven and hell. Then Peter baptized Paul and he (Peter) changed his name; he baptized and called him Paul. After he had baptized him, he taught him reading and writing. It did not take a whole day to teach him, but just a short time. By midday, he could already write; he wrote everything having to do with prayer and holy examples, and everything about how we people of the earth, we humans, are to live respectfully.

And in addition, we all will earnestly pray to our father Saint Paul. The reason that we will earnestly pray to him is that he believed afterward, and with us too it was after we believed that we burned the evil demons we had taken to be gods. We are not alone or the only ones who have done it this way; for our father Saint Paul did it the same way, for which reason we will earnestly pray on his feast day to our lord. Also, he (Paul) will pray to our lord God for us; that is all of the statement; it is to be observed well.

The story of the life of God’s beloved, named Sebastian, who was truly a very great preacher and servant of our savior and lord Jesus Christ; he was a true child of God. Sebastian was preaching in an altepetl;¹² he was revealing his message and commandments; he was spreading the message and orders that the Christians called his commandments, the divine orders of God. And Sebastian was preaching to the people and very truly they had known and been inspired by the sermon; they saw and understood a very great deal of the divine words that Sebastian showed them and made known to them.

When his pupils had learned much of the divine words, Sebastian then assembled all the rulers, nobles, and all the commoners. He told them, “Come all of you, you rulers and nobles.” Then he said, “You heard and understood God’s word as I told it to you; not only is it said that God will have mercy on us in heaven, but we will do many things so that he will be very merciful to us and very happy with us now. Listen you rulers and nobles! God does not want you to have many women (wives) or many slaves. Today, that is all with which I do my duty toward you so that God can favor you. Cast out your women and your slaves and all your home dwellers! May they leave! And as to your houses, grant them to those who have no house, give them to the poor. And your gold/silver, all your property, your cloaks, and all that is in your home, give it all away, and also your fields. And all those who serve you whom you greatly mistreat, who produce for you what you need, whom you greatly mistreat, our lord God does not want it so.”

And after he (Sebastian) had told them this, they became angry about it; thereupon they (the nobles) said, “What are you saying to us Sebastian? It is bad. When we were baptized, you told us, ‘Because of it God will have mercy on you.’ And after we were baptized, now you tell us, ‘Get rid of your wives; give all your property, all that is in your homes and your houses, to those without houses, all those who are poor.’ After we give it to them, where will we go, for we will no longer have property? In what will we appear as rulers when we have served the poor? And now we do not want this to be done; we had really believed your words, but now we no longer believe; we abandon what you had taught us; we no longer believe and still we will love those you do not yet take to be gods; still before our gods we will kill people; it will again be like it was before you came here.”

After the wicked had said this to Sebastian, God’s beloved was very sad and wept. He told them, “Listen evildoers! What are you saying? Is it not a sin that you want to break our lord God’s commandments?”

But the wicked no longer listened at all to him at that point; still he tried to restrain them, but they said, “Although it is sin, did we ask you about it? We really no longer want what you tell us; we no longer want you to live here. Go to your home, to where you came from.”

When they had said this, then Sebastian kneeled and joined his hands and prayed to our lord God; when he prayed to him, he said, O elluhe. dĩẽ,¹³ O God, O Giver of Life,¹⁴ how can it be that wretched I behaved inconsiderately toward you and offended you and did not do my duty with your holy commands so that people were not able to retain what they were taught? Have me burned, may I see the torments of hell. As for the people, may you be merciful with them O lord.”

Then our lord God himself replied to him and said to him in turn, “O Sebastian, weep no longer, no longer be so sad. I saw the wicked, you did not sin; you redeemed yourself, you did your duty. They broke my commandments on their own.... Try them again!¹⁵ Never... was in vain... when no longer they consent, you are to tell me again.”

After our lord had declared this to him, then... replied... Sebastian told him..., “Thank you, let me try them out again.”

Then, he goes to try them; when he reached the people he said to them, “Listen you people! You say you really do not love the words, the commandments of our lord God. Today I came at his bidding; maybe I will try you out another time. May you judge it well!”

1. An excellent example would be the 1713 manuscript of Joseph Antonio Pérez de la Fuente’s manuscript “Relación mercurina,” no. 10, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Garrett Collection of Mesoamerican Manuscripts (C0744), Princeton University Library.

2. The manuscript is mentioned in Gómez de Orozco, Catálogo, 157–58; Glass, “Census,” 175; and Horcasitas, Teatro náhuatl, 447–59, 601–3, which includes a transcription and loose Spanish translation of the text by Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca. My transcription, however, varies from that found in Horcasitas’s work.

3. Acts 9:3–5, 10 (AV). Not until Acts 13:9 is Saul referred to as Paul.

4. See, for example, Dante, Inferno, canto 2, line 32.

5. For more of a comparison of the Nahuatl and medieval tale, see Christensen, Nahua and Maya Catholicisms, 199. Silverstein provides an excellent study of the text in his Visio Sancti Pauli. See also Sautman, Conchado, and Di Scipio, Telling Tales, 109–10. The act of God showing a sinner the pains of hell to inspire repentance was a common theme in many European didactic tales throughout the Middle Ages (see chapter 2). For a few examples, see Gayangos, Escritores, 478–79.

6. Flos sanctorum, fols. 40r–42r; Jacobus, Golden Legend, 50–54.

7. Morgan explains the close and symbiotic relationship between sermons and hagiographies in his Spanish American Saints, 35–36.

8. Sahagún, Psalmodia christiana, 47–51.

9. Fernández del Castillo, Libros y libreros, 55, 264–81; Nesvig, Ideology and Inquisition, 237–41; Mathes, First Academic Library, 4–5. Interestingly, the Inquisition banned the 1558 edition printed in Zaragoza.

10. Don, Bonfires of Culture, 167, 89. For more on the Franciscan’s morals campaign, see ibid., 146–74, and Gruzinski, Man-Gods, 31–62.

11. Philologically and orthographically the manuscript points to distinct preferences among the native writers. Both writers tend to use abbreviations incorrectly and interchange the u and the n throughout. The first writer is prone to omit syllables, which sometimes he catches and writes in. Also confirming the early date of the text is its occasional use of the huehuetlatolli form of rhetoric in a phrase for “thank you.” My thanks to James Lockhart for his insights.

12. Nahua municipal community or town.

13. Unknown epithet.

14. Ipalnemohuani. This is an epithet for Nahua creator deities such as Tezcatlipoca and even Quetzalcoatl.

15. Here and in a few other places the manuscript has been damaged by water, rendering a transcription and translation of certain words difficult, if not impossible.