Woodstock Theological Library presents guest blogger, our colleague, Michael Scott
Hello from the third floor of Lauinger! I am Georgetown’s librarian for Latin American and Iberian Studies, as well as Italian and Western European Studies. One of my many interests (being a dilettante is great for library work) is colonial Latin America, particularly Mexico. I believe many of the same issues that Latin America struggles with today are the result of the hundreds of years of oppression under colonialism that still continues to this day in some form.
One often overlooked figure in colonial Mexico is the Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, who in the mid-17th century, served as Bishop of Puebla, interim Archbishop of Mexico, in addition to a very brief term as the viceroy of New Spain. Palafox y Mendoza was born in 1600 in the Navarre region Spain, and was named Bishop of Puebla de los Ángeles in 1639. His years of service were tumultuous ones, involving many controversies with the Jesuits of New Spain in particular. However ultimately he was beatified in 2011. His library, one of the first in the Americas, is still in use today, and he also was a major figure in establishing schools and universities in the region. Overall I see him as representative of the complexities of colonization; he was a mix of the political and religious establishment, and in some ways is a symbol of the start of the unravelling of Spain’s hold in the region.
Woodstock has a manuscript about his dealings with the Jesuits; the image at the bottom of this post is from it. I’ll let the excellent cataloging speak for itself in terms of content, but if you’re interested in Jesuit and Church history in New Spain or of the colony in general, please feel free to make an appointment to see it!
Written by Michael Scott on 6/27/2016