A Bio-Bibliography of Franciscan Authors in Colonial Central America
Year: 1952
Type: article
Abstract: In the long story of the Hispanicization of Central America, the civilizing role of the regular clergy plays a major part. The difficulties of their task cannot be overestimated. Laboring in harsh and alien lands, the friars faced the problem of teaching the Christian religion and European concepts of morality to men reared in ancient and powerful religious traditions of their own which permeated every aspect of their daily lives. The conversion and indoctrination of these pagan peoples required unremitting effort, often under conditions of extreme physical hardship and mental anguish. The general history of the heroic labors and achievement of the Religious Orders is well known. But it is not perhaps as widely realized how many active missionaries also found time for study and writing that resulted in a large body of literature covering a wide range of subject matter, from works on the native languages and culture inspired by the urgent needs of the missionary program to erudite theological treatises. This bibliography of the Franciscan writers who flourished in the Yucatan and Guatemala areas during the colonial period has been compiled in the hope that it may shed more light on the scope of the intellectual activities of the missionary religious and be useful as a reference tool for future research.
DOI: 10.2307/978696
Author: Eleanor B. Adams
Language: English
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4254740993