Lecture 1 Outline

Lecture #1--Colonial Foundations

1. Timeline: 1607 Jamestown, 1608 Quebec, 1610 Santa Fe

• Early Hispanic presence: 1513 San Juan, 1565 San Agustín, 1598 El Paso
• Puerto Rico: 1493 first colonization, 1513 first diocese, 1898 U.S. possession
• Florida: 1565 first permanent settlement, 1763 Treaty of Paris (king of Spain traded Florida to England, which had conquered Habana, to get Cuba back), 1783 Paris treaty ending U.S. Revolution returned Florida to Spain), 1819 Florida ceded to USA
• Southwest: New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California settled in that order; 1836 Texas Republic; 1845 Texas statehood, 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; 1854 Gadsden Purchase
• Louisiana: 1699 French colony, 1766 Spain takes over, 1803 back to France for a few months before the Louisiana Purchase

2. Native Americans

• Hundreds of “tribal” groups, though “clans” often a more apt description; a vast diversity of cultures
• Nomadic/sedentary key distinction – attempt to missionize nomadic Native Americans caused a tremendous cultural shock
• Arrival of Spanish changed, indeed revolutionized, local life in many ways, e.g. through the introduction of the horse

3. Reasons for lack of success in the missions – ask students how many have ever been to a mission

• Language – many missionaries, especially in the later periods, did not speak native languages
• Native Americans could not accept sedentary life, Spanish culture, and ways
• Native Americans joined missions for wrong reasons (e.g. food, protection, learn/receive aspects of material culture), left when their needs were met – natives were not just victims; they learned to use mission system for their own benefit
• Loss of clergy (Jesuits 1767, Spaniards after 1821)
• Connection of missions to imperial expansion (vital financial support from the crown almost always connected to political and/or economic interests – Arizona a possible exception here)
• Squabbles with presidio/villa and eventual secularization of missions

4. Diocesan Church

• Parishes at places like San Antonio, Laredo, Santa Fe, Los Angeles
• Presidio chapels at Monterey (now a cathedral), Tucson, Santa Barbara
• Shrines and private chapels such as Chimayó and La Capilla de Nuestro Señor de los Milagros (San Antonio) places for Mexican Catholics
• Auxiliary bishop from Santiago de Cuba lived in Florida (first resident bishop in what is now continental USA), California had a resident bishop from 1840-1846 (Francisco García Diego y Moreno)
• Santiago de Roybal first priest from Southwest ordained (1728) – Antonio José Martínez opened a seminary and at least 16 New Mexicans went on to be ordained from there

5. Theological Reflection

• discussion of the theme of embracing native roots in Alvaro Dávila document
• other theological themes: longevity of Hispanic presence shows that they are not all immigrants, but both conquered and conquerors
• theology of patron saints – has roots in Roman patronage system, yet fluid
• annual cycle of feasts marked communal identity, often related to agricultural cycle
• rituals to deal with death and tenuousness of life, high infant mortality rates; during colonial era when Hispanics arose in the morning, they literally did not know if they would make it to the evening
• theology of divine providence: all was in the hands of God, yet one’s fate not rigidly determined