Espagne

GROUP OF THREE SCARCE MEXICAN IMPRINTS RELATING TO THE CONFLICT BETWEEN JUAN PALAFOX Y MENDOZA BISHOP OF PUEBLA AND THE SOCIETY OF JESUS IN THE MID-17th CENTURY.

1647 · réf. 66747 — Various places likely Puebla or México City. ca. 1647-1650. Documenting a Legendary Church Feud in New Spain A group of three scarce publications relating to the acrimonious conflict between Juan Palafox y Mendoza Bishop of Puebla and the Jesuits in New Spain. Juan Palafox y Mendoza 1600-59 was born in Navarre educated at Salamanca and appointed a member of the Council of the Indies. He later became a priest and in 1639 was made Bishop of Puebla de los Angeles. Palafox arrived in Mexico in 1640 and soon butted heads with the Franciscans Dominicans and Augustinians whose many exemptions and privileges he looked upon as encroachments on his jurisdiction. In 1642 he was made Archbishop of New Spain and for a brief time that same year he was acting Viceroy during which he instituted financial reforms and made a push for indigenous conversion. Despite or perhaps thanks to that push Palafox distinguished himself as bishop in his efforts to protect the Native Americans from Spanish cruelty forbidding any methods of conversion other than persuasion. He was also a patron of the arts: under his tenure Puebla became the music center of New Spain and he established the Biblioteca Palafoxiana which continues to this day. Palafox's fortunes turned when he came into major conflict with the Jesuits over ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the mid-1640s. The legendary feud between Palafox and the Society of Jesus was fierce extended and rich in legal filings. The main point of contention between the opposing parties was the failure of the Society to submit to the authority of the bishops and archbishop of Mexico particularly in their refusal to pay tithes. The Jesuits found their strongest ally in the new viceroy García Sarmiento de Sotomayor and Palafox was eventually undermined by both the Vatican and the Spanish crown. He was ultimately recalled to Spain after fleeing Puebla to evade arrest at the hands of the Viceroy and assigned to the minor diocese of Osma in Old Castile. After his death there was a movement to make him a saint but a decade was far too short to cool ecclesiastical tempers and his canonization was blocked by Jesuit opposition. In a very late vindication Palafox's writings were several times republished in the following century and played a significant role in the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain in 1767. The three works offered here are as follow: 1 Testimonio de una Provision del Rey Nuestro Señor en que Se Imparte Plenamente el Real Auxilio a la Legitima Jurisdiccion Apostolica de los Muy RR. PP. Iuezes Delegados Conservadores de la Compañia de Iesus caption title. Puebla. June 9 1647. Folio. 17 leaves one seven-line woodcut historiated initial. Gathered signatures unstitched. Light foxing and tanning scattered worming mostly to margins but skimming a few letters on most leaves. The earliest of these three documents is also the shortest – and the rarest. The Testimonio de una provision del rey nuestro señor. presents testimony delivered to Philip IV from a number of sources including the Viceroy mostly regarding opposition to Palafox's March 1647 decree that under pain of excommunication Jesuits must be licensed by the Bishop in order to preach or hear confession. Though technically valid under canon law the Jesuits of course took issue perceiving that Palafox meant to refuse to grant them said licenses due to their feud and the present document describes the conflict and presents their argument against him. They accuse Palafox and his advisor Juan de Merlo of sedition against the church for prohibiting the excommunicated from hearing mass and for publicly posting lists of those thus excommunicated. After relaying the reports the king promises his support for the Jesuits in their suit against Palafox. The Iberian Books project warns that "there is a heightened possibility that this work could be a bibliographical ghost" as they located "no known exemplars." We note only a single copy in auction records and OCLC records a lone copy at the Tecnológico de Monterrey though it does not appear in their own online catalogue. Not in Medina BHA or Mexico. IBERIAN BOOKS 50798. OCLC 970573404. PALAU 331123. 2 Al Rey Nuestra Señor por la Provincia de la Compañia de Iesus de la Nueva España. N.p. likely Mexico City or Puebla ca. 1650. 131 leaves woodcut initials and tailpieces. Folio. Dbd. Scattered tanning and staining faint tideline to upper edge throughout last six leaves dampstained. Contemporary inscription on titlepage a handful of contemporary marginal annotations throughout. As expected for a legal document Roxas covers the dispute comprehensively separated into discrete sections with extensive shoulder notes. This document specifically deals with the question of tithes more specifically why the Society of Jesus is exempted why it is legitimate for them to sell their surplus for profit rather than give it to the diocese and why they believe Palafox is self-serving in demanding payment. The present filing by the Society via procurador general Alonso de Roxas or Rojas is described by Sabin as a "rabid reply" to Palafox's Al Excelentissimo Señor Don Garcia de Avellaneda I Haro Conde de Castrillo Presidente en el Real y Supremo de Las Indias. published 1646 see Medina BHA 6946. This work was also printed as a small quarto without decided priority between the two – both versions are equally rare. Palau suggests a date of 1650 and a Mexico City imprint for this edition and ascribes the small quarto as printed in Madrid in 1652; Sabin puts both in Mexico circa 1646 but publication would have to fall between 1649 when Roxas became procurador general and 1652 when Palafox responded to this attack see below. "Il existe donc deux éditions de ce mémoire. Celle in-folio est plus belle come execution typographique elle est aussie plus rare.Les types nous paraissent bien être ceux employés dans les imprimeries mexicaines" – LeClerc. Not in Medina Mexico. LeCLERC 1257. MEDINA BHA 6839. OCLC 2584251 78973667. PALAU 275714. SABIN 73620. 3 Al Rey Nuestro Señor. Satisfacion al Memorial de los Religiosos de la Compañia del Nombre de Jesus de la Nueva-España por la Dignidad Episcopal de la Puebla de los Angeles. Madrid or possibly Puebla 1652. 1158 leaves i.e. 157 with errors in foliation as issued woodcut first initial. Printer's error leaving recto of leaf 31 blank. Folio. Dbd. Stitching loose in places textblock separating. Light tanning and foxing. Minor worming throughout mostly to margins but touching a letter or two on most leaves significantly heavier to final leaf with notable loss of paper but no loss of text. A rare possibly Mexican printing of Bishop Palafox's defense against the preceding work. The slightly more common edition of this text carries a 1652 Madrid imprint is paginated rather than foliated and is printed almost entirely in italic type. This version bears a 1652 date but no imprint and more closely resembles other similar works printed in Mexico though Medina suggests that this is the first edition and that it was likely printed in Madrid. Palau on the other hand suggests a Puebla imprint. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 652/156. JCB3 II:421. LeCLERC 1224. MEDINA BHA 1173. OCLC 77921786. PALAU 209717. SABIN 58280. STREIT II:1873. An excellent collection of three rare works relating to this historical feud and an important grouping of 17th-century Mexican imprints. Folio. All three works disbound. Generally light tanning and worming occasional staining and soiling. Very good overall more specific condition reports given below. unknown