Book review: “The Franciscans in Colonial Mexico”

This book, “The Franciscans in Colonial Mexico,” is a collection of articles in honor of Father Francisco Morales Valerio, O.F.M., a leading historian of the Franciscan order in Mexico. There are articles originally in English and others that were originally in Spanish and have been translated into English. The translator did a great job. 

The articles are from a conference that honored Father Francisco's 80th birthday. There are 13 articles that cover several topics of Franciscan history in colonial Mexico, which does not only include present-day Mexico, but also the southwest United States. The topics start with the beginnings of the Franciscans in North America and cover three centuries starting around the time of the fall of the Aztec empire. 

The authors discuss the development of missions to the Natives of colonial Mexico and their struggles with converting them and protecting them from those who would abuse them. They discuss how Franciscan colleges were created to prepare the Franciscan missionaries. The missionaries were not always successful converting the Natives. The Natives would stay around the mission if they benefited from being there. They were not always successfully indoctrinated with the Catholic faith. The Franciscans would learn one language they thought was the dominant language and hoped they could find translators for the local language. There are maps, black and white illustrations, footnotes that can at times take up half a page and a list of the contributors with a short biography.

The average reader will not be interested in this book; it is an academic work. Those who would enjoy this book are those interested in Franciscans, their history, and those interested in Mexican and/or southwest United States history. The book flows and has some interesting tidbits for the general reader, but otherwise the book has a limited audience - which is not a bad thing. 

The historic missions in California, and the rest of the southwest, are interesting and some are very artistic. I have seen some of these missions. This book is recommended to those with an interest in academic and historical works. 

As a Benedictine monk from Oklahoma, it was interesting to read the history of another order that brought the faith to Mexico and southwest United States, as did the Benedictines to Oklahoma. 

Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., Saint Gregory's Abbey, Shawnee, is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.