The Use of Nahuatl in Evangelization and the Ministry of Sebastian

Nahuatl played an essential role in the evangelization of Central Mexico. Although the crown and its appointed officials vacillated between the use of Nahuatl and Spanish in teaching the Christian doctrine, the majority of ecclesiastics supported the use of Nahuatl, particularly in the composition of religious texts. Examining a Nahuatl sermon on the ministry of St. Sebastian, this article illustrates the necessity of Nahuatl in evangelization while exposing the potential for such a necessity to produce religious texts with unorthodox contents.