These are the first three volumes of a most detailed and extensive dictionary of the Jesuits in colonial Mexico. The series derives its significance not from its being a well-nigh exhaustive record of the members of some religious corporation, but rather from its furnishing data on the men who staffed for two centuries most of the schools of New Spain, and who worked effectively among the Indians of the key cities and of the unending deserts and mountains to the northwest, thus helping to extend the rim of Christendom from Sinaloa in what is now Arizona, and civilizing Lower California to the point that it could serve as the springboard for the conquest of the extensive regions to the north.
Recorded in these volumes are not only the Jesuits who belonged to the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus, but also such as merely visited the country or passed through it on their way to other mission fields, especially the Philippines and later China and the Marianas. Inasmuch as the survivors of the ill-fated Florida mission went on to Mexico, all the members who once worked in that vast territory are given a place in the present compilation. Hence, although the Jesuits did not come to Mexico until 1572, Father Zambrano begins his entries of them in 1566, the year of their arrival in Florida.
Three series of volumes are planned for publication; one for each century that the Jesuits worked in New Spain. All members are recorded alphabetically within the century of their death. Thus volumes I and II enter all Mexican Jesuits who died in the sixteenth century; it is the only series thus far published in its entirety. Volume III is the first, in the second series, namely that which records those who died in the course of the seventeenth century; despite its 834 pages, volume III deals only with those whose surnames begin with “A.” When one recalls that there were relatively few Jesuits in Mexico during the sixteenth century (fifteen in the founding expedition of 1572 and 274 at the close of the century), and that there were many more in the next epoch (277 at the beginning of the seventeenth century and 513 when it ended), whereas in the final years of their activity they numbered some 700, it is obvious that it will take a minimum of thirty volumes to record their lives and writings as minutely as do the first three volumes.
Each entry is regularly divided into two main sections: biographical (first a brief chronological outline and then a far more detailed account) and bibliographical, which deals with the respective Jesuit’s writings both published and in manuscript form. Each of these two sections has its own extensive bibliography.
In addition to the entries on individual Jesuits, numerous themes or topics are given lengthy considerations: annual reports (anuas) are listed and summarized at the end of each series (thus, for the sixteenth century in volume II, pp. 533-675); outstanding benefactors (bienhechores) of the Order in Mexico, contingents of new workers (expediciones de Europa), and similar topics are recorded.
The student of colonial Mexico will appreciate, for instance, the abundance of material on Hernando Cortés’ son Martín, once a novice in the Order in Spain (Simancas), with numerous references to archival sources of his later activity in Mexico. Pioneer educators, missionaries, writers, and administrators, such as Juan Curiel, Diego de Avellaneda, Antonio de Mendoza, Gonzalo de Tapia, the stormy and bizarre Alonso Sánchez, José de Acosta, Vicente del Águila, Francisco de Arista, and Nicolás de Arnaya, to name but a few of the more eminent, are recorded with an unprecedented wealth of detail and of references.
The author has drawn on the standard printed sources, such as Florencia Alegre (both editions), Villerías, Sánchez Baquero, Monumenta Mexicana, Decorme, and many others, but also on much archival material. From the references given it is not always evident whether documents were studied directly or were cited from printed sources.
Likewise the student is not always certain of the meaning of the references given. Thus, he may well be puzzled by such sigla as Mex. 4, which means manuscript volume IV of the section Mexicana in the central archives of the J esuit Order in Rome; nor has he any way of knowing that M.M. stands for a printed series with the title of Monumento, Mexicana. A list of abbreviations used should be given at the beginning of the volumes; also authors with the full titles should be indicated alphabetically. These two lists would enable the author to cite his sources in a brief and uniform way throughout the text. Another space-saver would be to summarize lengthy documents, especially where such have already been published or are in the course of publication. The author could thus lighten his task and speed up appearance of the volumes. We make these observations for we are personally aware that the author has spent a long and diligent lifetime compiling his Diccionario. Through many years in his native land and through long years of exile he has been gathering uninterruptedly a vast arsenal of information for students of colonial Mexican history. May he behold the fulfillment of his untiring efforts: the publication of all the many volumes planned.
