The Spanish Inquisition Arrives in New Mexico, 1626

The coat of arms of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition

When Friar Alonso de Benavides (of no known relation to the conquistador of Mexico City of the same name) arrived in New Mexico in December 1625, he carried with him two very important items that had significant impacts on New Mexico history. One was a statue of Our Lady of the Assumption, which was the first representation of the Virgin Mary brought to the colony and remains the oldest representation of the Madonna in the United States. The second was a document with his dual designation as the new Custodian of the New Mexico Mission Churches and the province’s very first Commissary of the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

France V. Scholes’ “The Church and State in New Mexico 1610-1650,” published in the New Mexico Historical Review in 1936, provides a scholarly account of the rise of the conflict between church and state and the events leading up to the establishment of the Inquisition in New Mexico. But he relegates many of the details to footnotes and appendices where he provides transcriptions of portions of the original documents, and only in Spanish. The Cibola Project at UC Berkeley also published a paleographic transcription of the manuscripts in Spanish. I will publish on this blog full translations of some of the testimony gathered by Alonso de Benavides as Commissary of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, making it available to the English-speaking public.

Friar Alonso de Benavides arrived in New Mexico in the same wagon supply caravan that was escorting Don Felipe Sotelo Osorio, the province’s new governor, sent to replace Don Juan de Eulate, who had served as governor from 1618 to 1625. Benavides spent the month of December getting settled at the Franciscan Order’s headquarters at Santo Domingo Pueblo. On 6 January 1626, his first act as Commissary of the Inquisition was to appoint Friar Pedro de Ortega as official notary for recording witness testimony. He also decided that the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, on the 25th of January, was an opportune and especially suitable day for the inauguration of the Inquisition in New Mexico.

Benavides, Ortega and the other friars arrived in Santa Fe from Santo Domingo in full regalia on 24 January 1626, where they were received by the governor, alcaldes and town council. Benavides appointed Captain Manuel Correa Falcón as the alguacil mayor (chief constable) and Sergeant Major Francisco Gómez as the standard-bearer for the Inquisition. Father Ortega described the event in vivid detail:

“On the said day, the Father Commissary, accompanied by me, the undersigned notary Friar Pedro de Ortega, and by all the friars of this custody, entered the said town on the twenty-fourth day of this month. At his entrance, the said governor, alcaldes, town council, and all the other people came out to receive him, all arranged on horseback and armed in military formation. The governor carried his standard, and they received him with great ceremony and affection, firing multiple salutes with harquebuses and artillery, and gave him the place of honor.

He was likewise received in the church with the solemnity that friars customarily show to their prelates upon their first arrival—as the said Father Commissary was also one—and with even greater honor, stating that since they had planted our Holy Catholic Faith in these provinces among so many barbarous nations, as friars of San Francisco and faithful sons of the Holy Roman Church, they were also now planting the Holy Tribunal of the Holy Office, for it was a friar of San Francisco whom the Holy Tribunal was sending with such honor. On this and other occasions, they demonstrated the love and obedience they have for the Holy Tribunal.

After the said governor, alcaldes, and town council had accompanied the said Father Commissary to his cell and left him there, they likewise accompanied the alguacil mayor [Manuel Correa Falcón] through the main streets, proclaiming, as was customary, that on the following day the edicts of our Holy Catholic Faith were to be read and published in the parish church of that town, and that no one should be absent. A volley was fired each time the proclamation was made, with harquebuses and trumpets. That night it was quite stormy, and everyone lit luminarias and celebrated as best they could.

Then, on the next day, the 25th of this month, the day of the Conversion [of Saint Paul], at the hour of High Mass, the said governor, alcaldes, town council, all the people, and the harquebusiers came to the cell of the said Father Commissary to accompany him to the church, which they did. Leading the procession was the standard of our Holy Catholic Faith, carried by the said Sergeant Major [Francisco Gómez], accompanied by the captains. Behind him was the alguacil mayor, followed by the friars, me the notary, and the most senior friars of this custody. The said Father Commissary walked between the present and former governors, the latter being in attendance at that time. In this manner, we entered the church and proceeded to the place reserved for the said Father Commissary, which was to the side of the side altar on the Gospel side of the main altar, with his chair, carpet, and cushion. Opposite him, on the other side, was a bench covered with a carpet, on which I, the undersigned notary, the alguacil mayor, and the sergeant major who carried the standard sat. The said governor returned to his seat in the transept of the church.

High Mass then began, sung by Father Francisco de Zárate, Vice-Custodian, assisted by two principal guardians as deacons. After the Gospel was read, I, the said notary, rose, accompanied by the standard of the faith and the alguacil mayor. Receiving the edicts from the hand of the said Father Commissary, I proceeded to the pulpit and read them aloud, clearly and intelligibly so that all could hear. I then returned them to the said Father Commissary in the same place. Immediately afterward, Father Friar Alonso de Extremera, lector of theology, began to preach and gave a grand sermon during the Mass. At the appropriate moment, peace was first given to the said Father Commissary and then to the said governor.

When the Mass was concluded, the same individuals accompanied the said Father Commissary back to his cell as before, where the said governor, alcaldes, and town council once again presented themselves, recognizing him as Commissary of the Holy Office, and declared that in the exercise of his office they would serve and assist him in all things as faithful Christians of the Church and of the Holy Tribunal. The said Father Commissary responded to all with great honor and courtesy, of which I bear witness, and which was received with general applause.”

Future blog posts will cover witness testimony gathered by the Inquisition. Subscribe to the blog to receive email updates.

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Sources:

Archivo General de la Nación

Inquisición, Volumen 356, Expediente 107, fol. 291r-292v (Images 83443 – 83446)

Available online at: https://repositorio.agn.gob.mx/