Report from Friar Alonso de Benavides to the Inquisition in Mexico City, 1626

Having finished recording all the depositions of the colonists before the Inquisition, Friar Alonso de Benavides drafted a summary transmittal letter before sending all of the evidence to his superiors in Mexico City. This is the reason why any of these records survived, for less than sixty years later, the Pueblo Revolt would destroy much of the documentation of early 17th-century New Mexico.

Chief among Friar Benavides’ concerns were the denunciations of Don Juan de Eulate, which is not surprising, given the former governor’s numerous actions against the authority of the church. Benavides also requested the Holy Tribunal to punish Sergeant Major Francisco Gómez and Captain Alonso Varela for being the governor’s principal accomplices in opposing ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Secondarily, Benavides was concerned about the allegations of “witchcraft.” He suggested that María de Villafuerte and Doña Inés be punished as the primary culprits behind the spreading of these practices in the province. He also revealed a genealogical hint—María de Villafuerte had a mestizo son (presumably the son of her late husband Francisco López) who was married to a Spanish woman. The identity of this couple is unknown at this time.

Lastly, Benavides singled out an individual going by the name of Juan Donaire de las Misas for investigation. He suspected that he was actually a man named Francisco de Soto, a known heretic from the Canary Islands who had been punished many years earlier by the Inquisition in Hispaniola (today’s Dominican Republic) where Benavides himself had served as the high sheriff of the Inquisition. We do not know if any of these individuals were ever tried or punished by the Inquisition. Benavides indicated that sometimes it took up to four years (!) to receive correspondence given the remoteness of New Mexico. Thus, it’s entirely possible that the accused were already deceased or the authorities had other more pressing matters to attend to by the time instructions arrived.

A paleographic transcription of Benavides letter in Spanish is available in the Cibola Project’s “Cross vs. Crown in New Mexico, 1626.”

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With this letter I send all the proceedings regarding the general edicts that, by Your Lordship’s order, I have published here in New Mexico. It has proven, and continues to be, of great importance that Your Lordship commanded it so, because the devil has introduced among the Spaniards of these parts a great contempt for ecclesiastical authority and its censures. They believe that temporal jurisdiction is the principal and sole authority. To justify this belief, they say and do things that bring discredit upon the Church and its ministers in these jurisdictions, a matter that urgently requires Your Lordship’s attention.

The same kind of remedy is needed for the witchcraft that has been spreading. Since the native Indians of this land are deeply involved in sorcery, the evil easily passes to Spanish women of weak understanding, who live here far removed from the refinements of civilized society. The Indian women who have been denounced—Villafuerte and Doña Inés—are such only in name. In every other respect, they are more ladina (acculturated) than the Spaniards themselves: they wear the Spanish mantle, and their mestizo children are married to Spanish women. If it please Your Lordship, it would be of great benefit to impose some punishment upon these women, both as an example and a deterrent, especially since it is publicly known that they have taught their craft to their daughters and to other young and ignorant Spanish girls.

The written instructions that the secretary provided to me state that commissaries should not have witnesses ratified unless there is danger of death or the witness must undertake a long journey; therefore, I have not had them ratified. However, since this land is so distant that no order or reply from Your Lordship can be received in fewer than four years (and sometimes even longer due to the great distance and infrequent travel) I had considered ratifying the witnesses myself. But I believe it more prudent to await Your Lordship’s direction in this matter.

The denunciations against Don Juan de Eulate are, in my judgment, among the most important, for according to what is said of him and by the bad reputation he bears, it would be impossible to record all his offenses. In his conversations he continually brings up, whether relevant or not, examples of bishops and other churchmen who have fallen from grace, as if he had deliberately studied such histories for this very purpose. He boasts of recounting these stories among the simple Spaniards here, thereby causing them to think poorly of the clergy. He has greatly persecuted the ecclesiastics involved in these jurisdictions.

A friar of my own order, Friar Alonso Estremera, came to this land with me — a learned and experienced man, though of a harsh temperament. He has publicly claimed here that he served for many years as a calificador[i] of the Holy Office, but that after a disagreement, when someone tried to make use of his title and failed, he tore up his commission and renounced the position. Although he has told me this several times, I have chosen to take no action, preferring instead to await Your Lordship’s instructions.

In this land I found a man named Juan Donaire de las Misas, who also appears as a denouncer of Don Juan de Eulate, and even against himself. I am fully persuaded that he is actually Francisco de Soto, a doctor of natural medicine from the Canary Islands, who was punished in the island of Hispaniola by Friar Agustín de Ávila, the archbishop there, acting as inquisitor ordinary. In that very case, I myself served as alguacil mayor of the Holy Office, though then a layman.

After he was subjected to torture for inconsistency in confession, he was made to wear the sambenito[ii] and banished to Seville, to serve in whatever hospital the inquisitors there might assign him, having been convicted of grave heresies. Here, however, he pretends to be a simple man and from another land, as he claims in his statement. When I told him that I had without doubt seen him in Hispaniola, he denied everything. He seems to conduct his life with great cunning, and he is a man under strong suspicion, as appears both from his own testimony and from that of Friar Esteban de Perea, since the name he uses—Donaire de las Misas (“Wittiness of the Masses”)[iii]—has caused scandal in this land, many people taking it as mockery of the Holy Mass.

I ordered him to change his name, and so he said he wished to be called Juan Pescador, and under that name he now goes and signs himself. Yet I am firmly persuaded that he is the same heretic once punished in Santo Domingo, though, since I have not seen him in twenty-seven years, I might be mistaken. Still, he conceals himself with great skill, even if at times he betrays his subtlety through sly remarks. In this matter I shall do whatever Your Lordship commands.

As for the statements of Sergeant Major Francisco Gómez and Captain Alonso Varela, I have strong reason to suspect that they have perjured themselves and withheld many things about Don Juan de Eulate, being known partisans of his, and perhaps accomplices. These two men are in need of some penitence from the Holy Tribunal, both on account of what is written and because they are the ones most openly opposed to ecclesiastical authority and jurisdiction, in which they have caused great harm. Captain Varela has even been denounced for affirming that to swear falsely is no sin, and he has made others do so on several occasions.

In all these matters I submit myself entirely to what is written here, which I have prepared in the best form I could manage according to the general instruction, though I am certain that in Your Lordship’s presence many faults would be found in its manner. I humbly beg Your Lordship to be pleased to correct them, for they come only from ignorance, with full assurance that my only desire is to serve Your Lordship faithfully all my life. New Mexico, 24 June 1626.

Your Lordship’s humble servant,

Friar Alonso de Benavides {rubric}

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Sources:

Viridiana Rivera Álvarez and Jerry R. Craddock, “Cross vs. Crown in New Mexico, 1626” UC Berkeley Research Center for Romance Studies, Cibola Project, 2019. Available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xq1g5b3 

Archivo General de la Nación 

Inquisición, Volumen 356, Expediente 108, fol. 293r-294r, (Images 83492, 83494, 83496)

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

[i] Church official with the authority to censor books and written records in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

[ii] Penitential garment that those punished by the Inquisition were forced to wear publicly for a period of time.

[iii] The word donaire can have different meanings depending on the context: charm, grace, wit, or joke