Juan de Palafox y Mendoza

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bishop Juan de Palafox

Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (born June 24, 1600 in Fitero, Navarra , Spain ; † October 1, 1659 in El Burgo de Osma-Ciudad de Osma , Castile-León , Spain) was a Spanish bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who temporarily officiated as Viceroy of New Spain.

Origin and career in Europe

Palafox was the illegitimate son of Jaime de Palafox; his father was Marqués de Ariza. Juan was raised by a couple of millers in the early years of his life and only then recognized by his father. He studied at the University of Salamanca and was appointed to the Council of India . Juan was ordained a priest in 1629. As court chaplain, he accompanied Princess Maria on her way to her Austrian fiance - right through the battle zones of the Thirty Years' War .

On October 3, 1639, Palafox was called to be Bishop of Tlaxcala , based in Puebla in what is now Mexico . The episcopal ordination donated him the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela , Agustín Cardinal Spinola Basadone , the same year on December 27. Co- consecrators were the Bishop of Yucatán , Juan Alonso y Ocón , and the Bishop of Caracas , Mauro Diego de Tovar y Valle Maldonado OSB . He arrived in Puebla in 1640, with Viceroy Diego López de Pacheco Cabrera y Bobadilla , and was introduced to the episcopate on June 28th. On behalf of the king, as a visitador , he had to examine and evaluate the administration of the two predecessors in the office of the viceroy. From 1640 to 1643 he also held the office of Archbishop of Mexico on an interim basis . On site he quickly came into conflict with several religious orders, whose independent work and economy he disliked. He prohibited all forced conversion practices of local people and required that conviction alone lead to baptism.

Term of office as interim viceroy of New Spain

In May 1642, Juan Palafox received secret orders from Madrid. The viceroy's cousin had been crowned King of Portugal as John IV , and Diego López de Pacheco was accused at the Spanish court of secretly making common cause with the Portuguese. On charges of infidelity, Palafox relieved the viceroy of his office, had him arrested and taken to Spain. There he was able to refute the allegations in a court case and was rehabilitated.

On June 10, 1642, Palafox took over the post of viceroy of New Spain on an interim basis, which he handed over to the appointed successor García Sarmiento de Sotomayor on November 23 . He used his short term in office primarily to prevent the indigenous people from practicing “idolatry”. That means he had numerous pre-Columbian shrines, statues and reliefs destroyed. In 1646 he founded the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in the city of Puebla, the first library on the American continent. He pushed for the construction of the Puebla Cathedral , which he dedicated at the end of his time in Mexico.

Conflict with the Jesuits

From 1647 Palafox came into conflict with the Jesuit order . Many of the freedoms and privileges enjoyed by the Order in the New World in the 17th century contradicted its concept of obedience to be owed to episcopal authority. He turned to Pope Innocent X for help, who agreed with him, but did not take any further measures in his favor apart from a letter in which he warned the Jesuits.

Palafox also intervened against the Jesuits in the rites dispute . He explained that the Jesuits' tolerance of Chinese who had converted to Christianity but still practiced traditional ancestral worship rituals was heresy. Costa Rican historian Ricardo Martinez Esquivel argues that although Palafox, as bishop, had jurisdiction over some Chinese missions, his intervention was mainly motivated by his general anti-sympathy for the Jesuits.

Return to Europe

In May 1649 Palafox returned to Europe. It is believed that the Jesuits actively supported his transfer to the small and insignificant diocese of Osma in central Spain. In November 1653 he took over this office, in which he died in 1659.

Literary work

His collected literary works - in addition to religious subjects, he also wrote poetry and treated historical subjects - appeared in 1762 in Madrid in fifteen volumes.

Failed canonization and late beatification

Even after his death, Palafox remained a bone of contention in the dispute between the Spanish court and the Jesuits. As early as 1694, King Charles II campaigned for the canonization of Juan Palafox - not least because he was supposed to serve as a model for him in the struggle of the clergy loyal to the king against the Jesuits.

1726 began under Pope Benedict XIII. the process of canonization by Juan Palafox, which lasted until 1777. In the end, Pope Pius VI abducted . the decision - despite a majority vote in the church bodies, which had at least advocated beatification. Here, too, the Jesuit order is said to have had a hand in it.

The canonization efforts sparked a popular uprising in Puebla in 1744: when Viceroy Pedro Cebrián y Agustín paid a visit to the local bishop, the bells of the city were rung. This was misunderstood by the population as a sign that the beatification of Palafox had been successful. When the error was cleared up, the people became angry and riots broke out, which the viceroy had put down by military means.

It was not until June 5, 2011 that Pope Benedict XVI spoke to him . blessed.

literature

Web links

Commons : Juan de Palafox y Mendoza  - collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Diego López de Pacheco Cabrera y Bobadilla Viceroy of New Spain
1642 		García Sarmiento de Sotomayor
Gutiérrez Bernardo de Quirós Bishop of Tlaxcala
1639–1653 		Diego Osorio de Escobar
Antonio Valdés Herrera Bishop of Osma
1653–1659 		Nicolás de Madrid
personal data
SURNAME Palafox y Mendoza, Juan de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Tlaxcala and Viceroy of New Spain
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1600
PLACE OF BIRTH Fitero, Navarre , Spain
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1659
Place of death El Burgo de Osma-Ciudad de Osma