Martin Schmid (Jesuit)

Church of San Ignacio de Velasco , Bolivia

Martin Schmid , also Esmid (born September 26, 1694 in Baar ZG ; † March 10, 1772 in Lucerne ) was a Swiss Jesuit , missionary , musician and master builder with main activity in the province of Chiquitos in today's Bolivia .

Life

Map of the Order of Paraguay (1732)

Altar in the Church of San Miguel , Bolivia

Confessional in the church of San Miguel de Velasco, Bolivia in memory of Martin Schmid

Christianized Chiquitos drawn by Alcide d'Orbigny 1831

Front of the Church of San Javier, San Javier (Santa Cruz) , Bolivia

Church of Concepcion (Santa Cruz) , Bolivia

Martin Schmid was born in 1694 in Baar, Canton Zug, into a respected family. He spent his high school at the Jesuit College in Lucerne, which he attended from 1710 to 1716. In 1717 he entered the Jesuit order . He completed his novitiate in Landsberg am Lech , then studied theology in Hall in Tirol and from 1722 in Ingolstadt . After he was ordained a priest in Eichstätt in 1726 , he received permission to travel to Latin America as a missionary. The trip was delayed, however, as he was forced to stay in Seville for a longer period due to the Anglo-Spanish War . He used the time to deepen his knowledge of Spanish. At the same time he helped translate the history of the Chiquitos tribe by Juan Patricio Fernandéz into German.

The journey to South America began at the end of 1728. The crossing via Tenerife to Buenos Aires took more than three months. The missionaries need eight more months to get inland to Potosí / Bolivia . Here Schmid was chosen together with three other Jesuits to proselytize the Chiquitos. He attributes this selection to his musical knowledge. In August 1730 he finally reached the mission area of ​​the Chiquitos.

At the Chiquitos

Schmid spent the first ten years 1730–40 in San Javier . In addition to his work as a pastor, he began to set up a music school. He taught the indigenous people to recreate European musical instruments. In addition, he helped set up various workshops and introduced several crafts. In this way he laid the foundations for later construction activities. In 1744 he sent a first letter from the Jesuit reduction San Rafael to his homeland. In this Schmid built the first of his so-called "jungle churches". In 1749 he returned to San Javier to build a similar church here too. In 1752 he started building the church in Concepción , Bolivia. Under his direction, further structural measures were carried out in the other mission villages of the Chiquitanía . This is how the wood-carved baroque altars were created in San Miguel and San Ignacio de Velasco . The extent to which he or his co-workers were involved in the creation and decoration of the other churches in the ten villages of the Jesuit missions of the Chiquitos is not known with certainty.

Proselytizing methods

When Schmid set out for the mission areas, he had the idea that he would primarily missionize Indians . However, the order provided other missions for him. His main task was to strengthen the already Christianized Indians in their faith and to make their settlements sustainable. The connection to the Christian faith took place through religious instruction and church celebrations. The Jesuit missionaries found that this connection was all the more successful if great emphasis was placed on the organization of the celebrations. For this reason, the music, which is much loved by the locals, was promoted and the church interior was decorated in an impressive way. Church building and music lessons became Schmid's main fields of activity in the first few years. In addition, he was also responsible for the dissemination of handicrafts in his areas of operation. He trained building craftsmen to build churches, and for music lessons he taught the locals to build European musical instruments.

When Schmid was transferred to San Juan Bautista (Santa Cruz) in later years , he was able to participate in the direct missionary work. In a letter to his brother, he described how this was done. From the village of San Juan , around three hundred already Christianized Indians were sent to the primeval forests to seek out indigenous Indians living independently and to persuade them to join the Jesuit reduction. Schmid writes that the sent out villagers actually returned after two months with over a hundred “unbaptized souls”. These were then accompanied to church with music and singing, where Schmid first provided everyone with simple clothes to hide their nakedness. Afterwards, they were served food and all were given small gifts (glass beads, rosaries, knives, scissors, etc.). The next day all children were solemnly baptized. The baptism of the adults had to be delayed because they first had to be taught Christian doctrine.

« The superiors ordered me to introduce music into these missions. All villages now have their organ, many violins and bass violins made of cedar wood, clavicordia, spinets, harps, trumpets, shawms. These Indian boys are accomplished musicians; Every day in the holy masses they pay tribute to the Lord God with their singing and making music. I can say that they could appear with their music in every town and church to your great astonishment . "

From a letter from Schmid in 1744.

return

Schmid spent the last few years in San Miguel and in San Ignacio de Velasco, where, with the support of his brother Johann Mesner (1703–68), he was responsible for the manufacture and gilding of the altars. In San Ignacio in 1767 she received the expulsion order of the Spanish king . The 73-year-old Schmid hoped that because of his age he would not be affected by the eviction. In 1768 he still had to make the arduous return journey. Mules he crossed with other displaced the Andes up to Arica / Chile , from where he by boat across Lima to Panama arrived. Schmid reached Cádiz / Spain via Cartagena (Colombia) and Havana in 1769 . After a 15-month internment in El Puerto de Santa María , Schmid was allowed to leave Spain. He arrived in Augsburg in mid-November 1770 . Schmid returned to his homeland in the spring of 1771. He spent another year at the Jesuit College in Lucerne. He died on March 10, 1772 and was buried in the Jesuit church in Lucerne .

effect

In addition to his work as a missionary, Schmid made a significant contribution to the inculturation of the Chiquitos Indians. With the introduction of European music and instrument making, he had a lasting impact on their musical culture. He should have helped significantly to impart knowledge of craftsmanship and agriculture. With the creation of a dictionary he contributed to the writing and preservation of the Chiquitano language. However, Schmid achieved the most lasting effect with his church buildings and their interior decoration. In 1990 these churches and the churches of his students were included in the UNESCO list of world cultural assets. With his letters he left us a valuable cultural and historical legacy.

Works

• Rainald Fischer: Father Martin Schmid SJ, 1694-1772. His letters and work . Train 1988.
• Dictionary of the Chiquitano Language , La Paz Library (Bolivia).
• Musical compositions in the music archive in Concepción (Bolivia).

literature

• Rainald Fischer: Schmid, Martin. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Eckart Kühne (ed.): Martin Schmid 1694–1772 - Missionary / Musician / Architect - A Jesuit from Switzerland with the Chiquitano Indians in Bolivia , Historical Museum, Zurich 1994
• Eckard Kühne: The mission churches of Chiquitos in the lowlands of Bolivia. Construction and restoration of the churches by Martin Schmid (1694-1772) . Zurich 2008.
• Johannes Meier:  Schmid, Martin. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 153 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Eckart Kühne (ed.): Martin Schmid 1694 to 1772, missionary - musician - architect, a Jesuit from Switzerland with the Chiquitano Indians in Bolivia . Exhibition catalog, Historisches Museum Luzern, Luzern 1994. (Spanish: Las Misiones Jesuíticas de Bolivia. Martin Schmid 1694-1772. Misionero, Músico y Arquitecto entre los Chiquitanos . Catálogo de la Exposición en Sta. Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia 1996).
• Werner Hoffmann: Vida y obra del P. Martin Schmid SJ., 1694-1722 . Buenos Aires 1981.
• Philip Caraman: A Paradise Lost. The Jesuit State in Paraguay ; Munich 1979. ISBN 3-466-42011-3
• Felix Alfred Plattner: Genius in the jungle. The work of the Swiss Abroad Martin Schmid from Baar ; Zurich 1959.
• Felix Alfred Plattner: A traveler of God. The adventurous life of the Swiss Jesuit P. Martin Schmid from Baar ; Lucerne 1944.

Web links

• Publications by and about Martin Schmid (Jesuit) in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library
• Literature by and about Martin Schmid in the catalog of the German National Library
• Martin Schmid at Jesuiten-Online.
• Bernhard Matuschak: Father Schmid's legacy ( Memento from May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: Wiener Zeitung of April 9, 2004.
• Beat Ammann: Social engineering for Indians in Bolivia . In: NZZ from April 2, 2008.
• Delf Bucher: The Jesuit missions in the Bolivian lowlands (PDF; 16 kB). In: NZZ of March 7, 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Book: Edible and pleasant history of the Chiquitos, and other ... newly converted Völcker Vienna 1729.
2. ^ Rainald Fischer: Briefe 1988. P. 70.
3. ↑ The unrestored church built by Schmid in Concepción, Bolivia; recorded before their renovation by Hans Roth (architect) and Eckhart Kühne in the 20th century.
4. ↑ Cf. Daniel Santamaria: The missionary methods of the Jesuits in Chiquitos. In: Kühne 1994. pp. 25-29.
5. ^ Rainald Fischer: Briefe 1988. P. 95f.
6. ^ Letter of September 28, 1761 to Franz Silvan Schmid, Baar. Rainald Fischer: Briefe 1988. pp. 112–119.
7. ↑ The Jesuit Reductions - An Unforgotten Missionary Work ( Memento of the original from August 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 912 kB)