Alonzo de Benavides

1600 (age 64)

the Island of San Miguel, Santa Barbara County, California, United States

Alonzo made his vows in the Franciscan convent in the City of Mexico in 1603 and was afterward made Master of Novices in the monastery of Puebla. In 1621 New Mexico was erected into the "Custodia de la Conversion de San Pablo" and Benavides was appointed Father Custodian. He arrived in New Mexico in the following year, taking with him at royal expense twenty-six or twenty-seven friars. Their work was among the Apaches of the Upper Gila in what is now the southwestern part of New Mexico. Shortly after his arrival in Santa Fé, Benavides began to build a suitable convent and church for the chief town of the province. Before he had presented his now famous Memorial he had initiated mission or convent buildings in no less than ten places. One was at Picuries, among the Tiwas where the natives were at first unfriendly. Another was the mission of San Gerónimo at Taos, among the same people. At 13coma the Queres submitted to indoctrination in 1629 and accepted a missionary. Among the fourteen Pira towns Benavides established missions in 1626 at Pilabo, Senecú, and Sevilleta. In addition to this, and efforts to indoctrinate the Moquis, Benavides, while at Senecú, made a convert of Sanaba, a chief of the Gila Apaches, a circumstance which opened opportunity for missions in the river country. Among the Tiwas he founded on September 17, 1629, a convent and church at Santa Clara de Capoo, a Tiwa town on the edge of the Apache country; it became the center of work in teaching and converting the powerful and warlike Navajo Apaches. The New Mexico missions are believed to have had more than 16, 000 converts. In 1629, it seems, Benavides was relieved of his custodianship and returned to Mexico and in 1630, to Spain, where his Memorial was presented to the king. It is this document that has done the most to keep the name of Benavides alive. It shows him to have been a zealous religious propagandist, of an enthusiastic personality, and of considerable courage and fortitude. The Memorial is entitled, "Memorial which Fray Juan de Santander of the Order of Saint Francis, Commissary-General of the Indies, presents to His Catholic Majesty, the King, Philip IV, Our Lord, made by the Father Fray Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office and Custodian that was of the Provinces and Conversions of New Mexico. In It are Treated the Treasures spiritual and temporal, which the Divine Majesty hath manifested in those Conversions and New Discoveries by means of the Priests of this Seraphic Order. " Its object was to persuade the king to send more missionaries to New Mexico and to erect more churches, and in this it succeeded. The Memorial won great favor, as is evidenced by the translations that were made within the three following years into four languages - French, Dutch, Latin, and German. In 1634 Benavides wrote, at the request of Pope Urban VIII, a revision of the Memorial, a copy of which in his own handwriting and bearing his signature is in the Propaganda Archives in Rome. This revision, having as its object the granting of more extensive privileges and being to an even greater extent than the original Memorial a work of propaganda and promotion, emphasizes the difficulties of the labors and the sufferings of the missionaries, which Benavides with characteristic modesty and self-abnegation had almost ignored in the original Memorial. It is a more interesting work, giving the history of the missions and making the descriptions of the physical aspects of the country incidental to the story of what the missionaries were doing. In 1631 Benavides had written to the Fathers in New Mexico expressing the hope "to go back there to finish my days if He will allow me to do so in the company and service of your Reverences. " Acording to Figueroa in his Bezerro General, Benavides returned to Mexico in 1632, and went to New Mexico again in 1633 or 1634. He states that there is a record of the Mexican province having sent him 100 pesos while there in 1634. Probably in the spring of 1634 Benavides was appointed assistant to the Archbishop of Goa in Portuguese India, and on the death of the latter he succeeded to the office.

Alonzo de Benavides

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clergyman friar

Background

Alonzo de Benavides was born in 1600 on the Island of San Miguel, the son of Pedro Alonzo Nieto and Antonia Murato de Benavides.

Career

Alonzo made his vows in the Franciscan convent in the City of Mexico in 1603 and was afterward made Master of Novices in the monastery of Puebla. In 1621 New Mexico was erected into the "Custodia de la Conversion de San Pablo" and Benavides was appointed Father Custodian. He arrived in New Mexico in the following year, taking with him at royal expense twenty-six or twenty-seven friars. Their work was among the Apaches of the Upper Gila in what is now the southwestern part of New Mexico. Shortly after his arrival in Santa Fé, Benavides began to build a suitable convent and church for the chief town of the province. Before he had presented his now famous Memorial he had initiated mission or convent buildings in no less than ten places. One was at Picuries, among the Tiwas where the natives were at first unfriendly. Another was the mission of San Gerónimo at Taos, among the same people.

At 13coma the Queres submitted to indoctrination in 1629 and accepted a missionary. Among the fourteen Pira towns Benavides established missions in 1626 at Pilabo, Senecú, and Sevilleta. In addition to this, and efforts to indoctrinate the Moquis, Benavides, while at Senecú, made a convert of Sanaba, a chief of the Gila Apaches, a circumstance which opened opportunity for missions in the river country. Among the Tiwas he founded on September 17, 1629, a convent and church at Santa Clara de Capoo, a Tiwa town on the edge of the Apache country; it became the center of work in teaching and converting the powerful and warlike Navajo Apaches. The New Mexico missions are believed to have had more than 16, 000 converts.

In 1629, it seems, Benavides was relieved of his custodianship and returned to Mexico and in 1630, to Spain, where his Memorial was presented to the king. It is this document that has done the most to keep the name of Benavides alive. It shows him to have been a zealous religious propagandist, of an enthusiastic personality, and of considerable courage and fortitude. The Memorial is entitled, "Memorial which Fray Juan de Santander of the Order of Saint Francis, Commissary-General of the Indies, presents to His Catholic Majesty, the King, Philip IV, Our Lord, made by the Father Fray Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office and Custodian that was of the Provinces and Conversions of New Mexico. In It are Treated the Treasures spiritual and temporal, which the Divine Majesty hath manifested in those Conversions and New Discoveries by means of the Priests of this Seraphic Order. " Its object was to persuade the king to send more missionaries to New Mexico and to erect more churches, and in this it succeeded. The Memorial won great favor, as is evidenced by the translations that were made within the three following years into four languages - French, Dutch, Latin, and German.

In 1634 Benavides wrote, at the request of Pope Urban VIII, a revision of the Memorial, a copy of which in his own handwriting and bearing his signature is in the Propaganda Archives in Rome. This revision, having as its object the granting of more extensive privileges and being to an even greater extent than the original Memorial a work of propaganda and promotion, emphasizes the difficulties of the labors and the sufferings of the missionaries, which Benavides with characteristic modesty and self-abnegation had almost ignored in the original Memorial. It is a more interesting work, giving the history of the missions and making the descriptions of the physical aspects of the country incidental to the story of what the missionaries were doing.

In 1631 Benavides had written to the Fathers in New Mexico expressing the hope "to go back there to finish my days if He will allow me to do so in the company and service of your Reverences. " Acording to Figueroa in his Bezerro General, Benavides returned to Mexico in 1632, and went to New Mexico again in 1633 or 1634. He states that there is a record of the Mexican province having sent him 100 pesos while there in 1634. Probably in the spring of 1634 Benavides was appointed assistant to the Archbishop of Goa in Portuguese India, and on the death of the latter he succeeded to the office.

Achievements

Being a Franciscan friar Alonzo de Benavides established missions at Pilabo, Senecú, Sevilleta, Picuries, Taos, and Sanaba. He also wrote the Memorial which was entitled "Memorial which Fray Juan de Santander of the Order of Saint Francis, Commissary-General of the Indies, presents to His Catholic Majesty, the King, Philip IV, Our Lord, made by the Father Fray Alonso de Benavides, Commissary of the Holy Office and Custodian that was of the Provinces and Conversions of New Mexico. In It are Treated the Treasures spiritual and temporal, which the Divine Majesty hath manifested in those Conversions and New Discoveries by means of the Priests of this Seraphic Order. " Later it was translates into four languages - French, Dutch, Latin, and German.

Connections

Father:: Pedro Alonzo Nieto de Benavides
Mother:: Antonia Murato de Benavides

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