Mercedarian Historical Synthesis - Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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MERCEDARIAN LIBRARY VI
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THE ORDER OF BLESSED VIRGIN
MARY OF MERCY
(1218-1992)
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A Historical Synthesis
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Rome 1997
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THE ORDER OF
THE BLESSED VIRGIN
MARY OF MERCY
(1218-1992)
A Historical Synthesis
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Historical Institute
of the Mercedarian Order
Rome 1997
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Presentation
Introduction
!HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS
OF THE ORDER OF MERCY
!1. Captivity in the Thirteenth Century
Captivity as a Social Problem
Captivity as a Political Problem
Captivity as a Religious Problem
Attitude of the Church vis-à-vis Captivity
Attitude of Civil Society vis-à-vis Captivity
Captives’ Paths to Freedom
!2. Saint Peter Nolasco, Founder
Peter Nolasco’s Place and Date of Birth
Peter’s Profile and Work before the Foundation of the Order
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I. IN ITS FIRST CENTURY
(1218-1317)
A Lay Organization
!1. Foundation of the Order
!2. Nature of the Order
!3. Organization of the Order
The Master
The Master’s Lieutenants and Commanders
Lay Brothers and Clerical Brothers
The Donates
The Sisters
The General Chapter
4. Redemptive Activity
Collection of Alms for Redemption
Redemption Fund
Statistics about Redemptions
A Few Redemptions of that Period
Other Works of Mercy
!5. Pontifical Confirmation of the Order
!6. First Foundations of Houses
!7. Saint Peter Nolasco’s Death
!8. Saint Peter Nolasco’s First Successors
Brother Guillermo de Bas (1245-1260)
Brother Bernardo de San Román (1260-1267)
Brother Guillermo de Bas II (1267-1270)
Brother Pedro de Amer (1270-1301)
!9. Brother Pedro de Amer’s Constitutions (1272)
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CONTENTS
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!10. Mercedarian Spirituality
Contents of the Amerian Constitutions
Imitating and Following Jesus Christ the Redeemer
Love and Devotion to the Virgin Mary
Service to the Catholic Faith
Practice of Merciful Charity
!11. Fruits of Sanctity
Martyrs
Saint Raymond Nonnatus
Saint Serapion
Saint Peter Paschasius
Saint Peter Armengol
Saint Mary Cervellon or the Helper
!12. Mary in the Order of Mercy
Origin of the Name of the Order of Mercy
Mary’s Name in the Title of the Order
Images of Mary, Mercedarian Churches and Sanctuaries
Mercedarian Marianism
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II. UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE
EVANGELIZATION OF AMERICA
(1317-1492)
A Clerical Organization
!1. The 1317 General Chapter
Precedents
Chapter Celebration
!2. Father Raimundo Albert’s Constitutions (1327)
Clerical Masters General
Contents of Albert’s Constitutions
!3. The Redemption of Captives
Evolution and Characteristics
Intervention of Popes and Monarchs in Redemption
Redemptions during This Period
!4. Expansion of the Order
Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Spain
France
!5. Regulations and Government of the Order
Masters General of this Period
General Chapters
!6. Cultural and Apostolic Development of the Order
Premises
Consequences in the Area of Culture
Pastoral Activity
Juan Gilabert Jofré and His Social Work
Other Exemplary Religious
8. Cult to the Virgin of Mercy
Expansion of Marian Devotion in the Order
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!III. UNTIL THE TRIDENTINE REFORM
(1491-1574)
Inception of Evangelization
!1. The First Mercedarians in the Americas
!2. Establishment in America
Preliminary General Situation
Santo Domingo, the First Convent of the Americas (1514)
Panama
Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica
Mexico
Venezuela
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Argentina
Chile
!3. Apostolic Work in America
Initial Activity
Defending the Natives
!4. Consolidation of the Order in America
Religious life
Vocations, Formation and Studies
Process of Autonomy of the American Provinces
!5. The Life of the Order in Europe
The Masters General
New Foundations and Residence of the Procurator in Rome
A Difficult Situation in France
Attempted Reforms
The Redemption of Captives
Cultural Activity
6. Fruits of Sanctity
!7. Mercedarian Laity and Mercedarian Nuns
!8. Cult to the Virgin of Mercy and Mercedarian Marianism
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IV. DURING ITS GREATEST FLOURISHING
(1574-1770)
Charismatic and Cultural Growth
!1. Guadalajara General Chapter (1574)
Situation of the Order at the End of the Sixteenth Century
Tridentine Decrees Applied to Structures
Application to the Common State of the Order
Government of the Order and Masters General of this Period
!2. The Redemption of Captives
Acts Related to Redemption
Ways of Collecting Alms and of Carrying Out Redemptions
Contribution of the American Provinces
Some Important Redemptions
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!3. Creation of New Provinces and Vice-Provinces
Other Works of Mercy
In Europe
In America
The Vicars General for America
!4. Religious Formation
Characteristics of the Formation Plans
Mercedarian Colleges
!5. Cultural and University Work
Sacred Sciences
Literature and Other Disciplines
!6. Apostolic Activity
Evangelization of America and the Doctrinas
Popular Missions and Mission Colleges
7. New Evangelization and Configuration of the Order
Father José Linás’ Constitutions (1692)
The Order of Mercy, a Mendicant Order
Situation of the Order at the End of the Eighteenth Century
!9. The Mercedarian Family
Discalced Mercedarians
Mercedarian Nuns
Mercedarian Laity
!10. Cult to the Virgin of Mercy and to the Saints of the Order
The Feast of Mercy in the Church’s Calendar
Liturgy and Saints of the Order
Renowned Sanctuaries and Images
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!V. BETWEEN SUPPRESSIONS AND HOPES
(1770-1880)
Crisis and Survival
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1. New Currents of Thought
!2. Situation and Suppression of the Order of Mercy in France
The Commission of Regulars and the Mercedarians
Negotiations to Resolve the Situation
Suppression of Houses
Definitive Disappearance of the Mercedarians in France
!3. Situation and Suppression in Spain
The Carlist Reform
Napoleonic Suppression and Constitutionalist Reform
Liberal Suppression
Situation of the Exclaustrated
!4. Situation and Suppression in Italy
Situation of the Mercedarians in Italy
Suppression Resulting from the Napoleonic Wars
General Exclaustration
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5. Situation of the Order of Mercy in America
Situation of the American Provinces
The Mercedarians and Pro-Independence Movements
Effects of the New Political Régime
Reform of the Provinces of America
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6. Government of the Order
The Masters General until 1834
The Vicars General from 1834 to 1880
Election of Master General Peter Armengol Valenzuela
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7. Apostolic Activity
The Redemption of Captives
Social Works
Teaching
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8. Fruits of Sanctity
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9. The Mercedarian Family
Missionary Mercedarians of Barcelona
Mercedarian Sisters of Charity
Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy
Mercedarian Laity
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10. Mercedarian Marianism and Cult to the Virgin of Mercy
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!VI. FROM THE RESTORATION IN EUROPE
TO THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
(1880-1965)
New Horizons
!1. Restoration of the Order in Europe
First Steps of the Restoration in Spain
Generalate of Father Peter Armengol Valenzuela
Saint Adriano Convent and its Novitiate
Continuation of the Restoration in Spain
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2. Creation of Provinces and Vice-Provinces
Bolivia Congregation
Vice-Province of Concepción, Chile
Concern for Restoration in Mexico
Sicily Vice-Province and Sardinia Commissariat
Roman Province
The Province of Peru
Father Valenzuela Is Reelected
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3. Father Valenzuela’s Constitutions (1895)
General Congregation of 1893
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Contents of the Constitutions
Complementary Books
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4. Government of the Order
Father Valenzuela’s Last Years
Masters General of this Period
Reform of the Constitutions
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5. Apostolic Activities of the Order
Redemptive Mission
Teaching Ministry
Missions
Prison Ministry
6. Religious Formation and Cultural Development
Religious Formation
Cultural Development
Historical Studies
!7. Expansion of the Order and New Trials
New Foundations and Situation of the Order
Religious Persecution in Mexico
The Spanish Civil War
!9. The Mercedarian Family
Mercedarian Tertiaries of the Child Jesus
Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz
Mercedarian Missionaries Sisters of Brazil
Federation of Sisters of the Order of Mercy
Mercedarian Slaves of the Blessed Sacrament
Mercedarians of the Divine Master
Mercedarian Laity
Confraternities
Knights of Our Lady of Mercy
!10. Cult to the Virgin of Mercy
Spiritual Graces
Crowned Images of Our Lady of Mercy
Mercedarian Basilicas
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VII. FROM THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
TO THE PRESENT
(1966-1992)
Renewal of the Charism
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1. Religious Life in the Council and its Repercussion
in the Order
2. Special General Chapter of 1968-1969
Celebration of the Chapter
Constitutions and Norms ad experimentum of
Father Bernardo Navarro (1970)
!3. Deepening of the Charism and Spirituality of the Order
Appreciation of the Figure of the Founder
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Elements of the Charism and Spirituality of the Order
Manual of Mercedarian Spirituality
!4. The Updated Constitutions of Father
Domingo Acquaro (1986)
Experimentation Period
Extraordinary General Chapter
Contents of the Constitutions
!5. Liturgical Renewal
Rite of Religious Profession
Mercedarian Liturgical Calendar
Mercedarian Masses
Liturgy of the Hours
Ritual of the Order
!6. Different Forms of Government
New Style of Chapters
The Council of Provincials
Provincial Statutes
Provincial Vicariates
Interprovincial Meetings at Various Levels
!7. Formation and Studies
General Plan of Vocations, Formation and Studies
Historical Institute
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8. Initiatives of a Charismatic Nature
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9. The Order’s Response to the Church’s Missionary Call
Religious of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy
Secular Association of Our Lady of Mercy
Attention to Other Members of the Mercedarian Family
Mercedarian Laity
!11. Mary of Mercy or of Liberation
!LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
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PRESENTATION
The manual of the history of the Order, long awaited and yearned for, has become a reality in these past years
thanks to a joint determination and effort. It is presented under the title: The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of
Mercy (1218-1992). A Historical Synthesis.
Among us—Mercedarians—we felt the need for a synthesis of the Order’s history, especially for young
Mercedarians in formation—religious and lay—so that they might be able to approach the great wealth of almost eight
centuries of history, through a book covering the Mercedarian life span and activities and, at the same time, combining
the synthesis and historical rigor with data from remote times and contemporary language. All of that is presented
concisely in view of the book’s addressees: the entire Mercedarian Family and scholars of themes referring to history in
general and to Mercedarian history in particular.
On the occasion of the International Mercedarian Congress in Santiago, Chile, in November 1991, at their own
meeting, the members of the Order’s Historical Institute offered their enthusiastic collaboration to achieve this dream.
After several encounters of the Commission in charge of preparing the work, the project has been successfully
carried out. So today, with delight and profound satisfaction , the work comes to us as one more contribution of the
Order’s Historical Institute.
In a spirit of faith, I join the readers of these pages so that the love for Mary of Mercy and the redemptive
commitment of Saint Peter Nolasco may impel us to know our history better, by projecting ourselves from the present
toward a future marked by a yearning for freedom for all and by concrete gestures of liberation for those who suffer
because of their faith and because of the consequences of the new forms of captivity.
Congratulations and my thanks to all those who have made the publication of this book possible, with the wish
that—to paraphrase what the message of the 1992 General Chapter said—in the next millennium, the Order may be more
incarnated in captives and may more enriched by the works of liberation of all its religious.
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Friar Emilio Aguirre Herrera
Master General
Rome, January 17, 1997
Anniversary of the Confirmation of the Order
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INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this historical synthesis is to draw up broad outlines of the life and activities of the Order of Mercy
over the long span of its existence.
It responds, in the first place, to a didactic demand since it is to serve as a historical text in the formation project
of those who aspire to be Mercedarian religious. It also intends to be a promulgation work for readers who want to know
the many facets of this institution in its trajectory of service to the Church.
The project of elaborating a history of the Order presupposed the prior preparation of the history of each of the
Order’s provinces, including those which no longer exist. Over a few years, especially since the 1974 General Chapter,
there had been discussions about this work and the Secretariate for Spirituality and Investigations of the time conducted a
few meetings during which an overview of the contents was even formulated. However, this plan did not succeed. At the
time of its realization, there emerged serious difficulties which postponed the work indefinitely and which practically
made any program unattainable. The major obstacle came from the fact that the investigation of the various sources had
been carried out at very different levels and the path followed to locate and study them was not uniform. This prevented us
from fixing a date for completing this cherished project. Yet it was still valid and we were all waiting to see these “partial
histories” which could not be left out in writing the general history of the Order.
On the other hand, it became increasingly more imperative to have a synthesis, a manual about the Order’s past, a
manual which would be complete, concise and adapted to our own time. This need was especially evident in the area of
formation and in other situations. Specifically, the first International Mercedarian Congress—Santiago, Chile, 1991—on
“The Mercedarians in America,” guided by a group of mostly lay intellectuals, “conscious of the great need and of the
void that can be seen in the Mercedarian Family, suggested and asked for… the prompt preparation of a manual of the
history of the Order of Mercy.”
At its second meeting in 1991, the Order’s Historical Institute decided to respond positively to this demand: it
assumed the commitment to develop the book of our history and it appointed a drafting commission which prepared to
carry out this assignment. Approved by the Master General, the commission, aware of the complexity of our centuries-old
history, felt the need to elaborate an overview and a work plan with guidelines which would bring unity to the whole and
to follow the most suitable methodological criteria to approach the countless themes which had to be dealt with. In May
1993, the work was distributed among Fathers Juan Devesa—with whom Joaquín Millán would collaborate—Luis
Vázquez, Saúl Peredo, Alfonso Morales, Heriberto Lagos and Antonio Rubino. Later on, Fathers Luis Octavio Proaño and
Miguel Ochoa offered to collaborate with regard to Ecuador and Mexico.
In addition to the investigations that each one had done according to his own expertise, and with Mercedarian
historical sources previously published including works by eminent investigators of the Order; these served as a basis for
this synthesis. The works of Fathers Faustino Gazulla, Guillermo Vázquez were fundamental concerning the origins and
the first centuries and Father Antonio Garí’s work was basic concerning the redemption of captives. The works of Fathers
Peter Nolasco Pérez, Joel Monroy and Bernardino Toledo were indispensable for Mercedarian history in America.
Particular attention has been given to examining the volumes of sources edited by Father Víctor M. Barriga. Analecta
mercedaria, with it rich and varied content, has been very useful and so have the historical works published in the journal
Estudios, as well as the contributions of so many scholars who have written monographs, and historical and doctrinal
commentaries on the Order of Mercy. With reference to this century, the bulletin of the Order has been frequently
consulted.
Each member of the commission, with determination and generosity, has contributed his own work, which when it
was shared, became everyone’s patrimony. Despite a variety of authors, there has been a constant preoccupation to offer a
unified book, filled with harmony and continuity and in a language and style that make its reading agreeable.
Mercedarian history is not presented according to strict periods which would only be tentative but it appears in
seven great periods, each having its own particular and distinctive aspects and quite diverse temporal scope. Starting with
the foundation and the consolidation of the Order, the determining events which delineate and individualize these periods
are the new ideological currents expressed in a profound reformulation of the Constitutions which caused a change of
régime; the restless search for more expeditious ways of fulfilling the redemptive mission or the Mercedarian purpose; the
missionary impulse which opens up new horizons for ministry; the summit, decadence and restoration; the emergence of
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new lifestyles or the creation of new institutions; renewal under the indispensable and secure guidance of the Second
Vatican Council whose teachings impel our constant concern for change within our fidelity to our foundational charism.
In view of most of the readers to whom this book is addressed, we have avoided the use of erudite notes organized
in an exhaustive critical display. However, this does not mean that scientific aspects and rigor have been neglected. For
the same reason, a bibliography has not been included since readers seeking more information may consult the quoted
works in this text, especially in the sixth section.
We hope this book on the history of the Mercedarian Order will not only be informative but also formative
because this is not merely profane history. It is supported by the faith which accompanied the people and encouraged their
deeds and it is made fruitful by the charismatic thrust which led Mercedarians to place themselves at the service of people
subjected to captivity as they were following the example of our founder, Saint Peter Nolasco.
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Friar Saúl Peredo Meza
Director of the Historical Institute
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HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS
OF THE ORDER OF MERCY
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1. CAPTIVITY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
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Between the eighth and the fifteenth centuries, medieval Europe, the champion of Christianity, was in a state of
ongoing war with the expanding Moslem world. The followers of Jesus Christ and his cross were forced to take up arms to
defend Christian people and places before the conquering advance of Mohammed’s disciples. In what they called a holy
war, with their scimitars, Arabs subjugated North Africa, most of Spain, Southern France and they took over Sicily
making the Mediterranean look like a Moslem lake. In Christian lands, in the daily conflicts of this secular struggle,
Saracens plundered all that could be transported: animals, provisions, fabrics, precious metals, money and especially men,
women and children who would be sold for a good price. Privateering and piracy on the Mediterranean sea were
aggressive and violent means used by Moslems to harass their Christian enemies and, above all, to obtain large profits and
easy gains.
For over six hundred years, these constant armed confrontations produced numerous war prisoners on both sides.
These prisoners who all believed in Christ or Allah received the legally acknowledged name of captives as can be seen in
the first law of Title XXIX of Las Siete Partidas of Alfonso X the Learned. Islam’s captives were reduced to the state of
slaves since they were war booty and submitted to the absolute dominion of their Moorish owners. As a result, Christian
captive and Christian slave were synonymous. Such was the sad condition of countless Christians in the Southern
European countries in the thirteenth century.
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Captivity as a Social Problem
! It is obvious that in lands of Visigothic Spain, both Christian and Moslem societies, in reciprocal tolerant and
intolerant deeds had constant skirmishes to reconquer in the case of the former and to keep what they had been conquered
in the case of the latter. Both sides had become accustomed to a sociological situation which appears inhuman and
repugnant to modern people: that is to say, the phenomenon of captivity with forced labor, exchanges, buying and selling
captives. In all the territories under their rule, Saracens used the great contingent of captives to force them to do the most
arduous tasks and they used them as exchange money for their commercial transactions. So much so that when captives
escaped in wars, razzias, privateering and piracy, tenth-century Andalusian merchants formed caravans to cross the
Spanish March established by the Franks to purchase slaves in Eastern Europe. In the thirteenth century, in addition to
spices, slaves constituted one of the goods of the flourishing trade between Christian and Moslem ports.
In thirteenth-century Islamic kingdoms, there was a sizable number of Christian captives in Saracen hands. A
glance at a fact reported by the Arabian historian, Abenalabar, and a letter from James II, king of Aragon, are sufficient to
give an idea of the number of captives in the Moorish taifas (kingdoms) of Majorca and Granada.
Abenalabar relates what happened in 1185, in Majorca where many Christian captives promoted a rebellion which
ended up with the capture of the fortress and with the death of Emir Abdala. In its reference to the same event, the
Cronicón of San Salvador of Marseilles specifies: “In the year 1185, Christians took over the palace of the city of Majorca
and they were liberated from captivity.”
A letter which James II addressed on December 1, 1311, to Pope Clement V, is by itself an eloquent and
authorized testimony of the number of renegades and Christian captives present in those days in the kingdom of Granada:
“Trustworthy people—according to the letter—are saying that in the city of Granada where more than two hundred
thousand people reside, you will not find five hundred native Saracens. They were either Christians or they had a
Christian father, mother, grandfather, grandmother or great grandparents and in the kingdom of Granada, five hundred
thousand renounced their Catholic faith and embraced the Mohammedan sect locally. And we firmly believe that in said
kingdom, there are more than thirty thousand Christians who are wretched captives.”
!Captivity as a Political Problem
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Southern Spain and North Africa, the phenomenon of captivity was always a serious problem and thus also in the
thirteenth century, because of the spectacular development of trade by land and sea between the kingdoms of Castile and
Aragon with Arab countries and because of the need to regulate the accepted fact of captivity by juridical norms.
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The Laws [Códigos] of Christian kingdoms (Las Siete Partidas, El Fuero juzgo and El Fuero real) and the laws of
Moslem countries (the Muhtasar or compendium of Malequita Law and the Koran itself) regulated the different aspects of
captivity: manumission, exchange, the way captives were to be treated, punishments for escapes or attempted escapes,
redeemers and redemption. Regarding the domain of international relations, in the thirteenth century, Christian and
Moslem kings signed commercial treaties, truces and pacts always including explicit references to captives.
The Koran recommended to Allah’s worshipers to treat their slaves well. However, this recommendation for fair
treatment was frequently ignored and violated especially with Christian captives who hurled insults against Mohammed’s
law or attempted to convert a Moslem believer to Christianity. In those cases, such audacity was ordinarily punished by
the death penalty. When Moors found out that some of their captive coreligionists in the power of Christians had been
mistreated, they had Christian captives pay dearly for that as Saracens unleashed the fury of their revenge on Christians
through all kinds of torture.
In the thirteenth century, especially after the battle of the Navas de Tolosa, the policy of commercial treaties,
truces and pacts between Christian and Moslem kingdoms, had favorable repercussions on the rescue of captives.
However, the redemptive mission in that century was not without serious risks both on land and sea due to the
precariousness of these treaties and truces, to bands of uncontrolled bandits who attacked caravans, to pirates and
privateers sailing where they wished and according to their plundering plans, to religious fanaticism and due to the greed
of slaves’ owners and of authorities.
Until the official abolition of slavery, the phenomenon of captivity in Saracens’ hands was a problem without a
political solution because it was one of the firm pillars supporting the economy of Moslem society. Even cities like
Tetuán, practically founded by Moslems who had fled from Spain before the advance of Christian armies, had the sale of
Christians captured at sea or on Spanish coasts as their main source of stable income.
!Captivity as a Religious Problem
! In the thirteenth century, as in all the previous and subsequent centuries, the scourge of captivity was seen from
the Christian perspective as a very serious matter because of the religious implication that such a social evil entailed for
people who professed the only true faith. Without interpretative violence, this is what can be inferred from the definition
of captives by King Alfonso X the Learned. He says they are “those men who fall prisoners into the hands of men from
another faith.”
In the thirteenth century, the real problem of Christians in the power of the Saracens was not persecution or
harassment because of their faith. Normally, this did not occur as demonstrated by the historically proven fact of the
usually peaceful co-existence among Moslem, Christian and Jewish communities in Spain. Neither was it economically
profitable for Saracens to make Christian martyrs since they would lose captives and their possible ransom. In the eyes of
medieval Christian society, the fundamental problem of captivity was neither the loss of freedom nor the physical or moral
sufferings which owners inflicted on their slaves.
The real risk of captivity for a Christian captive in the power of the Saracens was the danger of renouncing the
true faith. Therefore, captivity was basically a religious problem. The very circumstances of captivity were a real, ongoing
and serious temptation for Christians whose faith was not very strong. The lives of Christian captives in Moorish power
were certainly not comfortable because, in addition to their loss of freedom, they were subjected to all the hardships
inherent to slavery: forced labor in construction and in the fields, the infernal torment of rowing in galleys, lack of food,
diseases, dungeons, the conquerors’ scorn, the mistreatment “on purpose in order to obtain a greater ransom from them”
and the tempting offers of the advantages they would have if they converted to Islam. These hardships and the expectation
of a life without problems and even a pleasant life here on earth and after in Allah’s paradise had as their counterpart the
serious danger of renouncing Christian faith as experience confirmed daily and as documents of the time verify.
The words of King James II to Pope Clement V, in 1311, quoted above, capture the real problem of the captivity
of Christians in Saracen hands in stating: “In the kingdom of Granada, five hundred thousand renounced their Catholic
faith and embraced the Mohammedan sect locally.” And the king of Aragon was not exaggerating since he had, at his
disposal, direct information from ransomed captives and from contemporary Mercedarian redeemers.
!Attitude of the Church vis-à-vis Captivity
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Faced with a problem with such fateful consequences as captivity was, the Catholic Church. It could not remain
insensitive and indifferent to the painful reality of many of its children since liberating visits to prisoners are a Gospel
imperative not limited to times or places.
The idea of liberation, recovery or redemption of Christianity’s holy places and of Christians, temples of the most
Holy God, in the power of Moslems, stirred up the conscience of medieval Christianity.
From Urban II and his most immediate successors, Roman Pontiffs fleshed out this idea by creating and
encouraging an impressive redemptive movement called The Crusades which mobilized Christian princes and believers
spurred on by their faith and by the Christian shame of seeing places, lands and countless brothers and sisters under the
dominion and power of the enemies of Jesus Christ.
At the same time, in this atmosphere of Christian fervor and with the Apostolic See’s approval, Military Religious
Orders emerged. Their purpose was to defend the faith and they took up arms to fight infidels. They formed army corps
which were professional, well-supplied, militarily disciplined and most effective in the struggles for the Spanish
Reconquest. The main ones were: Saint John of Jerusalem (1113), the Templars (1119), Calatrava (1158), Saint James
(1170) and Alcántara (1176).
The third and most important liberating institution of the medieval Church was the emergence of Redemptive
Religious Orders. They resolutely placed themselves at the service of the faith, not through arms but rather with the fervor
of charity, with their own wealth and funds obtained from alms. Two orders stand out in this group of redemptive religious
institutions, the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, founded in France by Saint Jean de Matha and the Order of Our Lady of
Mercy founded in Spain by Saint Peter Nolasco.
!Attitude of Civil Society vis-à-vis Captivity
! The civil society of medieval Spain did not turn a deaf ear to the call of human feelings regarding the social
phenomenon of captivity. Cities, towns, guilds and confraternities of fishermen always tried to rescue their fellow
countrymen, neighbors, artisans and brothers who were captives with the special funds they had for this purpose and
through merchants who traded in Moorish lands and, who were occasionally asked to rescue captives.
In the thirteenth century, civil society had official organizations working for the redemption of captives in the
kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. In Aragon, their members were called exeas [scouts] and in Castile, they were called
alfaqueques [officers in charge of ransoming captives or prisoners of war].The exeas of Aragon were leaders of groups
who transported merchandise and cattle to Moorish lands and who were authorized by the king to ransom captives. The
Castilian alfaqueques were “honest men assigned to redeem captives” and they were forbidden from taking any goods not
intended for redemption.
In his second Partida, King Alfonso X the Learned regulated the appointment and the action of alfaqueques
stipulating the following: they had to be chosen by twelve electors designated by the king; they had to be honest, brave
and vigorous men of irreproachable conduct and familiar with the language of the places where they went; they had to
have assets in order to be responsible for the harm which, either through their fault or negligence, might happen to
captives; for safe traveling, they had to bring the document of their appointment and the raised royal banner; they could
not trade with Moors unless such a trade might serve for the ransom of captives.
!Captives’ Paths to Freedom
! To complete the picture of thirteenth-century captivity, we are indicating below the different paths or procedures
that captives followed to recover their lost freedom. These ways can be grouped in two sections: strictly personal
procedures and those in which the Christian community participated through intermediaries. These distinct ways of
recovering freedom are briefly explained.
Escaping. This was the procedure of captives who had lost all hope of being liberated, either because of the high
price of the ransom imposed by their owners or because of the extremely painful conditions of their situation which had
broken their ability to resist and they preferred to risk their lives in trying to recover their freedom by escaping rather than
continue to die slowly as captives. This was obviously the most dangerous way because if the attempt failed, captives
were punished by death unless greed tempered the owners’ indignation.
Apostasy. Good Moslems had the duty to proselytize in order to convert captives to Mohammed’s faith. However,
the missionary fervor of Moslems usually cooled off at the prospect of losing the ransom money since captives who
converted to Islam became, by that very fact, free within Moslem society. In this situation of captivity and in the context
of medieval Christianity, we have more than sufficient motives to doubt the sincerity of a Christian captive’s conversion to
Islam. In fact, the circumstances of captivity more than theological reasons prompted many unfortunate captives, far from
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home and from their people, to look for a liberation which would enable them to shake off, at least temporarily, the
unbearable yoke of a captivity without hope for ransom.
Self-liberation. This was the case of captives who obtained their own freedom by their own means. They were
normally rich, powerful and prominent people who solved the problem of their captivity on their own. This was the case
of Boemondo who arranged his own liberation with his owner, Nur al-Din, in exchange for a large sum of money and for
the freedom of a determined number of Moslem captives.
Exchange. Christian society freed captives in exchange for Moslem captives. This system was frequently
practiced in Spanish border areas during the thirteenth century and even more in the following centuries.
Handing over Hostages. The process of recovering one’s freedom by handing over a relative, a servant or a vassal
as a guarantee of the stipulated price was also used as of the ninth century and it was still in use in the thirteenth century.
Redemption. Starting with the last thirty years of the twelfth century, the most usual procedure for the liberation of
large masses of poor Christian captives was redemption: it involved payment of the ransom in hard cash or in kind,
previously arranged with the captive’s owner through a third party (alfaqueque, exea, religious redeemer). This third
intermediary party acted in the name of the Christian community (family, confraternity, guild, town, city or kingdom) who
voluntarily contributed the amount of the ransom in determined, concrete cases and who generally gave alms for the
redemption of captives.
Finally, manumission or the release of a captive by a free decision of the owner or by a judge’s pronouncement, in
a few cases considered by laws, was also practiced by Moslems although not very generously when dealing with Christian
captives.
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2.
SAINT PETER NOLASCO, FOUNDER
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Peter Nolasco’s Place and Date of Birth
! The first written reference to Saint Peter Nolasco’s birthplace is found in the codex Speculum fratrum (1445) of
the Master General of the Order, Nadal Gaver, a man of outstanding human and ecclesial culture. In its Spanish
translation, the faithfully copied phrase from the codex reads: “certainly as the very holy man, Peter Nolasco of Mas of
Santas Puellas, Saint Paul Diocese, near Barcelona where he had established his residence…” In this phrase from
Speculum fratrum, Mercedarian tradition has understood that Nadal Gaver was referring to Mas Saintes Puelles (Saint
Papoul Diocese), a village located in the Toulouse county in Southern France, between the cities of Carcassone and
Toulouse, in lower Languedoc. In 1446, Father Pedro Cijar said the same thing in his Opusculum tantum quinque. Father
Francisco Zumel, a professor at the University of Salamanca, confirmed the data in his De vitis Patrum. Since then, all
writers, Mercedarian or otherwise, who have dealt with the subject, have always been unanimous in maintaining that it
was Peter Nolasco’s hometown. However, more recently and based more on texts’ interpretations than on reliable sources,
an opinion has come up according to which Peter Nolasco was born in a masía [farmhouse] located in the vicinity of
Barcelona.
As to Peter’s birthdate, there is no reliable exact date. However, taking into account an old codex from which
Francisco Zumel drew enlightening data, according to Canon Pedro Oller’s judgment by arbitration, it seems that Peter
Nolasco was already redeeming captives in the year 1203. From this, it is inferred that, in order to be involved in such an
undertaking in that year, the Founder of the Mercedarians had to have reached a certain mature age and that he had an
enterprising spirit born of the impulse of his youth. This is why it is safe to state, with many trustworthy historians that
Peter Nolasco was born between 1180 and 1182. As Zumel wrote, Peter had lived in Barcelona since his early years.
!Peter’s Profile and Work before the Foundation of the Order
! Presenting the charismatic figure of Peter Nolasco to twenty-first century readers already in the third millennium
is definitely an exciting task because Peter Nolasco appears as a man for today at the crossroads of two centuries: the
century that is ending and closing its doors to past experiences and the coming century opening the doors of the future to
stimulating and new realities.
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For young Peter, the twelfth century was dying with its wars, its institutions, its civil and religious organizations,
its forms of captivity, its anguishes and problems. The thirteenth century was born with an aura of renewal, with
rejuvenating hopes and certain omens of revolutionary novelties in religious, political, social and cultural spheres. Already
in the first twenty years of his life, the fundamental and distinctive aspect of his personality—conveyed by reliable
documentation—is that of a determined youth starting his journey through the thirteenth century on a direct course toward
the liberation of Christian captives because of their faith.
After the Nolasco family had settled in Barcelona, from a very early age, Peter learned the art of trading from his
father, Bernardo. Father Cijar calls Peter Mercator optimus and Gaver himself confirms that Peter Nolasco was a
merchant before he founded the Order. In fact, from the time he reached adulthood, his forthcoming charismatic mission
in the Church and society was already manifest in him. He would keep on being a merchant, except that he would not buy
goods but would instead dedicate his life to purchasing human beings. Peter associated with a few companions who
shared his concerns for captives and as Zumel stated, “after persevering first in praying to God, they dedicated themselves
daily to collecting alms from the pious faithful throughout the Province of Catalonia and the kingdom of Aragon in order
to carry out the holy work of redemption. This was done so that the saintly man and his companions would carry out quite
a few deeds of liberation and redemption… All these things took place in the year 1203.”
Peter Nolasco’s profession as a merchant was very useful to the group of redeemers he led in the first period since
merchants had easy access to Moslem countries. They were known and for centuries, they were almost the only
intermediaries in the settlement of Christian captives in Moorish lands and of Moors in Christian lands. This group of
Peter Nolasco’s companions was solely made up of laymen who, as James II said to Boniface VII in 1301, “had a great
devotion to Christ who redeemed us by his precious blood.” This fitting phrase points to the characteristic note of the
group’s spirituality: their devotion and following Christ the Redeemer. With admirable youthful generosity, they gave up
their own assets and gave away everything for redemption.
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I
IN ITS FIRST CENTURY
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(1218-1317)
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A LAY ORGANIZATION
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1.
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FOUNDATION OF THE ORDER
After fifteen years of admirable mercy in the redemption of Christian captives, Peter Nolasco and his friends were
seeing with concern that, instead of decreasing, day by day the number of captives was growing excessively. Our
determined leader, with a strong personality, clear ideas, a strong faith, a solid and balanced devotion to Christ and to his
Blessed Mother, a compassionate heart, a serene and resolute trust in God, Peter Nolasco did not feel overwhelmed by the
magnitude of the mission undertaken and his own insignificance. In his fervent prayer, he sought divine inspiration to be
able to continue God’s work which he had started. At that point and in these circumstances, during the night of August 1,
1218, a special intervention of Blessed Mary occurred in Peter Nolasco’s life: an amazing Marian experience which
illumined his mind and stirred up his will to transform his group of lay redeemers into a Redemptive Religious Order
which, with the Church’s approbation and the protection of the king of Aragon, would pursue the great work of mercy
which had started.
On the next day, Peter Nolasco went to the royal palace to explain his project to young King James I and his
advisers, the first of whom was the Bishop of Barcelona, don Berenguer de Palou. Peter’s plan, inspired by God through
Mary, was to establish a well-structured and stable Redemptive Religious Order under the patronage of Blessed Mary. The
proposal pleased the king and his advisers since, after the failed attempt by Alfonso II with the Order of the Holy
Redeemer which did not prosper, the noble aspiration of the royal house of Aragon to have its own redemptive order was
becoming a reality.
On August 10, 1218, the new Religious Order for the Redemption of Captives was officially and solemnly
constituted at the main altar erected over Saint Eulalia’s tomb in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Barcelona. Bishop
Berenguer de Palou gave Peter Nolasco and his companions the white habit that they would wear as characteristic of the
Order; he gave them the Rule of Saint Augustine as a norm for their life in common and he gave his authorization for the
sign of his cathedral, the Holy Cross, to be on the habit of the Order. After that, Peter Nolasco and the first Mercedarians
made their religious profession right there before the bishop.
For his part, King James I the Conqueror established the Order as an institution recognized by the civil law of his
kingdom. In the very act of the foundation and as an important rite of the ceremony, the monarch gave the Mercedarian
friars the habit which, in the language of military orders, is the shield with four red stripes over a gold background, that is
to say, the sign of the king himself. Along with the cross of the cathedral, this emblem would form the Order’s own shield.
On that memorable day, James I endowed the Order, of which he considered himself the founder, with the Hospital of
Saint Eulalia which served as the first Mercedarian convent and as a house of welcome for redeemed captives.
In the proem of the first Constitutions of the Mercedarian Order of 1272, three very important elements referring
to the foundation stand out: the name, the founder and the purpose of the Order.
The name with which the Order founded by Peter Nolasco is identified, is mentioned first. Prior to the 1272
Constitutions, the Order had several names among which: Order of Saint Eulalia, Order of the Mercy of Captives, Order
of the Redemption of Captives, Order of Mercy. But the proper and definitive title is: Order of the Virgin Mary of Mercy of
the Redemption of Captives.
Then it is stated that Brother Peter Nolasco has been constituted “servant, messenger, founder and promoter” of
the new Institute. Peter Nolasco is the real founder of the Order or the “Procurator of the alms of captives” as defined on
March 28, 1219, by the first document referring to him after the foundation.
Finally, it is clearly specified that the purpose of the Order is “to visit and to free Christians who are in captivity
and in power of the Saracens or of other enemies of our Law… By this work of mercy… all the brothers of this Order, as
sons of true obedience, must always be gladly disposed to give up their lives, if it is necessary, as Jesus Christ gave up his
for us.”
All these valuable and reliable historical details of the foundation of the Order of Mercy are gathered in the letter
of January 11, 1358, sent by King Peter IV the Ceremonious to Pope Innocent VI and kept to this day in the Archives of
the Aragon Crown, a reliable guarantee of all the Mercedarian history of the first centuries.
The first friars who received the white habit of Holy Mary of Mercy with Peter Nolasco may have been laymen.
Peter Nolasco was not a priest. There is, however, the possibility that on the day of the foundation, there may have been a
priest present to serve as chaplain. From the lieutenants designated by Brother Peter Nolasco, we can make up the list of
those who donned the Mercedarian habit with him on the day of the foundation: Brother Pascual of Perpignan, Brother
Juan de Laers, Brother Bernardo de Corbaria, Brother Guillermo de Bas, Brother Juan de Verdera, Brother Bertrando,
Brother Bernardo de Cassoles and Brother Carbó de Llagostera.
With the solemn and official support of the Church and of the state, Peter Nolasco and his friars, constituted as a
Redemptive Religious Order of lay brothers, gained new energy and, with renewed fervor, they continued their
peregrinations of charity to collect alms for the redemption of captives in Saracen lands.
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2.
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NATURE OF THE ORDER
In trying to specify the nature of the Order of Mercy in relation with other existing religious institutes of common
life approved by the Church, we have to say that it could not be classified as a monastic order of contemplative life along
with the Benedictines, Carthusians, Cistercians and the Premonstratensians because contemplation was not their objective.
It was not a mendicant order of active life like the Franciscans, Augustinians, Dominicans and Carmelites since they
begged from the faithful what they needed for survival in exchange for apostolic services. Neither was the Order of Mercy
a clerical religious redemptive order like the Trinitarians. Instead, according to documentation, it was made up of lay
friars.
The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy was a lay order of active life in common. Its objective was to
defend the faith through the redemption or ransom of those Christians at risk of renouncing it due to the circumstances of
their captivity in the power of the Saracens or of other enemies of the law of Jesus Christ. In looking for similarities to
other Church approved institutions existing in 1218, the Order of Mercy was undoubtedly more like the Military Religious
Orders whose purpose was to defend the faith although through the vow of fighting infidels by force of arms.
Therefore, it should be said that the Order of Mercy was born as a redemptive religious order with a military
character. The similarity of the Order of Mercy to military orders, strictly speaking, is well-known: it was exclusively
made up of lay brothers. It had the shield heraldically formed by the white cross of the Barcelona Cathedral over a red
background and the royal coat of arms of King James I who participated in the foundation. The use of a horse and shoes
for every brother like the Templars. The titles Master for the supreme hierarch of the Order was, at that time, a title only
used by military orders; Lieutenants of the Master as his representatives at different sees and regions; Prior for the
Barcelona superior; Commander [superior] in charge of the ‘encomienda’ or house, these titles were only used by military
orders. The Order was entrusted with the defense and custody of the Rebollet castle, with the obligation of the staticum or
military permanence for its defense. Later, the Order was dispensed from this obligation by a deed authorized in Gandía
on January 2, 1281. The 1272 Mercedarian Constitutions were written with the military orders’ constitutions in mind.
Some provisions are not only inspired by but copied from those of the Knights of Saint James. In a letter of January 4,
1301, to ask Boniface VIII to confirm Arnaldo de Amer as Master General, King James II stated that the orders of
“Hospitallers, Templars, Knights of Calatrava and of Saint James follow a rule similar” to the Mercedarian rule.
The use of force by Mercedarian brothers, without scandalizing Christians or Moors “in the redemption of
captives in the power of pagans and in taking them to Christian lands” is another point of similarity of the Order of Mercy
to military orders. While the latter emphasized waging war against infidels to defend the Catholic faith, the Order of
Mercy tried to save the faith of Christian captives by rescuing them peacefully and force was used only when the defense
of redemption and of the redeemed demanded it. Finally, the recumbent effigies of the sepulchers of two brothers are
preserved, one with a full-length habit and the other with a short habit like that of the military knights.
The letter about this matter sent on May 11, 1303, by the city of Segorbe to Pope Boniface VIII is worthy of note:
“The redemption of captives cannot be carried out by clerical brothers as easily as by laymen due to the impediment of
sacred orders since, in order to redeem Christian captives from the power of pagans and to bring them back to Christian
lands, they have to use force and, at times, they have to engage in dreadful deeds inappropriate for clerics.
3.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ORDER
! In the first century of its existence, the Mercedarian Order had a clear concept of its redemptive mission and it
was organized in terms of said mission.
!The Master
! The Order was governed by a Master as the supreme authority, a position held by Peter Nolasco from 1218 until
his death. It is true that Peter Nolasco preferred less pompous titles. As documents of his time show, he liked to be called
Procurator of the Alms of the Captives, Rector of the Poor of Mercy, Collector and Custodian of the Alms of the Captives,
22!
Commander of the Hospital of the Captives, Administrator of all the Almshouses of the Captives’ Friars. Above all, Peter
wanted to be known as Minister of the Captives’ House.
Nevertheless, in the bull of confirmation of the Order, Pope Gregory IX gave Peter Nolasco the title
corresponding to him as the highest authority of the Redemptive Order of Mercy with a military character.
Peter Nolasco, the first brother and the first Master of the Order, asked the Holy See to decide succession in the
leadership of the Order by election. On April 4, 1245, Pope Innocent IV responded with the bull Religiosam vitam
eligentibus in which he ordered: “When you, the actual Master, die… let no one come forward to govern… other than the
one whom the brothers by common accord or a majority of brothers do elect in accordance with God and the Rule of Saint
Augustine.”
!The Master’s Lieutenants and Commanders
! The lieutenants, also called major commanders, were very important in the government of the Order during the
first century. They represented the Master. In a generous display of decentralization of power, Peter Nolasco granted them
broad powers to proceed with matters pertaining to the Order in sees where Mercedarians were present. The following
men acted as the first Lieutenants—among others—of the Master: Juan de Laers in the Majorca Diocese, Carbó de
Llagostera in the Vic Diocese, Bernardo de Corbaria in the Barcelona Diocese, Guillermo de Bas in the Gerona Diocese,
Bertrando in the Urgel Diocese and, with the title of major commanders, Jaime de Aragon and Brother Castelló in the
Valencia Diocese.
At the head of each house of the Order, also called encomienda, preceptory or bailiwick, authority was exercised
by a brother with the title of Commander. He was appointed by the Master with the consultative vote of the prior and of
his four definitors or counselors.
!Lay Brothers and Clerical Brothers
! During its first hundred years, the Order was a lay religious institute in the sense that lay brothers were governing
at various levels and the charismatic goal of the institute, the redemption of captives, was carried out by lay brothers.
On the other hand, even in Peter Nolasco’s time, the presence of a few clerics and priests is historically
documented. They had received sacred orders in order to be chaplains and to serve the Order’s churches like El Puig de
Santa María donated to Peter Nolasco by James I in 1240. During that year, it was converted into a parish and given to the
Order by the Bishop of Valencia, Ferrer San Martín.
The Master appointed one of these religious priests as Prior General. His exclusive mission was to provide and to
organize spiritual care for all brothers. He had no function in the government and the temporal regulations of the institute.
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!The Donates
! Since the Founder’s time, in addition to lay and clerical brothers, pious lay people were also living in the houses
of the Order. They remained at the service of the community and shared in the Order’s spiritual and temporal goods.
Within a determined period of time, the Order was committed to give them the habit if they asked for it. These people
were the donates or ‘conversi.’ In due time, they also took religious vows like other brothers and they were like today’s
coadjutor brothers.
In summary, therefore, during the hundred years of lay rule, the Order of Mercy had three types of members in its
communities: lay brothers, clerical brothers and donates.
!The Sisters
! It is evident that almost from the start of the Order, there were Mercedarian Sisters who were received by Saint
Peter Nolasco himself. In the deed of the donation made by John of Bayonne in Concentaina on December 5, 1253, it is
stated that the donation is made to Brother Guillermo de Bas, the Master, “ and to the brothers and sisters of the Santa
María de El Puig.” On the other hand, the 1272 Constitutions regulate the admission of sisters into the Order; they include
the deceased sisters in the October 10 anniversary and they are made equal to the brothers in the suffrages to be applied in
the Order for each one of them upon hearing the news of their demise.
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The sisters who were part of the Mercedarian Family in the thirteenth century were women from well-to-do
families, with sufficient means at their disposal to enable them to live conveniently in their own houses. Animated with a
genuine redemptive spirit, they devoted themselves totally to the service of God, the captives, the poor and the sick and
they observed the Rule and the Constitutions of the Order of Mercy inasmuch as it was compatible with their womanhood.
The General Chapter
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The chapter was the representative assembly of the whole Order. It was held every year on the feast of the Holy
Cross, on May 3. The Master summoned it and presided it in the place which he designated and it lasted three days. All
commanders were required to attend along with one brother from their respective houses as representative of that house.
The ordinary general chapter was an administrative and disciplinary assembly with special attention given to preparing the
redemption of captives which was to be carried out in that year. Each Mercedarian general chapter unfolded in three
stages.
The first day was the information stage. Everything referring to the Order’s main goal or the redemption of
captives was dealt with: the amount of the collections, the possibility of undertaking a redemption during that year,
appointing redeemers, where the redemption would take place and the organization of the journey.
The second stage involved the consolidation of the Mercedarian brotherhood and it included: fraternal correction,
sacramental confession of all brothers and the admission of new members into the Order.
The third and last stage dealt with elections. It was the day for naming commanders “with their eyes set on God
alone, the benefit of the Order and on being helpful to captives.”
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4.
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REDEMPTIVE ACTIVITY
On the basis of his own personal experience, the experiences of his companions and with the enlightenment of the
Holy Spirit, Peter Nolasco succeeded in creating an almost perfect method of liberating captives. His greatest achievement
was to have known how to instill in his followers, the agents of redemption, the ideological and concrete principles which
would subjectively prepare them to accomplish redemptive work successfully in such a way that Mercedarian brothers
must “always be gladly disposed to give up their lives, if it is necessary, as Jesus Christ gave up his for us.”
The great novelty which Peter Nolasco introduced into this system was for him and his brothers to stay behind as
hostages in Moorish lands to guarantee the amount of money that had been agreed upon for the ransom of the captives
who had already returned to Christian lands and kingdoms as free people.
!Collection of Alms for Redemption
! By virtue of his profession, every brother became an authentic beggar for redemption. He was assigned part of the
territory close to his house so that only the designated religious would collect alms in that area. In these cases, the houses
or encomiendas were left in the care of the donates.
The alms did not only include cash but also goods and other material means which made redemption possible.
Very early, the Order found an original way of encouraging people’s help for captives. The redeeming brother along with
redeemed captives would travel through cities and towns preaching the next redemption and collecting alms for the
churches. After this was done, the captives had their beards shaved, their hair cut, they were provided with clothes, given
an allowance for the journey and they were dismissed to go back to their lands “in joy and gladness.”
Another way of raising money consisted in strategically placing money boxes, poor boxes and bags in churches,
crossroads, porches (today we would say stock exchange), mills and furnaces.
Peter Nolasco also channeled the collaboration of lay people in alms collecting by using people sensitive to the
problem of captivity. They entered in the service of the Order as volunteers or under contract. They were called collectors
and when they were carrying out their roles, they had to wear white clothes.
Lay Mercedarian associations organized in the Association of the Alms of the Captives were also established by
Peter Nolasco, They were other efficacious collaborators in this difficult redemptive ministry. They cooperated with the
brothers at the Saint Eulalia Hospital and they were an auxiliary, efficient means of collecting alms for redemption. These
associations, forerunners of the present association, were established in the most important cities of the kingdom.
!Redemption Fund
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Since the alms collected varied greatly, the Order created the Redemption Fund with amounts which came from
more stable and more permanent sources. These were the legacies, responses and all the possessions of the Order.
Testamentary legacies for captives were frequent in the thirteenth century even though the amount was not high.
Responses were the fixed quotas which every house of the Order had to give yearly to the redemption fund. This
fixed contribution was arranged by Master Peter Nolasco.
Finally, all the possessions of the Order, as determined by the Founder who had invested all his own and his
companions’ assets in the redemption of captives, were always at the disposal of the poor who needed redemption. This
explains that on more than one occasion, chalices and ciboria of Mercedarian churches were sold in order to redeem
captives in danger of losing their faith.
Naturally, the Order established strict control over all the wealth and the goods assigned to the redemption of
captives and, with severe penalties, it prohibited investing in other things of what had been collected for redemption.
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Statistics about Redemptions
! The redemptive system, conceived and put into practice by Peter Nolasco and the first Mercedarians, must have
worked satisfactorily since it continued to be used in the following centuries. In attempting to count the number of
redemptions and of redeemed captives, very little can be said with total certainty. We should bear in mind that the
thirteenth century brothers of the Order were neither desk people fond of statistics, nor secretaries who documented
everything. Instead, they were redeemers who, prior to going to Moorish lands, had to invest their time in collecting alms
for redemption by covering great distances on foot. As a result, they did not have free time to write records of their
redemptive expeditions. Furthermore, firm believers in divine Providence, medieval redeemers trusted that the statistics of
their redemptions and of the redeemed captives were all kept flawlessly in the Book of Life in Heaven.
The actual count that is more reliably documented indicates that Mercedarian redemptions were very frequent in
the thirteenth century since the main reason for holding a general chapter each year was to organize the annual
redemption. There were years during which it was not possible to carry out redemptions and, on the other hand, there were
other years when, with the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, two redemptions occurred. This enables us to divide up
11,615 captives redeemed from 1218 to 1301 among the governments of the first Masters. It indicates the following result,
not mathematically exact but quite approximate: Peter Nolasco, 3,920 redeemed, Guillermo de Bas, 2,100, Bernardo de
San Román, 980, Guillermo de Bas II, 420 and Pedro de Amer, 4,195.
Here of course the captives redeemed by Peter Nolasco and his companions, prior to the foundation of the Order,
are not taken into account.
!A Few Redemptions of that Period
! The desire to break the captives’ chains continued to inspire Mercedarians with enthusiasm even after the
Founder’s death. To verify this, we are going to relate three redemptions which took place in the years immediately after
Peter’s death.
At the General Chapter held in 1247, in Tarragona, Peter of Saint Denis, a French priest, and Bernardo de Pradas,
a noble Catalan, were appointed redeemers. In that same year, both religious went to Tunis where they ransomed 209
captives. However, since they did not have the money to liberate others in great need of being redeemed, Brother
Bernardo returned to Spain with the former captives while Brother Peter stayed behind in Africa to comfort the
unfortunate and to avoid their renouncing their faith. He accomplished his mission with such enthusiasm and zeal that
infuriated Moslems arrested him, mistreated him and beating him through the whole city, they took him outside the walls
and beheaded him. His body was thrown into a bonfire.
There was a redemption in Tunis in 1253. Appointed redeemers, Brothers Teobaldo of Narbonne, a Frenchman,
and Fernando of Portalegre, from Portugal, embarked in Barcelona and with a safe-conduct, they entered Tunis. There,
after a few days of bargaining, on October 16, they settled the ransom of 129 captives. As soon as they arrived and started
this redemption, two powerful Tunisians had asked the Mercedarians to buy some captives they were holding. Since they
had brought enough money, Brother Teobaldo offered to redeem them. But when they found there were many children,
women, religious, priests and knights to redeem at a very high price, they used up all the money they had collected which
prevented them from fulfilling what they had promised to those Moors. They took it as an affront and an offense and they
decided to take revenge on Brother Teobaldo and they planned a trap. They persuaded a beautiful Moorish girl to
complain to the king of Tunis saying that this Christian man who was so handsome and good-looking had spoken to her
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with a promise of marriage and that he was deceiving and ridiculing her, indicating the two Tunisians as her witnesses.
The woman presented her complaint, the witnesses confirmed it and the king issued a decree to imprison Brother
Teobaldo. The king’s order was carried out and Brother Fernando defended his companion before the king. But the latter
issued the sentence, ordering Tebaldo “to give up his faith in Jesus Christ and to marry the Moorish girl, otherwise he
would be burned alive.” Brother Fernando who was insisting to prove his companion’s innocence was beaten and forced
to embark. He was not even given time to see his companion or to say good-bye. Moreover, afraid of losing the
redemption, with great sorrow before the captives’ tears, he returned to Spain. Brother Teobaldo of Narbonne was burned
alive and since he did not die right away, he was stoned to death at the end of October 1253.
In the redemption carried out in Algiers in 1295, the redeemers were Brother Denis Roneo, a Frenchman, and
Brother Vicente de Prades, a Catalan. They embarked in Barcelona on a ship of Catalan merchants to go to Algiers. “But
once on the open sea, they ran into such a violent storm that they believed they were completely lost” and entrusting
themselves to Saint Mary the Helper who had died a few years before, it pleased God to stop the storm which had lasted
two and a half days. When they thought they were safe, they were attacked by privateers who ambushed them and,
without effort or blood, they seized the ship, the people, clothing and the money. Since it was night, they hurried to
plunder the ship and to share the booty putting the two religious, their clothing, the redemption money and two other
passengers on a skiff to dispose of them later. In their rush, they did not secure the boat which got loose from the vessel’s
mooring ropes. The rising storm pushed the skiff out to sea where it disappeared in the night and the Moors were not able
to prevent this. The next day, they met two Genoese vessels which saved them. The redeemers attributed all of this to
Saint Mary of Cervellon’s protection. The boats had a safe-conduct to go to Algiers and under the Genoese’s safety, the
religious landed and ransomed 97 captives. The Moors thought that the religious did not go there to redeem but that they
were sent by the king of Aragon. The Moors arrested them, put them in jail and sentenced them to death. After a long
verification of the truth, the Moors gave them their freedom and permission to return to Spain without the captives. The
Mercedarians refused and they threatened to come back for their captives with the Catalan and Genoese fleets… After a
thousand hardships, they left Algiers and arrived happily in Barcelona with all their captives.
!Other Works of Mercy
! Since 1203, Saint Peter Nolasco’s charitable work was, without a doubt, the great work of mercy of the
redemption of captives, a work which defined and classified his mission in the Church and in society in the thirteenth
century. However, from 1218 on, the Order of Mercy also practiced all the works of mercy for the sick and the poor whom
they cared for in their houses known by the generic name of Saint Eulalia Hospital.
Pope Innocent IV confirmed the existence of the Order’s social and hospital work in his bull Si iuxta sapientis
sententium issued in Lyons on January 13, 1246, with these words: “thus, as the beloved sons, Master and brothers of the
Saint Eulalia Hospital of the Barcelona Diocese, where they devote themselves to serve God by redeeming captives from
pagan hands, at the same time, they work very hard to help the poor who come from everywhere and the sick in their
need…” These words from the Supreme Pontiff make it very clear that “the poor” whom the Mercedarians looked after
and cared for in the houses of the Saint Eulalia Hospital were not only the ransomed captives but also the poor sick and
poor pilgrims. In other words, all the marginalized people of the time.
On the other hand, in 1255, Alexander IV specifies that although the Master and the brothers of Saint Eulalia
house help poor pilgrims and attend to the needs of the sick, nevertheless they devote themselves “mostly to liberate
captives from the hands of pagans.”
In assuming assistance to the poor, sick and pilgrims— the purpose of the military orders of the time—as his own
work, but not the main work of the Order, Peter Nolasco demonstrated that he had understood the full meaning of
Christian liberation which cannot be limited to liberation from iron chains. It must also include and expand to liberation
from any social situation which put God’s children in prison and in captivity with obvious affront to human dignity. As the
Amerian Constitutions state, in the captives, Peter Nolasco and his brothers recognized the “imprisoned, hungry, thirsty,
naked and homeless” of the Gospel.
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5.
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PONTIFICAL CONFIRMATION OF THE ORDER
In his Barcelona convent, Peter Nolasco was able to receive the great news of the pontifical confirmation of the
Order which he had founded. With the bull Devotionis vestrae, on January 17, 1235, in Perugia, Pope Gregory IX
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canonically incorporated the new Order in the universal Church. For that reason, with its brief text and simple structure,
this bull is especially important for the Order’s history. Some fundamental elements proceed from it.
When the bull was sent, the Order of Mercy already existed as an organized religious institution with its Master
and its brothers living together like the military orders and it was known as the House of Saint Eulalia of Barcelona.
The Order had requested the bull. In fact, it was addressed to the Master, namely to Peter Nolasco and to his
brothers as the response to the plea sent to the pope.
In addition, the bull presupposed that the said religious organization was functioning with the approbation of the
appropriate diocesan authority. If the Roman Pontiff had not had reliable documents to that effect, he would not have
granted the confirmation bull.
Likewise, it presupposed that from its foundation in 1218, the Order of Mercy was following the Rule of Saint
Augustine in what pertained to the organization of life in common. However, it had not yet been officially incorporated in
any of the religious institutions approved by the Church. In fact, at the time, the religious institutions approved by the
Church formed several groups according to the Rule which they observed in keeping with the dispositions of the Fourth
Lateran Council: the group observing the Rule of Saint Basil, the group following the Rule of Saint Augustine, the group
serving under the Rule of Saint Benedict and the group of those who had their own Rules with the approbation of the Holy
See. This bull ratified the addition of the Order of Mercy to the group of religious institutions which observed the Rule of
Saint Augustine.
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6.
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FIRST FOUNDATION OF HOUSES
In Peter Nolasco’s lifetime, the Order has as many as 18 houses. They were the fruit of donations or purchases in
which the founding Patriarch intervened in person or in which his lieutenants who had ample authority intervened.
Chronologically speaking, they are as follows:
Saint Eulalia Hospital of Barcelona (1218), the first house of the first Mercedarian community. It was constructed
in the tenth century by a nobleman, Guitardo, and donated to the Order by King James I.
Saint Eulalia Hospital, a new edifice built along the sea by Raimundo de Plegamans. In 1234, the brothers moved
there. It is considered as the Motherhouse, the beginning and the head of the Order.
Perpignan. The Mercedarian house of the city was established there on a building site received by Brother
Pascual in Peter Nolasco’s name in 1227.
Gerona. On October 25, 1234, Peter Nolasco personally received the donation made by Ferrer and Escalona of
Portello of all their assets. By the same act, the spouses were admitted into the Order as donates.
Palma de Majorca. On January 3, 1235, a lieutenant of Master Nolasco, Juan de Laers received from Beatriz,
Berengario’s widow, some “houses that had belonged to Saracens… to be built up.”
Valencia. After conquering the city of Turia, on October 9, 1238, don James I donated to Peter Nolasco houses in
which a convent was established and a mosque converted by the Mercedarians into a church dedicated to Saint Dominic
of Silos, redeemer of Christian captives.
Tortosa. On November 22, 1239, the bishop of the city, don Ponio and his entire chapter made a donation to
Master Peter Nolasco of a building site where the Mercedarian convent was built outside the city.
El Puig de Santa María. After the Saint Eulalia Hospital, the El Puig of Saint Mary house founded in 1240, by
Peter Nolasco was the most famous of the Order. King James I donated to the Order a few houses, a parcel of land for a
garden and a recently built Gothic church. This was the first parish of the Order. This is the reason why this Mercedarian
community always had a priest to preside over the parish. Peter Nolasco was especially fond of this house since it was
built on the same hill (puig) on which in the year 1237, he had discovered under a bell the Byzantine image of Blessed
Mary, known from that time on as Our Lady of El Puig.
Vic (Barcelona). On January 5, 1239, Brother Pedro de Perra was already established and on May 8, 1240, Brother
Carbó de Llagostera served as Peter Nolasco’s lieutenant.
Sarrion. Donation from James I to Peter Nolasco in 1241.
Denia (Alicante) In 1244, James I donated a few houses in Denia to Peter Nolasco. The Mercedarian house was
established there. According to a disposition by James I, Master Guillermo de Bas entrusted the care of a hospital in the
same town to that particular house.
Narbonne. On October 31, 1244, Peter Nolasco appointed Brother Bernardo de Cadulis as his representative in
that city.
Santa María dels Prats (Tarragona). In 1240, the hermit who was taking care of this solitary church entered the
Order under the name of Brother Raimundo and along with other goods, he gave the church to the Order. The brothers
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built a convent there. This is where Peter Armengol was the superior and where he died at the end of the thirteenth
century.
Arguines. An important donation by Ramón de Morella to Peter Nolasco on March 3, 1245. When the donor,
Ramón de Morella, was received in the Order as a friar in 1251, he donated a hospital that he had built and the Algar
farmstead to the Arguines convent.
San Nicolás de la Manresana. A donation from the chapter of the Church of Solsona to Peter Nolasco and his
lieutenant, Brother Bertrando, on June 8, 1245. In the fifteenth century, this convent received the name of Saint Raymond.
Calatayud (Lérida) and Saragossa are also foundations of Peter Nolasco before 1245.
As we have just seen, even in the saintly Founder’s lifetime, the Order had expanded to the kingdom of Aragon
and Southern France with its 18 houses as indicated in the bull of Pope Innocent IV, Religiosam vitam eligentibus of April
3, 1254. At the time, there were approximately 100 Mercedarians and twice as many by the end of the century.
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7.
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SAINT PETER NOLASCO’S DEATH
Thanks to the discovery of the deed of the Arguines donation in the general Archives of the kingdom of Valencia,
it has been possible to determine the exact date of the death of the Founder of the Order. Because of the importance and
the significance of the obligations that the Order would have to assume by accepting it, the donation deed was taken from
Valencia to Barcelona to be approved by the general chapter which was held every year on the feast of the Holy Cross in
May. The chapter accepted the donation and to signify they were in agreement, all the capitular brothers who were present
added their signatures to the original deed before a notary, Pedro de Cardona. The document, endorsed by the capitulars,
was returned to be duly sealed by the Valencia notary, Bernardo de Locadie who did it with these words: “And this was
sealed without the signature of the aforementioned Brother Peter Nolasco because during the time that the present
document was taken to Barcelona to be signed by him and by the other Brothers and which the aforementioned Master,
Brother Guillermo de Bas, and the other friars signed, Brother Peter Nolasco himself had left this world.”
To this is added the most accurate understanding of the precept of the 1272 Constitutions which orders that “the
anniversary of the first Master of our Order be celebrated on the day after Ascension.” Since in medieval Catalonia and
other European countries—Italy, for example—the Lord’s Ascension was celebrated on a fixed date, May 5th, it is logical
to infer that the founding Patriarch of the Order of Mercy died on May 6, 1245, in Barcelona, in the Order’s Motherhouse
built by the sea by Raimundo de Plegamans.
Peter Nolasco’s venerable body was buried in the church of the Arguines convent. In attendance at the exequies
and at the burial of the first Master were friars who had come to Barcelona to participate in the ordinary general chapter
which was to start, as usual, on May 3. But that year, it could not take place on that day because of Peter Nolasco’s illness
and death. The names of the capitular friars who were present at the death of the first Master and Founder of the Order
were: Guillermo de Bas, Guillermo de San Julián, Juan de Laers, Bernardo Caselles, Bernardo de Corbaria, Berengario de
Cassá, Pedro de Caldes, Poncio de Solans, Arnaldo de Prades, Berenguer de Tona, Ferrer de Gerona, Raimundo de
Montoliú, Pedro de Huesca, Domingo de Ossó and Raimundo de Ullastret.
The humble lay Brother Peter Nolasco was always considered as a faithful imitator of Christ the Redeemer and
thought to be a saint. His veneration quickly spread through all the countries where his spiritual sons were present. To
ratify this universal conviction, the Church canonized him years later.
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8. SAINT PETER NOLASCO’S FIRST SUCCESOR
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Friar Guillermo de Bas (1243-1260)
! After celebrating Saint Peter Nolasco’s funeral rite in the presence of King James I, the bishop, the chapter and
the people of Barcelona, all the friars were summoned to the first elective General Chapter held by the Order of Mercy
according to what was stipulated by Pope Innocent IV in his mentioned bull. This chapter, which elected Guillermo de
Bas as Master General of the Order, took place in Barcelona in the new Saint Eulalia Hospital, on June 12, 1245. After his
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election, the Master elect went to the cathedral with the entire chapter to receive the investiture or official confirmation
from the king and the bishop in front of the main altar. On that same day, after the election of the Founder’s first
successor, the assembly accepted the donation of the Arguines farmstead. It is from that deed that we know about Saint
Peter Nolasco’s death.
Guillermo de Bas was a great man of action for expanding the Order and he was extraordinarily active in the
redemption of captives, in the implantation of the Brotherhood and in his excellent relationships with Popes Innocent IV,
Alexander IV, Urban IV and Clement IV from whom he obtained blessings, encouragement, praises and the protection of
the Holy See for all the houses and possessions of the Order. He also counted on the friendship of King James I who
continued to help the Order with generous donations and notable privileges.
Guillermo founded the following convents: Valencia (convent and church of San Vicente de la Roqueta),
Tarragona, Huesca, Algar, Purganiel (in Montpellier), Seville, Córdoba, El Olivar, Saragossa, Barcelona (Saint Mary
Church), Toulouse (France), Auterive (France), Carcassonne (France), Sessa, Burriana, Játiva, Gandía, Concentaina,
Segorbe, Mula (Murcia), Arjona, Almansa, Vejer de la Frontera, Teruel, Daroca, Rafalinarca and Rafalaceyt. Guillermo
died early in 1260.
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Friar Bernardo de San Román (1260-1267)
! The exact day of his election is not known but it was certainly before May 8, 1260, since on that day, as Master
General, Brother Bernardo received some properties from Gil de Atrosillo as a donation for the house of Santa María de
El Olivar.
This Master is credited with having introduced Mercedarian community life for women. At the Lérida chapter, he
authorized the formation of the first community of Sisters of the Order of Mercy which was established in Barcelona
under the leadership of a noble Catalan lady, Mary of Cervellon, a woman of proven virtues who made her profession in
the Order on March 25, 1265. It should be said that in Saint Peter Nolasco’s day, the sisters or beatas of the Order used to
live in their own homes. They participated in communal ceremonies in the churches of the Order and they were united to
captives, the poor, the sick and pilgrims in charitable services. It was at that point that Master San Román set up the first
convent of Mercedarian religious.
Moreover, the following houses were founded during his government: Molina, Toledo, Montflorite, Murcia,
Lorca, Toulouse (Saint Eulalia Church, outside the city), Villefranche (France), Cuenca and Munébrega (Saragossa).
Bernardo de San Román gave up the supreme government of the Order during the first half of 1267, by his
irrevocable resignation prompted by his sincere humility. On August 1 of the same year, his immediate successor,
Guillermo de Bas II, appointed him superior of Játiva before the city notary, Guillermo Morales.
!Friar Guillermo de Bas II (1267-1270)
! He had the same name as Saint Peter Nolasco’s immediate successor. Both were born in the same town in the
Province of Gerona, San Esteban de Bas. This humble friar, who was the superior in Perpignan when he was elected,
started to add the adjective humble, humilis, to the title Master. In the documents he authored, he always said: “Brother
Guillermo de Bas, humble Master of Saint Eulalia of Barcelona of the Mercy of Captives.”
He founded the Ubeda convent and he purchased a property for a convent in the parish of Santa Eugenia de
Berga.
His responsibilities were ended by his untimely death which occurred before December 1, 1267.
!Friar Pedro de Amer (1271-1301)
! During the foreseen three months period of vacancy, Pedro de Amer was elected Master General. According to a
document of March 8, 1271, he was in charge of the government of the Order at that time.
He is one of the most important Masters General of the Order of Mercy: the first legislator of the Order, the author
of the first Constitutions. He expanded the foundations in Spain and in France and by resorting to the Holy See and to
kings, he was able to defend the Order’s prerogatives in terms of alms collection and the practice of the redemption of
captives.
He had a noteworthy role in promoting the foundations of new convents. The following were founded during his
time: Minorca (Santa María de Esterón, the present sanctuary of Santa María de Montetoro), Ciudadela (Minorca),
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Burgos, Valladolid, Medina del Campo, Aurignac (France), Sangüesa (Navarre), Groín (Calahorra), Fuentidueña, Beja
(Portugal), Soria, Toro, Elche, Orihuela, Almazán and Logroño.
Pedro de Amer governed the Order with admirable wisdom and moderation during the final restless years of the
thirteenth century when Mercedarian clerics started to show that they wanted to change the system of the Order by placing
a cleric in the supreme government of the Order founded by a layman, Saint Peter Nolasco. Loved by God, admired by
people and distinguished in the Order, Pedro de Amer surrendered his soul to his Creator in El Puig on June 8, 1301. His
body lies there in a sarcophagus whose cover represents the recumbent image of a lay friar.
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9. FRIAR PEDRO DE AMER’S CONSTITUTIONS (1272)
! Saint Peter Nolasco did not begin his redemptive work thinking about the Order. He was thinking about captives.
He did not initiate his task by defining his charism or by writing a Rule or Constitutions. First, he redeemed and gathered
a group of friends to redeem even better. He started by redeeming; he did things before speaking or writing about them.
This is why Mercedarian logic begins with action before theory.
Pedro de Amer saw that his religious institute had already achieved a remarkable expansion and that there was a
risk of different and even contradictory interpretations of the dispositions, promulgated by previous Masters, which could
endanger fraternal communion and the efficacy of redemptive action. Thus, with unique insight, he decided to give the
Order a stable code of laws or Constitutions. He wrote the first Constitutions of the Order of Mercy in Catalan and he
presented the text for discussion and approval at the Barcelona General Chapter held on May 1, 1272. The Constitutions
were approved and promulgated. This first Mercedarian code of laws, also called the Amerian Constitutions, is brief, plain
and candid, with categorical, military-like phrasing.
!Contents of the Amerian Constitutions
! The constitutional text is preceded by a Proem and it contains 50 numbers or articles. In this cornerstone of the
laws pertaining to the Order of Mercy, the constitutive elements of the Order are imprinted and set up, an authentic
declaration of principles.
All that constitutes the immutable peculiarity of the Order of Mercy stands out in the Proem which can be defined
as Saint Peter Nolasco’s spiritual testament: its origin by a decision of the Holy Trinity, its name, its founder, its apostolic
goal, its charism to redeem captives, its spirituality based on imitating and following Christ the Redeemer and devotion to
his mother, Mary, who is associated to redemption.
The practical dispositions concerning the life of the Order are already indicated in the text: the form of
government, the norms to regulate communitarian life, the way of practicing fraternal correction and of imposing
penances.
In particular, the text regulates what pertains to redemptions and to the election of redeemers who have to be
moderate in eating and drinking, wise and prudent in buying captives. The text provides norms for conventual life as well
as details about the habit and vestments.
On that subject, it stipulates that the habit should be white and made of wool, the tunic should be round, the breeches or
stockings without pumps and shoes like the Templars’. Friars wear the shield of the Order on their capes and scapulars;
they do not use leather gloves or sharp knives; they sleep with their clothes on, each in his bed; they do not wear tabards
or habits made of Narbonne cloth or any other kind of material except for ‘floch,’ that is to say, wool.
In reference to food, meat may only be eaten on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Mondays, Wednesdays
and Saturdays, friars may eat eggs, cheese or fish; they must fast every Friday of the year, during Lent and from the feast
of All Saints until Christmas. They are not to drink or eat barefoot and without their habits. Guest brothers are to be
welcomed lovingly and treated well.
Once a year, the Master and the Prior General separately visit all the houses of the Order, either in person or
through delegates. The Master must be accompanied by a friar who is a priest so that he can hear the friars’ confessions.
No friar is to travel alone but always with a companion who is a friar. No friar is to be godfather at baptisms or weddings
and no Mercedarian sister is to be a godmother.
Concerning the assets and revenues of the Order, it is prohibited to sell, alienate and pledge them without special
permission from the general chapter. A contract made without a license will be legally null and the friar who made it will
receive a penance of a year in jail and he will never be able to be a superior. The Master General cannot give, sell or trade
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the Order’s assets unless it is for the redemption of captives. In this case, he has to do it with the counsel of the Prior and
of the four definitors of the general chapter.
In terms of the friars’ prayer of the hours, it is established that clerics are to recite the ordinary Office and the
Office of the Virgin Mary daily and, furthermore, when the ordinary Office included three lessons, they had to add the
Office for the dead. As to lay brothers, they had to pray daily the equivalent of the clerics’ canonical hours, or 150 Our
Fathers, the so-called laymen’s Psalter.
In addition to the above, everyone was to add three Our Fathers for the first Master of the Order, three for the
present Master, three for the pope and three more for the king of Aragon and his children. Then, the Constitutions
established suffrages for the deceased brothers and sisters and the anniversaries.
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10.
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MERCEDARIAN SPIRITUALITY
The characteristics of the Mercedarian spirituality, which inspirited the lives and the redemptive work of the first
century friars, is the same as the spirituality which had enlivened the being and doing of Mercedarians in every age. Its
basic elements are:
!Imitating and Following Jesus Christ the Redeemer
! As Redeemer, Jesus Christ is the focus of the Mercedarian spiritual movement. In contemplating Jesus Christ’s
redemptive work and in studying the work of redeeming Christian captives set in motion by Peter Nolasco, the 1272
legislators detected such a similarity between the two that while preserving the infinite distances, they dared to point to
the following aspects found in both.
The two redemptive works, that of Jesus the Redeemer and that of Peter Nolasco the redeemer, proceed from the
“great mercy and compassion of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
The two redemptive works were conceived and carried out for the sake of captives: Jesus’ for the sake “of the
whole human race which was as if in jail, captive, in the power of the devil and of hell” and Peter Nolasco’s for the sake
“of Christians who are in captivity, in the power of the Saracens or other enemies of our Law.”
The two redemptive works are continued in visible and stable institutions: the Church, of which Jesus Christ, “the
servant of Yahweh sent by the Father” is the founder and the promoter and the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy
of which “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit named Brother Peter Nolasco as servant, messenger, founder and
leader.”
The work of Jesus the Redeemer was carried out with the free and active maternal participation of the Virgin
Mary. Nolasco’s redemptive work became possible through the efficacious mediation of Mary, the Co-Redemptress of
humankind.
The work of Jesus the Redeemer found its causal impulse in his merciful love which led him “to lay down his life
for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Peter Nolasco’s redemptive work demands “that all the brothers of this Order, as sons of true
obedience, be always gladly disposed to give up their lives as Jesus Christ gave up his for us.”
Before this passionate vision of Christ the Redeemer, we can understand why the 1272 Constitutions demanded
that before making their profession, novices had to promise to “endure all the austerity and poverty of the Order, out of
love for Jesus Christ, throughout their entire lives.”
!Love and Devotion to the Virgin Mary
! The first Mercedarians always held the firm conviction that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redeemer,
had intervened in a direct and efficacious way in the foundation of the Order. This is why they called her Mother and
Foundress. They firmly believed that just as the Holy Trinity had used Mary, the servant of the Lord, to introduce the
Redeemer Jesus into the prison of this world, the Holy Trinity also sought to use such a faithful intermediary to send Peter
Nolasco and his brothers to Moslem prisons. At the beginning of the Constitutions, the 1272 Mercedarian legislators
acknowledged their faith in the divine motherhood of Mary, in her perpetual virginity, in her coredemptive mediation and
in her final glorification as they proclaimed her Glorious.
In the promulgation decree, Master Pedro de Amer states that the Constitutions are established “in honor of God
and of the Virgin, his Mother.” Furthermore, in legalizing the Order’s title, he established that Mary’s name be included
first: Order of the Virgin Mary… He ordered that on the first day of the general chapter “the solemn Mass of Holy Mary be
sung.” He imposed on all religious clerics the obligation to recite daily, in addition to the ordinary office, the office of
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Saint Mary and he ordered lay brothers to pray a determined number of Our Fathers in lieu of that office and therefore, in
honor of Saint Mary.
!Service to the Catholic Faith
! Considering the need of faith for eternal salvation, Mercedarians have always understood the redemption of
captives as a permanent service for the faith of those Christians who were most in danger of denying Jesus Christ and, as a
result, in danger of losing their souls.
The Amerian Constitutions state that the brothers profess “their faith in Jesus Christ.” And when the constitutional
text asks all brothers to “be always gladly disposed to give up their lives, if it is necessary, as Jesus Christ gave up his for
us,” it is indicating to the Mercedarian redeemer that if he should see the need to liberate one or several captives to avert
the danger of their denying their faith, then by virtue of his profession in this Order, he had the obligation to surrender
himself for the captive or captives as Jesus Christ gave himself up for us. The unique criterion which Mercedarian
redeemers must follow in selecting the captives in whose place they have to stay behind as hostages and give up their
lives, is the real danger of denying their faith.
With their sober and direct style, the first Mercedarian Constitutions are a passionate call in defense of the
Christian faith of the captives, the oppressed and the marginalized. Mercedarians will not defend the faith by destroying
the enemies of the Law of Christ but instead, by gladly and generously giving up their freedom and their lives for
oppressed and oppressors if it should be necessary for the eternal salvation of both. This apostolic heroism was the reason
why, in his bull Quoniam ut ait Apostolus, addressed to all faithful Christians, with enthusiasm and emotion, Pope
Alexander IV wrote that the Mercedarians were “at this time of grace, the new Maccabees who, forsaking all they had, did
not hesitate to surrender themselves for the sake of their captive brothers.” The bull was sent from Naples on April 9,
1255, when Guillermo de Bas was Master General.
!Practice of Merciful Charity
! According to the Amerian Constitutions, the fundamental facet of Mercedarian spirituality is born of the infinite
love of “God the Father who, in his great mercy, sent Jesus Christ, his Son into this world” and “the most Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with great mercy and compassion, decided to found and establish this Order.”
Mercedarian spirituality, which proceeds from the Holy Trinity, is aptly called the Order of Mercy of the
Redemption of Captives. And the redemption of captives is considered as a work of great mercy.
The passion for freedom creates in Mercedarians the mystique of the liberation of those brothers and sisters who
are in the power of the enemies of the faith. The first Mercedarian Constitutions insist repeatedly on affirming that the
mission or goal of the Institute is to visit and to free Christians who are in the power of the Saracens or other enemies of
the faith. In order to liberate Christian captives, this mystique encourages the use of every licit recourse, including the one
inspired by the greatest charity: Giving one’s own freedom and life!
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11.
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FRUITS OF SANCTITY
This Mercedarian spirituality, intensely lived day after day in the convents of the Order, produced extraordinary
fruits of quiet sanctity and heroic deeds of martyrdom ever since the beginning.
The redemption of captives in Moorish lands was constantly placing Mercedarian redeemers in imminent
situations of total communion with the sufferings of Christ the Redeemer.
Saint Peter Nolasco categorically forbade the use of the funds of the Order for anything other than the liberation
of Christian captives. Faithful to their Founder’s precept, the Order of Mercy never toiled or spent its wealth in canonizing
its saints. And Mercedarian martyrs alone are too numerous to count! The canonized Mercedarian saints were first
acclaimed as saints by Christians. Only later did the Apostolic See officially elevate them to the altars.
!Martyrs
! Dangers were lying in ambush on land and sea. Mediterranean crossings claimed a high share of redemptive
brothers’ lives.
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Yet, the hardships endured by the redemptive brothers in Saracen lands were more numerous and greater. In the
words of a chronicle of the time, “many times, they are slapped, stoned, beaten, wounded by sword, spat upon, dragged
through the streets and the mud and finished off as martyrs.”
At the time of the important 1317 chapter, the white habit of Holy Mary had already been reddened by the blood
of numerous martyrs. The best known are:
Raimundo de Blanes, protomartyr of the Order. He was beheaded in Granada in 1235; Diego de Soto, from
Toledo, the second martyr of the Order, died near Granada in 1237; Guillermo de San Leonardo and Raimundo de San
Victor, two Frenchmen martyred in Mula (Murcia) in 1242; Fernando Pérez from Castile and Luis Blanch from Aragon
were captured by pirates in 1250 and thrown into the sea with stones tied to their necks; in 1251, when he was sailing to
Algiers, Fernando de Portalegre, a Castilian, was seized by Moslem pirates who hanged him from the ship’s mast and shot
him with arrows. His companion of redemption, Eleuterio de Platea was cruelly whipped and finally run through with a
sword. Both bodies were thrown into the sea. Teobaldo of Narbonne, thrown alive in a bonfire, burned to death in Algiers
in 1253; Guillermo of Sagiano, an Italian, was stoned and burned alive in Algiers in 1270; Pedro Camín, a Frenchman,
was martyred on the coast of Africa in 1284; Matías Marcos from Toulouse was hurled from the top of a tower of a castle
in ruins in Tunis in 1293; Antonio Valecio from Liguria, a 60-year old redeemer was stoned to death by kids in Tunis in
1293; Luis Gallo stayed behind as a hostage in Morocco and he was burned alive in 1268; Guillermo Novelli, also known
as Florentine Guillermo because he was born in Florence, was martyred in Algiers in 1306; Pedro de San Hermes was
cruelly martyred in Almería in 1309; after achieving a redemption, two Catalans, Jaime and Adolfo, were both murdered
and the captives were sent back to their dungeons in Tunis in 1314; Alejandro from Sicily was burned alive in front of the
palace of King Muley Mahomet in order to entertain the people of Tunis in 1317.
Quite often, Moslems did not honor the safe-conducts that they themselves had issued. Beyond the shadow of a
doubt, Peter Nolasco and his brothers experienced in person and ahead of time the cruelties of what is now called Moslem
fundamentalism.
!Saint Raymond Nonnatus
! Raymond, universally known as Nonnatus or not born due to his atypical birth, is the Mercedarian saint who
achieved the greatest popularity among Christians in the places, kingdoms and nations where Mercedarians became
established.
According to the most reliable Mercedarian tradition, Saint Raymond was born in the town of Portello, situated in
the Segarra region of the Province of Lérida at the dawn of the thirteenth century. He was given the surname of Nonnatus
or not born because he came into the world through an inspired and urgent incision which the Viscount of Cardona made
with a dagger in the abdomen of the dead mother. In his adolescence and early youth, Raymond devoted himself to
pasturing a flock of sheep in the vicinity of a Romanesque hermitage dedicated to Saint Nicholas where an image of the
Virgin Mary was venerated. His devotion to the Holy Mother of Jesus started there.
He joined the Order of Mercy at a very early age. Father Francisco Zumel relates that young Raymond was a
“student of the watchful first brother and Master of the Order, Peter Nolasco.” Therefore, Raymond was a redeemer of
captives in Moorish lands. In a redemption which took place in Algiers, they had to stay behind as hostages. It was then
that he endured the torment of having his lips sealed with an iron padlock to prevent him from addressing consoling words
to Christian captives and from preaching the liberating good news of the Gospel. After he had been rescued by his
Mercedarian brothers, Pope Gregory IX appointed him Cardinal of the Church of San Eustaquio. Summoned by the
Supreme Pontiff, Raymond was on his way to Rome when he met death in the strong and rocky castle of Cardona in 1240.
The Order of Mercy, the viscount and the city of Cardona were all arguing over his dead body, and where it should be
buried, it was entrusted to Divine Providence on the harness of a blind mule. Without anyone leading it, the mule
accompanied by a crowd trotted to Saint Nicholas hermitage where the venerable body was buried.
!Saint Serapion
! Irish by birth, Serapion was born around 1179. He enlisted as a soldier in the army of his king, Richard the Lion-
Hearted, and later in the company of the Duke of Austria, Leopold VI the Glorious, he enlisted in his squadron to go to
Spain to help the Christian army of Alfonso VIII who was fighting Moslems. Once he was in Spain, Serapion decided to
stay in the service of the king of Castile to continue fighting to defend the Catholic faith. There, he had the opportunity to
meet Peter Nolasco and his brothers who dedicated themselves to the defense of the same faith except that they were not
fighting against the Moors. Instead, they were freeing Christian captives from the power of the Moors and they pledged
their own lives in this endeavor.
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In 1222, Serapion requested and received the Mercedarian habit. He carried out several redemptions. In the last
one which he carried out with his redeeming companion Berenguer de Bañeres, Serapion had to remain as a hostage for
some captives in danger of renouncing their faith. The other redeemer traveled quickly to Barcelona to look for the
ransom money. Peter Nolasco, who was in Montpellier at the time, wrote an urgent letter to his lieutenant Guillermo de
Bas asking him to notify all the monasteries to collect alms and to send them immediately to Algiers. But the money for
the ransom did not arrive at the stipulated time and the disappointed Moors inflicted an atrocious death on Serapion. They
nailed him on an X-shaped cross, like Saint Andrew’s cross and they savagely dismembered him. The barbarian and cruel
King of Algiers, Selín Benimarin, was the one who gave the Church and the Mercedarian Order this saintly martyr on
November 14, 1240.
!Saint Peter Paschasius
! The son of devout Mozarabs, Peter Paschasius was born in Valencia in 1227. Peter Nolasco and his brothers knew
young Peter’s family and they stayed at their house near the Gate of Valldigna when they were on their way to a
redemption. Peter Paschasius started his ecclesiastical career in his native city and he completed his studies at the
University of Paris. Upon returning to Valencia, he was honored with the post of canon of the cathedral church.
Soon after, he left his post to join the Order of Mercy and he received the habit in the Valencia Cathedral at the
hands of Arnaldo of Carcassonne in 1250. He traveled to Rome in 1296 and Pope Boniface VIII appointed him bishop of
Jaén. On February 20, 1296, he was consecrated by Cardinal Mateo de Acquasparta in Saint Bartholomew’s chapel of the
island on the Tiber. Later, when he was making a pastoral visit to his Jaén Diocese, he was attacked and taken captive to
Granada by the Moors of that kingdom. While in jail, he wrote in Provençal: Dispute of the Bishop of Jaén with the Jews
and Refutation of the Mohammedan Sect, two very interesting works with apologetic content to provide Christian captives
with arguments against the proselytizing sermons of the Jews and Moslems. Peter also wrote: The Book of Gamaliel
dealing with Christ’s passion and death, The Destruction of Jerusalem, Treatise against Moslem Fatalism, The Gloss on
the Pater Noster and The Gloss on the Ten Commandments.
This learned Mercedarian doctor has the honor of having publicly defended the Immaculate Conception of the
Virgin Mary in Paris and in his work, Life of Lazarus, written in 1295, long before any other Western theologian.
Several times, his fellow redeemers sent him the ransom money but Peter preferred to have other captives recover
their freedom instead of him. The fifty years he had been wearing the Mercedarian habit had left a Mercedarian imprint on
his soul. On December 6, 1300, while he was still wearing the vestments he had used to celebrate Mass, he was beheaded
in his dungeon. He was buried in the place where the prison was and where he died. Christians called this place, Martyrs’
Hill. Peter’s written works constitute a valuable legacy of the Order of Mercy. Some Mercedarian writers like Manuel
Mariano Ribera, 1720, Juan Interián de Ayala, 1721 and Peter Armengol Valenzuela, 1901, have defended the religious
status and the Mercedarian profession of this distinguished bishop of Jaén. His works were compiled and published by
Fathers Bartolomé de Anento, 1676 and Peter Armengol Valenzuela, 1905-1908.
!Saint Peter Armengol
! Related to the Counts of Urgel, Peter Armengol was born in Guardia dels Prats (Tarragona) in the middle of the
thirteenth century. He spent his childhood and adolescence in a quiet family atmosphere of honesty. But having barely
reached the threshold of youth, Peter was drawn by bad company to the abyss of dissolute and criminal life of a bandit. In
an encounter of armed people sent by James I to rid the area through which the royal suite was to travel of evildoers, with
his sword in his hand, libertine Peter Armengol found himself face to face with his own father, Arnaldo. This providential
circumstance made Peter lay down his weapons before his progenitor, ask for his pardon and, with iron will, decide to
change his life. His father’s prestige saved his son from the deserved punishment and Peter Armengol badgered the
Mercedarian friars to accept him in the Order since he wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to the work of mercy of the
redemption of captives so that the Lord would use his infinite mercy with him.
After he was received in the Order, Peter was able to go twice to Moorish lands to carry out the ministry of
redemption. On his second trip in 1266, he remained as a hostage for captives in Bejaïa. He had stayed behind as a pledge
but the money for the ransom did not arrive in time and he was hanged from the gallows. However, thanks to Mary’s
singular protection, he was not hurt. The day after the hanging, when Brother Guillermo of Florence arrived with the
money agreed upon, he found Peter alive. As a result of his ordeal, he had a twisted neck for the rest of his life. Upon
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returning to Spain, for almost forty years, Peter lived in seclusion in the convent of Santa María dels Prats where he died a
holy death in 1304.
!Saint Mary Cervellon or the Helper
! The first Mercedarian sister from the noble family of Cervellon was born in Barcelona, on Moncada Street, on
December 1, 1230. She was baptized on December 8, on the ancient sarcophagus of the protomartyr of Barcelona, Saint
Eulalia, which was used as the baptismal font of Santa María del Mar parish. Immersed in the aura of charity created by
the brothers-redeemers of captives in her native city, young Mary felt attracted by their liberating commitment and she
became the consolation of the poor, the sick and captives in Saint Eulalia Hospital. There, she met the first great figures of
the Mercedarian Order who were gathered around Peter Nolasco.
She requested the white Mercedarian habit and she made her religious profession on May 25, 1265, as a sister of
the Order at the hands of Brother Bernardo de Corbaria, promising to work for the redemption of captives. With her,
young ladies from prominent families formed a community: Sisters Eulalia Piños, Isabel Berti and María de Requesens
soon to be joined by Sister Colagia.
Mary is also known by the surname of Socós, Socorro or the Helper. This is because during her life and after her
death, on several occasions, Sister Mary was seen on the wings of the wind helping the redemption ships pounded by the
rough sea. Mary died on September 19, 1290. Her mortal remains were buried in the church of the Mercedarian friars of
Barcelona, today the Mercedarian basilica. Her uncorrupted body reposes on the first altar to the right. Ever since the
thirteenth century, Mary was considered as a saint. She has been invoked as the patroness of sailors and she has her parish
church in Barceloneta, that is Barcelona’s port.
!!
12. MARY IN THE ORDER OF MERCY
!Origin of the Name of the Order of Mercy
! In the thirteenth century, the term mercy was synonymous with the corporal work of mercy by antonomasia,
namely, the work of redeeming captives. Thus, for example, the houses of the Order of Saint James, usually involved in
the redemption of captives, are called houses of mercy in medieval documents.
On April 29, 1249, the friars obtained permission from the Bishop of Barcelona, Pedro de Centelles, to erect a
church dedicated to Saint Mary in the Saint Eulalia House-Hospital built by the sea. In their love of brevity, the people of
Barcelona simply started to call the house of the Mercedarian friars the house of the Order of Mercy and even more
simply, The Mercy. As a result, the image of Saint Mary, venerated by everyone in the new church of the Barcelona’s
Mercedarian house, began to be known as Saint Mary of Mercy. The cult to Mary under the title of Mercy began in that
church and from there, it spread to all the churches where the Mercedarians became established. From then on, all the
churches to be built would either be dedicated to their Foundress, the Virgin of Mercy or they would have one of their
altars dedicated to her.
From the beginning, in honor of Saint Mary of Mercy, the Order celebrated the following rites:
Giving Saint Mary’s habit to all new friars and brothers. Postulants were asked: “Do you wish to receive Saint
Mary’s habit?” to which they responded: “I do.”
The daily Office of Saint Mary, obligatory for all clerics and a corresponding office for lay people.
The Saturday Mass and the Salve. Saint Peter Nolasco himself probably introduced in the Order the beautiful
custom of the Mass of Saint Mary and the singing of the Salve in her honor on Saturdays. It is a fact that in 1307,
Galcerán de Miralles donated three pounds of wax to the church of Santa María de Bell-lloch so that, every Saturday, it
would have a lighted candle during the celebration of the Mass of the Virgin and the singing of the Salve.
Acts of immemorial Marian custom which may well have started in Saint Peter Nolasco’s time were: the farewell
to redeemers about to leave for Moorish lands, an act which took place in front of the main altar of the church and, on
their return, the procession of redeemers and redeemed with their banners to the Mercy church to give thanks to the
heavenly Protectress for her protection in the vicissitudes of the redemption.
!Mary’s Name in the Title of the Order
! As we have already said, at the beginning, one of the titles used to refer to the Institute founded by Saint Peter
Nolasco was Order of Mercy or of the ‘misericordia’ of captives. Mary’s name was added very early to this title.
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The first time that Mary’s name is found in a document in the title of the Order is in the bull Prout Scriptura
testatur of Pope Alexander IV, issued on May 3, 1258, in Perugia. Writing to archbishops, bishops, abbots, etc., to inform
them of the spiritual graces and the faculties granted to the Mercedarians because of their beneficent work for the sake of
captives, the pope states: “Considering that the Master and the friars of Blessed Mary of Mercy, also called of Saint
Eulalia… work with all their power…” As the pope joins the name of Mary to the term mercy, we have the denomination
Blessed Mary of Mercy as part of the Order’s title. From the context of the bull, it can be inferred that the name of Mary
of Mercy was already known. One should not assume that the pope would have used the name of Mary without any
motive or that he imposed it by his authority. Furthermore, the pope did not send the bull directly to the friars of the Order.
The logical explanation must be sought in the interdependence between the Blessed Virgin and the Order dedicated to the
redemption of captives. Mercedarians were convinced that the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, intervened directly in the
Order’s foundation. Consequently, the legislators of the 1272 Constitutions made Mary’s name official in the title by
calling the Order: Order of the Virgin Mary of Mercy of the Redemption of Captives of Saint Eulalia.
Because of this belief, the name of the first Master, Peter Nolasco, never appears in the Order’s title in thirteenth
century documents so that the glory and honor of the foundation would be attributed to the celestial lady, the messenger of
the Trinity, whom the Mercedarian Order considers as its Foundress and Mother. Since the Mercedarian historian, Nadal
Gaver (1445), this presence of Mary has been concretized in the account of the Virgin Mary’s apparition to Saint Peter
Nolasco, ordering him because it was God’s will, to establish in her honor an Order committed to the redemption of
captives.
!Images of Mary, Mercedarian Churches and Sanctuaries
! Ever since the beginning, there were always images of Mary of Mercy in all the houses of the Order. The first one
was a white marble sculpture of the Virgin seated with the Child. Saint Peter Nolasco had it done and it is kept now in the
museum of the Barcelona Cathedral. Because the sculpture was too small for the church which was expanding, it was
replaced in the fifteenth century by another one done by Bernardo Roca, the cathedral’s sculptor, according to a contract
of September 13, 1361, between said artist and the prior of Barcelona, Brother Bonanato de Prixana. As patroness of
Barcelona, this is the sculpture which now presides at the main altar of the Mercy Basilica in that city.
In addition to the veneration and cult to Mary of Mercy, during the first century of the Order, Peter Nolasco and
his brothers had a special predilection for the churches in which Mary was honored, either because they were entrusted
with existing churches where Mary was honored or because the Order built them and dedicated places of worship to Mary.
The first and most remarkable Marian sanctuary of the Order of Mercy in the thirteenth century was that of Santa María
de El Puig, Valencia.
Other churches are also dedicated to the Virgin: Santa María dels Prats (Tarragona), Santa María de Sarrión
(Teruel), Santa María de Arguines (Castellón), Santa María de El Olivar (Estercuel), Santa María de Acosta (Huesca),
Santa María de Montflorite (Huesca), Santa María de Perpignan (France) and Santa María de El Puig or Montetoro, a
Marian sanctuary on the island of Minorca.
!Mercedarian Marianism
! Beyond the shadow of a doubt, the Order was born, expanded and operated in an atmosphere overflowing with
love and veneration for Mary, ever Virgin.
Without the intervention, the presence and the solicitous care of the Heavenly Queen and Mother, it would be
impossible to provide an adequate explanation for the following: the Order’s origin, the attraction that the churches
dedicated to Saint Mary exercised on Peter Nolasco and on his immediate followers, the idea to consecrate and dedicate to
Saint Mary the church of the Barcelona house, head and foundation of the Order, since it was known then as House,
Hospital and Order of Saint Eulalia, the persistent determination to introduce the holy name of Mary in the Order’s title
after having tried and used other names, or how an Order with a few brothers and a military character, founded by a
layman for the redemption of captives, was able to introduce a new Marian title in the Church, that is, the name of Saint
Mary of Mercy.
A proof of this Marianism in the Order, from the beginning, is that all the donations for redemption were made in
Mary’s name. Many existing documents of donations, made by benefactors to the Order for redemptions, specify a Marian
motivation. On October 25, 1234, Ferrer of Portello and his wife Escalona offered their possessions to Peter Nolasco for
the redemption of captives “for the glory of God and of the Virgin Mary and for the good of their souls.” Likewise, on
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March 3, 1245, when Ramón de Morella donated the Arguines hospital to Peter Nolasco, he did it “in honor of Our Lord
Jesus Christ and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother.” On May 15, 1300, King James II granted a benefice to the
Order “out of reverence for the Virgin Mary.”
If people were giving these alms to honor Mary, it means that the religious were requesting them in her name.
They could not have done that if they had not been convinced of a special intervention of Mary in the foundation of the
Order.
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II
UNTIL THE BEGINNING
OF THE EVANGELIZATION OF AMERICA
!
(1317-1492)
!
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A CLERICAL ORGANIZATION
! !
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1. THE 1317 GENERAL CHAPTER
!Precedents
! The death of Master Pedro de Amer on June 8, 1301, signaled the close of a charismatic, authentic period of the
Order of Mercy that had been marked by the personality of Peter Nolasco and his disciples. At that time, innovative trends
were appearing. The first Mercedarian crisis was not, as it has sometimes been claimed, a mere struggle between laymen
and clerics. It was rather the temptation of modernity.
On September 29, 1301, the El Puig chapter elected Arnaldo de Amer as Master General. He was a lay brother
who had the support of King James II who wrote a historical letter to Pope Boniface VIII in January 1302. The king was
asserting that the most numerous and most solid group of friars had voted for Brother Arnaldo. However, a group of
innovators ignored that election and chose a priest, Pedro Fornica, as the anti-master. He died in March 1302. The solution
seemed heaven-sent but Prior Guillermo de Issona and his followers gathered in Barcelona and they elected Father
Raimundo Albert on June 15, 1302. And so, the Order continued with two sectors as if they were two different institutes
until February 12, 1308. Perhaps in an unjust move, Pope Clement V intervened. He canceled both elections, appointed a
lay friar, Arnaldo Rosiñol, as the Master and conferred to Raimundo Albert all power over spiritual matters.
!Chapter Celebration
! In the early morning of May 3, 1317, Arnaldo Rosiñol died unexpectedly in Valencia. The yearly chapter was
going to start on that morning. The prior, four definitors and quite a few superiors had already arrived. After honoring the
deceased, the 259 friars the Order had at the time, were summoned to the elective chapter for July 10.
The assembly opened on the set date. Of the friars attending, 55 were in favor of a clerical Master and 32
preferred a lay Master. This was not a confrontation between clerics and laymen but rather between progressives and
conservatives since both groups included clerics and laymen. The former were saying that the one with the most votes,
cleric or lay, would be the Master General. The latter alleged that only a layman could be the Master General as it had
always been the case. The clerics voted and Albert and 9 other priests received 114 votes (their own and from delegates)
because laymen were determined not to vote and Father Raimundo Albert was proclaimed Master General by clerics. In
turn, traditionalists selected Brother Berenguer de Ostales as Master. This took place on July 12, 1317.
On the same day, those in favor of Albert requested the approval of the pope and of the bishop of Valencia who
declared the next day that he was not competent. On August 7, Father Albert’s procurators left from Valencia for the papal
curia. The decision was made in Avignon by Pope John XXII on January 5, 1318, in a double bull Suscepti cura. To avoid
disquisitions, the Pontiff revoked the election, named Father Raimundo Albert Master General and demanded that all
religious acknowledge him as such in the bull in spiritualibus et temporabilus. The two lay leaders, Brother Berenguer de
Ostales, Superior of Gerona and Brother Poncio de Banis, Superior of El Olivar were declared irremovable in their
houses. Later on, the same Pontiff appointed Brother Poncio de Banis as defender of lay brothers for life by naming a
general definitor (counselor) for life. In placing a cleric at the head of the Order, John XXII, did not exclude the
possibility that a lay brother might be named to that post again. By these prudent measures, the Holy See avoided future
difficulties for the Order which, after a few anxious years, came out strengthened by the change.
!
2. FATHER RAIMUNDO ALBERT’S
CONSTITUTIONS (1327)
!Clerical Masters General
! The 1319 Cuenca General Chapter dealt with the consolidation of what had cost so many efforts. As it was seen in
1317, it was very difficult for all the friars of the Order to vote according to the concession granted to the Order of Mercy
by Pope Innocent IV in 1245. What was easy at first, had become impossible. Therefore, direct voting of all religious to
elect the Master General was suppressed and for the sole purpose of voting, the Order was divided into five provinces:
Catalonia, Aragon with Navarre, Valencia with Murcia, Provence with France and Majorca and Castile with Portugal.
Thus, the Master General’s election was limited to seven electors: the five electors from the provinces, plus the Barcelona
Prior and the oldest religious of the Barcelona community. Only a priest could be elected Master General and he could
only be elected by priests. The Barcelona Prior would be elected by his community.
!
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Contents of Albert’s Constitutions
!
At the Agramunt Chapter (Lérida), the Constitutiones fratrum Ordinis Sanctae Mariae de Mercede redemptionis
captivorum were approved on June 3, 1327. They were modeled on the constitutions of the preaching orders, especially
for the general norms of religious life.
They are divided into two ‘distinctions’ (parts): the first deals with worship, regular discipline, the novitiate,
profession and faults and the second part deals with the government of the Order and the redemption of captives.
The Divine Office and the redemption of Christian captives are indicated as the Order’s ends and fundamental
principles. Unity in feelings is recommended in order to attain unity in government. A great deal of importance is given to
worship, ceremonies and rites. The Office and the Mass of the Immaculate Conception appears as a fitting innovation.
The juridical and theological principles, which are fundamental to religious life, are established in the
introduction.
The redemption of captives, in union with worship, is presented as the first ministry of the Order: “It is wellestablished that our Order was especially founded from the beginning for the Divine Office and the redemption of
Christian captives and we must address that in a special and solicitous way: we must always redeem captives from pagan
hands with the alms from the Christian faithful and we can be of use to our neighbors’ souls through the Divine Office as
well as in the redemption of captives.
The Constitutions state that it is a serious fault to designate the redemption fund for any other purpose and they
determine that every community has the obligation to obtain alms. Religious are reminded of the original modesty and
poverty of the Order: “Our brothers had mediocre and humble houses: do not build such sumptuous edifices if their
construction delays the redemption of captives in any way.” The system of responses is made into law, according to which
each community contributes an obligatory annual quota. The chapter indicates the amount to be used for redemption and
the religious who will carry it out. It also provides practical norms about alms’ collectors in terms of their service and
behavior.
For the first time, the Constitutions speak of the retirement of friars with many years in religious life. This new
concern is justified due to the self-sacrificing and exhausting lives of redeemers traveling untiringly from town to town.
The 1327 Constitutions are going to include remarkable changes but also revealing elements of continuity which
show that the Order did not submit to the new forms of the institutes among which it chose to be numbered. If prior to
1317, lay Mercedarians had predominant positions in the Institute, at this point, there was a noticeable move toward the
clergy and what is clerical. If before, the Order was made up of laymen and clerics, now it is made up of clerics and
laymen while constantly insisting on the need to be able to act in temporalibus et in spiritualibus in order to govern. With
this, the Order has become clericalized.
Auxiliary functions of the Master General, the visitator and the Master General’s vicar, are established. The
Barcelona Prior appears with autonomy and as a link of continuity since, at the Master General’s death, he becomes vicar
general for the vacant position. The Prior of the Order at the Master General’s side disappears. Although provinces have
been established, the provincial and provincials do not exist yet. The Master General continues to govern fundamentally
without intermediary authorities between him and the superiors.
!!
3. THE REDEMPTION OF CAPTIVES
!Evolution and Characteristics
! The initial impulse, communicated by Saint Peter Nolasco to his Order, transcends all written legislation and it is
evident that the Order of Mercy continues to live its charism intensely. When time is lost in discussing internal matters,
King James II expresses his preoccupation since this is prejudicial to redemption.
Wise voices suggest serenity and the Order which is now led by clerics resumes its path. The Order of Mercy
wants to have one redemption per year although this is not always possible. Some redemptions failed due to shipwrecks,
robbery by pirates, redeemers’ imprisonment or death and this always left an enormous financial burden. The fact that
each redemptive expedition took so much time had a negative influence.
The price of freedom was constantly increasing. People with slaves saw that it was a profitable business and they
became more usurious. They used any pretext to raise the price for captives and if they saw interest in a particular captive,
they raised it even more. Friars had to hide and they had to use tricks, spend a lot of time (two, three and even four
months) to finalize a purchase, visit and accompany those who could not yet be redeemed. In the thirteenth century, eight,
ten or fifteen pounds had to be paid for a captive and if the person was well-known, the price could go up to fifty or even a
hundred pounds (a normal horse was worth fifteen pounds). In the fourteenth century, 34 captives cost 3,840 pounds. In
! !
40
1449, 16, 20, 31, 37, 39, 70, 90 and 104 pounds were paid for redeemed captives. But, for Fathers Company and Bosset,
the requested price was 4,800 pounds.
Each redemption was a commitment for the Order since redeemers had notary powers to back them up by seizing
the Order’s assets. Friars continued to be aware that all the Order’s assets belonged to captives. They often had to ask for
loans and it was difficult to pay them back. In 1424, the Barcelona community decided to sell the sacred vessels and the
treasures of the sacristy because it was preferable to preserve living vessels than metal ones and because the liberation of
captives was the best ornament of our churches.
In the first years, redemptions took place in Valencia and in the Balearic Islands because of their proximity. As the
Reconquest advanced, the ghettos of slaves were located in Andalusia and North Africa. As of the fifteenth century, most
ransoms took place in Tunis, Morocco, Bejaïa, Algiers, Tetuán and Fez. As the market places were farther away, the cost
of redeeming a captive was rising, due to freight expenses (in 1439, a boat to Tunis cost 300 pounds) and to all the
required steps. On occasions, redeemers had to take merchandise to pay for captives, especially when redemptions were in
Granada. They brought with them the grain, cloth, coral, paper bundles, spun gold, cattle and mounts which people were
donating to collaborate. In addition, friars always took woolen cloth with which to make clothes for all the redeemed
whom they received in dire conditions.
In spite of the safe-conducts which redeemers took with them, numerous land expeditions were attacked and
fleeced by Moslem and even Christian bandits. After they were redeemed, former captives had the obligation to
accompany their redeemers for a period of time. They would go from town to town giving testimonies of their terrible past
and collecting new alms for the next redemption. At the end of that service, former captives received a full set of clothes,
supplies for the journey, even a weapon at times and two solidi per day until they reached home.
!Intervention of Popes and Monarchs in Redemption
! At that time, we do not have the great bulls favoring the Order of the thirteenth-century popes. Nevertheless, the
work of redemption is appreciated, praised and protected.
In 1305, Clement V sent a bull stipulating that testaments made for redemption, without specifying the recipient,
should be given to the Order of Mercy.
In 1365, Urban V, authorized all Mercedarians who were redeeming in Moorish lands to absolve all the faithful,
whether they were captives or not.
In 1373, Gregory XI conceded a historical favor to the Mercedarians by dispensing them from tithing because all
the Order’s assets were assigned to the redemption of Christian captives.
In 1419, Martin V confirmed the Order’s complete freedom to collect funds for the redemption of captives. This
came about because of the refusal of some archbishops and bishops.
On August 9, 1448, in the bull Nuper siquidem, Nicholas V exempted the Order from the jurisdiction of local
ordinaries. The Master General, Nadal Gaver, kept the bull in his own room as a precious treasure, even forbidding its
being removed to be copied. To do that, the notary of the convent had to go there. The reiterated petition of the King of
Aragon, Alfonso V, to the Supreme Pontiff was very helpful. These were the king’s words to the pope: “Against God and
against justice, the ordinaries and their officials frequently oppress, wrong and harass the brothers of the Order and
publicly cause them harm, thus offending God and creating scandal. Consequently, to defend themselves, said brothers
must spend in juridical disputes the assets which otherwise would have been invested in the redemption of captives.”
In 1457, Callistus III prohibited Mercedarians to move to any other Order, except for the Carthusian Order
because the Order of Mercy is stricter than the Mendicants by virtue of the commitment Mercedarians made in their
profession to be always disposed to surrender and to endure torments and death even for the liberation of a single captive.
In April 1481, Sixtus IV ratified the privileges conceded to the Mercedarians and previously taken away from all
institutions in order to concentrate all the forces of Christendom in fighting against the Turks.
It is true that many bishops who understood the great work of the redemption of captives, especially those of
Barcelona, were supporting the Order.
The Mercedarians of Spanish origin and the Trinitarians, a French foundation, were two contemporary redemptive
orders. Some friction between the two did occur due to apostolic zeal or to other motives more human than pastoral. But
this should not be magnified and time has cast this into oblivion.
The Aragon kings of the time continued to support the Order to follow in the footsteps of James I the Conqueror.
During the reign of James II the Just (1291-1327), there were 99 documents referring to the Order of Mercy. They
are valuable and important document because of the data they provide about the Order’s origin, the moment the Institute is
experiencing and the king’s love for the Order founded by his grandfather and of which he claimed to be a patron. James
supported the Order in its redemptive dedication and placed the brothers and their houses under royal protection; he
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cooperated in redemption by exempting Mercedarians from taxes and by sending passports and safe-conducts for
redeemers, interceding for the friars captured by the Moors, suppressing the payment of tolls to transport grains and
animals for redemption and by taking steps against ex-captives who broke their promises and false captives.
Peter IV the Ceremonious (1336-1387) was also very favorable to the Order. During his long reign, he issued 149
documents in favor of the Mercedarians as he renewed the guarantees which had been conceded by his predecessors. He
showed his great love for the Order when he stated that “James I accomplished two important deeds at the service of
Christian faith: the reconquest of Majorca, Valencia and other territories and the institution of the Mercedarian Order.”
In 81 documents, John I the Hunter (1387-1395) showed he was the friars’ protector and friend. For example, for
his wedding, he asked to borrow the Master General’s horse; he took quite a few Mercedarians as his servants and
members of his household; he tried to improve the convents; he intervened, excessively at times, in internal affairs; he
defended the friars from mistreatment by some bishops and from the discrimination of other orders; he recognized the
exemption from tithing; he defended the exclusivity of collecting and ratified the favors granted by his predecessors.
From Martin I the Humanist (1395-1410), we have around a hundred documents speaking affectionately of the
redemptive friars. He supported the Order with efficacy so that Brother Gabriel Sala could take over Santa María of
Bonaria (Sardinia).
Ferdinand I of Antequera (1412-1416) named Master General Antonio Caxal, as his ambassador for delicate
matters in several missions and especially to the Council of Constance where the Mercedarian played an outstanding role.
Alfonso V the Magnanimous (1416-1458) also followed his predecessors’ path: Father Juan Segalars was always
at the king’s side in the conquest of Naples and the king established a Mercedarian convent in that city in 1442. He sent
Father Juan Galicant as his ambassador to Ottumen, King of Tunis and Father Nadal Gaver was his adviser.
Although the Mercedarians did not receive such exquisite consideration in the Castile kingdom, Castilian kings
were for redemption.
In an important document issued in Burgos on January 27, 1311, Ferdinand IV (1295-1312) authorized
Mercedarians to conduct collections anywhere without any impediment. Furthermore, in testaments when the donor
bequeathed something for redemption without specifying the receiving order, this went to the Order of Mercy. The king
also arranged for Mercedarians to receive the fifth part of the royal rights of assets left by someone who died without a
will. The king ordered civil servants to welcome and lodge Mercedarians when they were collecting alms and to gather
people so that they could listen to the redeemers.
Henry II (1369-1379) ratified what his predecessor had ordered and he expanded the Order’s privileges by
exempting it to pay for the people’s donations of mules, beasts of burden, cows and sheep, which Mercedarians took with
them in exchange for captives and for the material they also took to clothe captives. Without paying taxes, Mercedarians
were also allowed to take Moorish captives whom people gave to them to exchange them for Christians. In addition, in a
very unusual ruling, the king ordered officers to provide free lodging for the brothers and armed guides for their journeys.
The succeeding Castilian sovereigns were just as generous. For example, Henry III (1390-1406) ratified Castile’s
royal protection of the Order of Mercy at the assembly of the Alcalá Cortes (1391).
Redemptions during this Period
!
The change of régime in the Order did not mitigate Mercedarian efforts for the redemption of captives which
continued to be the religious’ fundamental activity.
According to the data provided by Father Garí y Siumell, in the period going from 1302 to 1489, that is to say, in
187 years, there were 133 redemptions in which 18,623 captives were rescued. However, all these redemptions were not
equally successful or attained the desired end since, due to different circumstances, some of them ended badly and without
concrete results.
In carrying out their ministry in the defense of the faith of Christians, numerous religious encountered death or
martyrdom. Some of these brothers, not explicitly mentioned in these pages, do deserve to be remembered.
Justin of Paris was martyred in Granada in 1337. Pedro de Santa María and Simón de Haro were two redeemers
who were captured by Mohammedan pirates and thrown into the sea when they were on their way back from Africa in
1361. Jaime of Valencia was martyred in Algiers in 1362. Pedro de Santa María from France was burned alive in Tunis
around 1364. Arnaldo de Arench was beaten to death in Granada in 1394. In 1397, in Almería, Pedro Boleta was brutally
beaten and left in the street to bleed to death. In 1408, after his tongue was savagely cut off, Guillermo Sans was beheaded
in Granada. While they were in Africa and after carrying out a redemption, Brothers Juan de Luna and Bernardo
Rebolledo received the palm of martyrdom and the captives were returned to the dungeons in 1422. Redeemers Juan
Jover, Pedro Escrivá and Jerónimo de Prado were killed in Tunis in 1430, and the redemption was thwarted.
We are relating a few of these liberations with unusual aspects to give some concrete details about Mercedarian
redemptions.
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A Frenchman, Claude de Tonelles, superior of Carcassonne and named redeemer in 1318, traveled all over
Languedoc, Roussillon and Catalonia collecting alms for redemption. To call people’s attention, on something like a
pilgrim’s staff he put a streamer on which he had painted the image of Our Lady of Mercy with a captive kneeling on both
sides and below a sign saying: Haec est porta coeli, here is the door to heaven. The novelty of the spectacle attracted so
many town people that there was not need to announce the sermon or wait for the public. In the squares from any slightly
elevated point, Claude was regularly preaching on the virtues of the Mother of God and he would conclude by reflecting
on the hardships and labors of the poor captives. And so he traveled to many places to collect alms. People called him
Claude de Portaceli. Through his enthusiasm, he animated several religious to go to Africa and to remain among the
Moors to console and to strengthen unfortunate captives. Together with Brother Claude, fourteen friars went to Algiers
where they freed 346 captives. Brother Claude and another brother went back to Spain with the liberated captives. The
other thirteen friars stayed in Algiers to comfort and to serve captives. None of them ever returned to Europe and they all
died there, one of natural causes and the others died a violent death. Brother Claude continued to redeem for ten more
years.
In 1418, several Mercedarian brothers were on their way to accomplish a rescue in Oran when Turkish galleys
boarded their ship and robbed them on the high seas. While the bandits were sharing the booty among themselves, they
were attacked and captured by Christian galleys coming from Naples. The Christian captains entertained several opinions
about what to do with the redemption money: some wanted to share it as a prize but don Pablo Orsini’s opinion prevailed.
He had to refer the decision to the judges of the king of Naples and in the meantime, the money was to be deposited in a
safe place. This is just what they did and when Pope Martin V was informed of what happened, he ordered the money to
be restored to the Order to be used for the redemption of captives. At the 1416 General Chapter, a man born in Rome,
Jaime de San Lorenzo, who had become a Mercedarian religious after a pilgrimage to Spanish sanctuaries, was appointed
redeemer. The money retrieved from the razzia was given to him and he was to use it himself in the redemption of
captives. In fact, he sailed to Africa and landed in Oran. From there, with a license and a safe-conduct, he traveled by land
to Mostaganem, a place where no one ever went to redeem. Because this Mercedarian belonged to the Colonna family, he
was cordially treated by the mayor of the city, Morato-Venalbar. Jaime was able to rescue 240 captives with whom he
returned to Barcelona.
In 1481, Luis Ruiz, superior of El Puig, and Jorge Porta, superior of Saragossa, achieved a redemption in Algiers,
as they rescued 56 captives. On February 5, they embarked to return to Spain but a violent storm brought them to
Majorca. There, Brother Luis received very bad news: he found out that some captives who had stayed in Algiers and who
were desperate because they had not obtained their freedom, had denied their Christian faith and he also found out that
enemies of the redemptions had succeeded in persuading the pope and the kings of Aragon and Castile to stop supporting
the work of redemption. They were alleging that the gold for redemption only served to enrich the Moors and that it would
be better to give such alms to the poor. Conscious of the grave harm this would entail for many souls, Brother Luis
decided to go to Rome with the newly-redeemed captives to inform the pope personally that the Christian captives of
Tunis, Algiers, Tetuán, Morocco, etc., were in grave danger of denying their faith if they were not liberated. Pope Sixtus
IV considered favorably the reasons given by the Mercedarian redeemer. He revoked the suspension of indulgences that
he had just decreed for three years and exhorted the faithful to cooperate in the redemption of captives. All of this is found
in the bull Dudum siquidem of April 12, 1481, addressed to the religious himself. This was the first time that a
Mercedarian redemption had come to Rome. For their part, the kings of Aragon and Castile also revoked their royal orders
against redemption and gave all their support to this charitable work. The zeal, diligence and love of Brother Luis calmed
this terrible storm and the Mercedarian work of redemption was able to continue with greater determination.
!!
4. EXPANSION OF THE ORDER
!Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
! Due to the Catalan and Aragonese expansion in the Mediterranean, in 1324, Infante don Alfonso had a castle and
a church built in Bonaria, similar to Cagliari’s. As king, in 1335, he donated the church to the Order of Mercy with the
obligation to send two religious immediately, then six more after the death of the rector of the church, Guillermo Jordán,
who died in 1348. The Mercedarians accepted the donation and they established themselves there. The church soon
became an important Marian sanctuary thanks to a beautiful image of Mary with the Child in her arms which had
miraculously arrived floating on a large wooden box. No one had been able to pick up the statue until Mercedarian friars
easily lifted it out the waters and took it to their church. This happened in 1370.
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When Alfonso V took possession of Naples in 1442, he built a church dedicated to Saint Mary of Peace and of
Mercy. He gave it to the Mercedarians who established a convent there.
The presence of the Order of Mercy in Palermo goes back to 1462, when King John II of Aragon allowed a
foundation in Sicily at the request of Brother Gomes de Borzega who admitted to the Order Francisco Bertolone who built
the convent of Santa Ana in 1473.
!!
Spain
In the fourteenth century, several convents were set up, an unequivocal sign of the Order’s vitality and of the
increase in personnel.
Agramunt was founded at the beginning of the century.
The Guadalajara convent was established by doña Isabel, daughter of Sancho IV the Brave.
In Tarragona, the Mercedarians established themselves in the Saint Lazarus Hospital which was donated by the
University (1300).
The houses of Tudela and Badajoz were also of this same period.
The neighboring university presented the Order with the sanctuary of Santa María de Bell-loch (Beautiful Place)
with all its lands and possessions (1307). Thus, the Order came to Santa Coloma de Queralt.
Around the same time, they opened the Estella house, part of the Pamplona house.
The Salamanca community started in 1317 in the Puente district. In 1410, when Saint Vincent Ferrer and the
Venerable Juan Gilabert Jofré were preaching in that city, the Jews who had been converted by these saintly friars gave
their synagogue to be transformed into a Mercedarian convent called the Veracruz convent. The Mercedarians went there
as they left their first location in Puente.
The Mercedarian monasteries of Barbastro, Huete, Tárrega, Berga (1326) and Olmedo are foundations from the
same time.
The Algeciras convent goes back to the Reconquest realized by King Alfonso XI in 1344. The Mercedarians
received their share in the distribution of the Moors’ possessions. In 1369, Algeciras was destroyed by the Moslems of
Granada and the city rose up again only in the middle of the seventeenth century. The Mercedarian convent was restored
through a grant from Philip V.
The new monasteries of Segovia and Burceña were the fruits of the generosity of pious people.
The redeeming friars also settled in Colindres (Santander), Uncastillo (Saragossa), Villagarcía (Badajoz) and
Fuentes where Brother Juan de Solórzano, protomartyr of America, received his formation.
Four foundations were established in 1467: Pancorvo, Rivadeo, San Pedro de la Tarza and Cazorla where the
Retamal battle against the Moors took place in 1469. The trophies obtained were placed in the Mercy Church, at the feet
of the liberating Virgin.
The convent of Santa María de Conxo in an area of Santiago de Compostela became very important for the Order.
Benedictine nuns had left it and it was donated by Archbishop Fonseca and confirmed by Sixtus IV in 1483. The convent
became very prestigious and it came in second place among the monasteries of the Province of Castile.
The Monterey convent is from the same period. When the town population dwindled, the convent was moved to
Verín.
After the recapture of Málaga (1487), Mercedarians opened a convent there and when the Spanish Reconquest
ended with the capture of Granada (1492), the religious were lodging less than a mile from the city. Around 1500, Father
Gonzalo de Ubeda, the auxiliary bishop of Granada and superior of the Mercedarian convent transferred it to the environs
of Puerta de Elvira where he built a beautiful church and a convent in Mudejar style.
!France
! The Bordeaux convent was founded in the year 1320. In 1418, the bishop of Marseilles donated a house and other
city holdings to the Order of Mercy with the obligation of preferential attention to the redemption of captives from
Marseilles.
In 1429, the Mercedarians settled in a former hospital in Cahors.
In 1434, the Avignon town council gave to the Order of Mercy the Church of Saint Mary of the Miracles along
with a house and an orchard.
The Riscle foundation dates back to 1456.
Around that time, the Province of Aragon crown had 50 houses and the Province of Castile 22. France had 14
houses and 70 friars and Italy had 3 houses and 20 friars. There were approximately 650 religious.
!
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!
5. REGULATIONS AND GOVERNMENT
OF THE ORDER
!Masters General of this Period
! After Raimundo Albert, on January 27, Berenguer Cantull was elected (1331-1343). He was a Catalan, a theology
master and he was confirmed by the bishop of Barcelona. But an unusual situation developed: his election as Master
General was declared null and void by Benedict XII who re-appointed him alleging that conferring the highest position in
the Order only belonged to the Holy See. Berenguer governed with simplicity and prudence. He expanded the Barcelona
convent and built two new chapels in the church. He obtained the donation of Santa María de Bonaria for the Order. He
had Father Albert’s remains transferred from Valencia to El Puig. He died on December 2, 1343.
Vicente Riera (1344-1345), born and professed in Barcelona, succeeded Berenguer as Master General. He was
unanimously elected at the Barcelona chapter of February 1344, and was immediately ratified by the pope. His
government lasted only one year since he died on March 25, 1345.
Domingo Serrano (1345-1348), a Frenchman, formed in the convent of Montpellier where he received his
doctorate, was a professor and a superior. Clement VI named him Master General on April 17, 1345. He dedicated himself
to visiting monasteries to promote observance, the redemption of captives and culture. He died in Montpellier on July 9,
1348, of the Black Death.
Poncio de Barellis (1348-1365), a Frenchman from Toulouse, with a law doctorate, became the new Master
General. Pope Clement VI appointed him between August and September 1348. He was very active in spite of the Black
Death which was devastating Europe and had slowed the growth of the Mercedarians, whose members were reduced to
their numbers of 1317. During his government, 1600 captives were redeemed and he achieved remarkable works of
restoration and building convents. He died in Toulouse on October 17, 1364, and was buried in the Perpignan convent.
Nicolás Pérez (1365-1401), from Valencia, was the Master General who governed the longest time. Urban V
appointed him on January 5, 1365, ahead of the decision of the chapter which was already gathered in Barcelona. He
looked after the Order zealously visiting monasteries and striving earnestly to fulfill his redemptive ministry. During his
government, 1,444 captives were redeemed. From King Peter the Ceremonious, he obtained the return to the Order all of
the possessions, which had been inappropriately alienated, and measures against those who had dared to attack and rob the
Master General on his way to Castile. He honored Saint Mary Cervellon by transferring her body to the most prominent
place in the Mercy Church of Barcelona (July 17, 1380). He died in Valencia on March 18, 1401.
The next Master General was Jaime Taust (1401-1403), also from Valencia. He was elected in Tarragona on June
13, 1401, and confirmed by Benedict XIII. He died in his native city on August 28, 1405.
The eminent Antonio Caxal, a master in theology and arts (1405-1417), was elected by the friars in September
1405, and was quickly confirmed by the pope. The Order really benefited from his rich personality and spirituality.
However, precisely because of these talents, his time was taken away from the Order because the kings of Aragon found
him to be a great ambassador. He became ambassador to John II of Castile and to the king of Fez. He took part in the
Councils of Perpignan and Constance and fought with influence and vigor to overcome the schism in the West. He was
appointed bishop of Lyons but he did not accept until the union of the Church was achieved. He died in Constance on May
25, 1417. He had the reputation of a holy man and he left the Order internally stronger and doing its utmost for the
A Frenchman, Bernardo de Plano (1417-1419), was elected on November 3, 1417. As Master General, he
arranged the Marseilles foundation and paid up the outstanding accounts of the 1415 redemption. He died two years after
his election on January 12, 1419.
Jaime Aymerich (1419-1428), from Barcelona, was elected Master General on April 8, 1419. He completed the
Barcelona church and canceled its debts. He improved the monasteries of Valencia, Arguines and Algar. He dedicated his
efforts and sacrifices to redemption. Alfonso V made him his adviser. He died in Valencia on December 23, 1428.
Antonio Dullán (1429-1441) was the Barcelona prior. He sought to be Master General of the Order and was
elected on March 13, 1429. He wanted to continue as prior but the Barcelona community voted for Father Nadal Gaver.
Chapters were taking place on a regular basis and redemptions were carried out normally. Antonio accepted the Avignon
foundation in 1435. However, there was general discontent among the friars and he was deposed by the Council of Basel
on April 6, 1441, and finally by Eugenius VI on January 13, 1444.
Nadal Gaver (1441-1474), from Barcelona, was one of the most important Masters General of the Order. He was
promoted to that post by the Council of Basel on April 6, 1441. He was in love with the Order and worked for it fervently.
He visited all monasteries, convened chapters, he fostered redemptions by creating awareness among capitulars that they
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had to work harder for captives and he insisted on the fact that each house had the commitment in conscience to pay the
responses. He had the misfortune of seeing the capture of redeeming Fathers Lorenzo Company and Pedro Bosset. For
their liberation, he arranged for the Order to mortgage its possessions, although it was not sufficient. In addition, he had to
ask Pope Nicholas V for the transfer of the solitary Arguines hospital to the convent because the Moors attacked the
hospital, profaned the church and killed the conventual friars. Nadal Gaver died on April 27, 1474.
Father Nadal Gaver had the great merit of laying down the foundations for the history of the Order. Going back to
his time, we have minutes of the general chapters, records of redemptions, detailed minutes of canonical visits to
monasteries, collections of bulls and records of the General’s decisions.
His masterpiece is Speculum Fratrum, Mirror of the Friars of the Order of the Blessed Mother of God, Mary of
Mercy of the Redemption of Captives. It is the first known history of the Order and the compilation of its laws. Nadal
Gaver wrote it by hand. He drew from the original a valuable codex which is kept in the Archives of the Crown of Aragon.
This work contains: the history of the Order from its foundation until his time, the complete texts of the 1272
Constitutions and the 1327 Constitutions of Father Albert, the Rule of Saint Augustine, an account of the schisms or
divisions which occurred in the Order from 1301 on, the names of the Masters General from the time of the foundation
until 1445 and of the priors who governed the Barcelona convent and the list of the Supreme Pontiffs who granted
privileges to the Order from its beginning until 1445.
Lorenzo Company (1474-1479) came to the generalate exalted by 15 years of harsh captivity in Tunis. Elected
Master General by the Barcelona chapter on June 23, 1474, he humbly resisted. But faced with the quick papal approval,
he accepted. He governed with prudence and was an outstanding model of religious life and love for captives. He had
become their father and protector in Tunis. He died in 1479.
Antoine Morell (1480-1492), from Toulouse, was a professor and dean of the University of Toulouse. He was
elected on February 25, 1480. During his generalate, the Order became very strong in France. In 1482, two redeemers sent
by him, Fathers Juan de Zorroza and Juan de Huete, were martyred. He encouraged observance and the regularity of
redemptions. He died in Toulouse on June 15, 1492.
!General Chapters
! Since its foundation, the Order had held its general chapters according to the norms established in the 1272
Constitutions. After the promulgation of the Albertine Constitutions, chapters were held in accordance with their norms
which established a new structure in their make up and operation. They dealt with the daily chapter, the provincial chapter
and the general chapter.
The daily chapter was reserved to the different communities which were to deal with matters within their own
competence.
The provincial chapter was held annually in each province and every three years, it was also a general chapter in
one of the two provinces. It was a provincial-general chapter in the province in which it was held and for the other
province, it was only a general chapter. The Master General, the superiors and other religious who could be invited took
part in provincial chapters.
For the purpose of the general chapter, the Order was divided into two provinces: Catalonia and Castile. Its
members were the four definitors of the province in which the chapter was held and the two general definitors of the other
province. With norms meticulously explained for voting, together they considered, directed, defined, approved and
corroborated everything that seemed of value to the entire Order. They were especially concerned with concrete and
practical aspects referring to the redemption of captives.
The elective general chapter takes place at the Master General’s death or resignation. It is convened by the prior of
Barcelona as vicar general. For that purpose, the Order is divided into five provinces. Each of them sends a general
elector. With the prior and a delegate from the Barcelona community, they constitute the seven electors of the elective
general chapter.
In 1467, a remarkable chapter general was held in Guadalajara. It is known in the Order as the Chapter of
Concord . This is because during that chapter, there occurred a consolidation of the Order which was practically split in
two groups since 1441: the group of the Aragon Crown under Master General Nadal Gaver and the group of the Castile
Crown whose king, John II, had obtained from Pope Eugenius IV the nomination of religious Pedro de Huete as Master
General in 1441. In 1447, Pope Nicholas V declared Gaver’s government legitimate for the Province of Aragon but he
kept Pedro de Huete at the head of the Province of Castile until his death. The origin of this division came from the desire
of the Mercedarians of the Province of Castile to modify the system of electing the Master General so that they could
attain the generalate of the Order. In fact, ever since the Order’s foundation, the Master General position had always gone
to a religious from the Province of Aragon or of France.
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46
The chapter did not change the electoral system but from then on and during the following years until the
Tridentine reform, the provincial of Castile governed his province independently from the Master General who continued
to be in charge of all Mercedarians.
6. CULTURAL AND APOSTOLIC
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORDER
!Premises
! At the beginning of the fifteenth century, two-thirds of the friars were tonsured. The Constitutions requested that
redeemers be well-versed in theology, shrewd in order to debate with Moslems, able to justify our beliefs and they
demand a type of preaching superior to the models of the time. There were undoubtedly wise men in the Order from the
start.
During these years of rising cultural development, the Order of Mercy was beginning to compete with Mendicant
Orders and with the clergy who presented all kinds of obstacles. The 1467 Guadalajara Chapter is an important example
of the process of cultural enrichment. Of the 78 capitulars, 6 were theology masters, 12 doctors, 13 were graduates (one in
medicine) and 2 retired. Five religious were studying in Salamanca and 5 in Valladolid. Ignorant religious were censured.
To stimulate them, all theology and law graduates were allowed to vote for the provincial and a good number of houses or
positions as superiors were assigned to them.
!Consequences in the Area of Culture
! One should note how this cultural enrichment would lead the Order to look back to its origins. In the fifteenth
century, there was renewed pride for what was Mercedarian; the rich heritage left by Peter Nolasco was valued again and
this recovery of lost memory brought forth about a dozen outstanding figures like Juan Gilabert or Lorenzo Company.
Authors of the first historical treatises like Pedro Cijar, the pioneer and Nadal Gaver, were also emerging.
!More religious were writing and the following deserve to be mentioned:
Antonio Pons (+1296) wrote on Genesis and Diálogo entre el alma y el Creador; Rodolfo Anzio (fourteenth
century) is the author of De vera et evangelica paupertate; Severino de Traller (+1317) wrote De erroribus fraticellorum;
Felipe Claro (+1353), preacher of King Alfonso V of Aragon, wrote De Conceptione B. Mariae Virginis; Arnaldo de
Arench (+1394), a professor of medicine in Montpellier, is the author of a book entitled De cognitione rerum naturalium
et applicatione suarum virtutum morborum qualitatibus; the Códice de Gerona, written in 1400, and including
biographies of Mercedarian saints is attributed to Pedro de Sumanes; Dionisio Rabinis (+1413), an erudite and holy
French religious, wrote several treatises against heretics; Bartolomé de Celforés (+1419) is the author of Arte Lógica and
seven volumes of sermons; Pedro Cijar, general procurator of the Order in Rome in 1464, wrote especially: Opusculum
tantum quinque, De potestate papae et votorum commutatione, De rebus mirabilibus Ordinis, Historia de la Religión de la
Merced, etc.; Louis de Becofén (+1472) wrote in French Treatise of Scholastic Theology and of Mystical Theology;
Lorenzo Company (+1479) is the author of De laboribus captivitatis; Bishop Diego de Muros (+1492) wrote
Constituciones sinodales de Tuy y Vida de fray Juan de Granada, a Mercedarian martyr; in Paris, Juan Solís (+1500)
wrote a Gramática de lengua hebrea; Martín Haresches, a famous preacher, published Conciones de tempore et de Sanctis
in France.
!Pastoral activity
! Of the 57 houses which the Order of Mercy already had at the end of the thirteenth century, 27 of them had
churches. The friars who had to force their way into this apostolate were carefully looking after them. The clergy did not
meddle in the ministry of redemption except in the case of alms collection which fell down considerably in the fourteenth
century. The number of redeemed captives was also decreasing.
The introduction of the devotion to the Virgin of Mercy in Barcelona was the result of the fruitful pastoral work
which the prior, Brother Bonanato de Prixana, accomplished in the 41 years he was at the head of this sanctuary. He built
most of the new church and expanded the convent. He obtained valuable papal indulgences (1343) for his church which
brought prestige to the sanctuary and increased the cult to Mary of Mercy.
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The convent and sanctuary of Santa María de El Puig was a great center of worship and pastoral planning. The
Roger de Lauria family did its utmost to build a Gothic church and to endow it. In turn, King James II honored it with a
perpetual wax offering.
In Castile, the Guadalajara convent had the greatest Marian irradiation thanks to doña Elvira Martínez’ help and
the thrust which its superior, Brother Diego de Muros, gave to it.
The following houses were outstanding: Montflorite in Aragon, Pamplona in Navarre and Toulouse and
Montpellier in France. However, few convents attained the renown of the Bonaria Sanctuary which was the spiritual
center of Sardinia.
The first appointments of Mercedarian friars to govern dioceses were the fruit of the growing prestige of the Order
and the consequences of royal recommendations.
Antonio Blas Dexart was the first bishop of Cádiz and then (1388) archbishop of Athens. From there, he went to
the Cagliari Diocese and as its representative, he attended the Council of Perpignan.
The most important bishop of this period is undoubtedly Diego de Muros, pastor of the Tuy See. He was a doctor
in philosophy and theology from Salamanca and also a renowned preacher and redeemer in Moorish lands. In 1477, when
he was already a prelate of the Galician See, he was captured by the Portuguese who kept him locked up in an iron cell
until 1479. Once he was liberated from his jail, he was sent as an ambassador to the Holy See where he was very
successful. The pope entrusted him with the ruined monasteries of San Martín de Santiago and Tojos Outos which were
both restored by him. Taken prisoner by the Count of Camiña in 1484, he had to pay 700,000 maravedis for his ransom.
The pope sent him as a bishop to Ciudad Rodrigo, a diocese which he ruled until his death on December 9, 1492.
Another remarkable bishop also appeared in Galicia, Diego de Saldaña, titular of Beirut and auxiliary of Santiago
de Compostela. We owe him the foundation of the famous Mercedarian convent of Conxo (Santiago de Compostela) and
the convent of Monterrey (Verín).
Antonio de Medina, the titular of Ronda and auxiliary of Carthage (1470), was the protagonist of the foundation
of the convent of Mercy of Elche.
!!
7. FRUITS OF SANCTITY
!Juan Gilabert Jofré and his Social Work
! Juan was born in Valencia on June 24, 1350. He studied law in Lérida. When he returned to his city, he received
the Mercedarian habit in 1370 in El Puig where he studied theology. After being ordained to the priesthood (1375), he
devoted himself to preaching, a “ministry in which he excelled,” according to Gaver. When he was the vicar of the Lérida
convent (1391), he became interested in the lot and the sufferings of the poor and appealed to King John I in favor of the
redemption of captives. The fact that he resorted to the king when he was only a vicar indicates that he already had
prestige. He participated in the Tarragona chapter at which Father Jaime Taust was elected Master General and Juan
Gilabert went to Rome to obtain papal confirmation. When he came back, he was named superior of Perpignan. From
there, he went back as superior to El Puig where he stayed four years. He was appointed superior of Valencia in 1409, a
year marking the start of the most fruitful period of his ministry as he devoted himself to preaching with Saint Vincent
Ferrer. They traveled together evangelizing Valencia, Aragon, Castile, Catalonia and Portugal. He was with Saint Vincent
in 1417 when the Dominican informed Juan that death was approaching. The Mercedarian made his confession, he said
good bye to his friend, left for Valencia and died on May 18 when he was entering the Church of Santa María de El Puig.
San Juan de Ribera, the archbishop of Valencia, had a beautiful urn made in which his body clothed in the Mercedarian
habit was exposed in the sacristy of El Puig. He remained in this transparent urn until 1936. Today, his remains repose in a
stone sepulcher which the Valencia Council dedicated to him in 1946. Valencians have always held him to be a saint.
Valencia considers him as one of its most illustrious sons and clamors to have him declared a saint. The diocesan process
of beatification has started.
In addition to being an administrator, a good preacher, astute in dealing with political matters, a redeemer of
captives (he worked 3 redemptions), Juan was also a charismatic Mercedarian devoted to the poorest and the most
abandoned. He founded an orphanage for abandoned children in Valencia (1410) and a hospice for poor pilgrims in El
Puig (1416). The work for which he is universally known is the establishment in Valencia of the first mental asylum in the
world in search of a solution to the problem of mental patients. It is said that on February 24, 1409, he was on his way
from the convent to the Valencia Cathedral to preach the homily of the first Sunday of Lent when he saw two young lads
who were brutally attacking a madman. Our friar ran to protect the man, he drove the assailants away and took the
wounded man to his convent. Prompted by the event, he returned to the cathedral to preach a vibrant sermon. He spoke of
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the urgent need to have a charitable institution to welcome mental patients. When he left the pulpit, 11 Valencians, headed
by Lorenzo Salom, proposed their services to support his project which became a reality on March 9, 1409.
!Other Exemplary Religious
! In the eyes of God and of the Order, the most illustrious religious are those who gave up their lives to rescue
captives for their faith. Yet, there were also other religious who merit to be remembered.
Guillén Vives was the Barcelona prior. Although he was a peaceful and a very humble man, he had to confront the
abusive and wrong meddling of the bishop. He had to send an informant, Father Bartolomé de Celforés, to Rome and he
had to spend the enormous amount of 3,000 florins to remedy the situation. As a result, King Martin IV, placed the
Mercedarian community with its members, its house and its assets under the protection of the Aragon Crown. Guillén
wrote a life of Saint Peter Nolasco and a life of Saint Mary Cervellon which was incorporated in the process of Saint
Mary.
Guillermo Camino was appointed redeemer with Raimundo Roca at the 1419 chapter. While they were sailing to
Africa, there was a storm and a beam of the topsail fell on the priest and shattered his head. His body was thrown into the
sea.
Juan de Granada, the son of a well-known Saracen convert, was born in 1358 in the city which gave him his
name. He served as superior in Córdoba for 13 years during which he built a new church. Then he was elected provincial
of Castile in 1407. As provincial, he promoted the observance of the rule. With Brother Pedro de Malasang, he realized
two redemptions in Africa in 1415 and 1427. In the last one, when they were returning with the redeemed, Genoese pirates
attacked their boat in the Mediterranean and they murdered both redeemers.
Juan Segalars, from Barcelona, led a very active life. In 1439, he was sent to the Council of Basel to negotiate
several affairs for the Order. From there, he went to Naples to speak with King Alfonso V. The next year, he was sent to
Basel again. From that city, he went to see the pope several times and went back to Naples to the king. Appointed prior of
Barcelona, he went for a redemption in Tunis with Brother Bernardo Grallera. But the latter died on the way and a large
amount of money for the captives was lost. In 1447, on his way to Tunis as a redeemer, Juan’s boat was shipwrecked on
Holy Thursday. Several crew members died and Juan was miraculously spared although he lost all the redemption money
and even the clothes he had on. The following year, he was in Naples trying to obtain peace between Tunis and Alfonso V.
Finally, he was elected prior of Barcelona for the third time and he died in his city on October 24, 1466.
Louis de Becofén. This French religious was born in Languedoc. He joined the Order of Mercy at a very early age
and made rapid progress in spiritual life. His superiors sent him to study at the Universities of Perpignan and Montpellier
where he became a professor. Louis XI who knew of his virtues and erudition made him the court’s theologian and
preacher. Appointed redeemer, in 1471, he was on his way to Algiers with Father Diego de Luna. A victim of the Moors
who mistreated him and threatened him with death for preaching the Christian faith, Louis redeemed 213 captives with
whom he returned to Barcelona. The king of France asked the Master General to send him back to his court and Louis XI
sent him to Rome as a peacemaker between the Pontifical State and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Welcoming him with
full honors, Sixtus IV wanted him to stay in Rome but Louis preferred to go back to France. Not satisfied with court life,
Louis retired to the Perpignan convent where he devoted himself to prayer and to writing several works of scholastic and
mystical theology which, unfortunately, were not published. He died a saintly death in 1475.
Lorenzo Company and Pedro Bosset. These two religious, from different nationalities, were companions in the
redemption of captives. The first one endured a long captivity and the second one suffered martyrdom.
Lorenzo Company was born in 1415 in El Puig where he received the Mercedarian habit and he made his
profession in Barcelona. He was named superior of El Puig when he was very young. Because of his wisdom, his modesty
and the compassion he felt for captives, he was designated for a redemption. Inspired by grace, Pedro Bosset, from
France, joined the Order of Mercy. He made such progress in his studies and piety that he acquired great renown. After
having worked as a professor of theology and a preacher, he was elected redeemer.
In 1442, these two religious were on their way back with 83 liberated captives when a violent storm forced them
to go back to Tunis. The few who escaped the shipwreck were taken captives again along with the redeemers. During their
first years in captivity, they were treated very severely by the king of Tunis. Later, the Mercedarians obtained a degree of
kindness from the king who allowed them some freedom of movement. This enabled them to alleviate the prisoners’
sufferings as the redeemers were ransoming the greatest possible number of captives with the money—always insufficient
—which the Order was sending for their liberation.
The king of Tunis sent Father Company to Naples twice as ambassador to King Alfonso V of Aragon in order to
obtain the restitution of the ships that the king had taken from the Turks. During the 1452 trip, Father Bosset who
remained in Africa, devoted himself to encourage captives and to preach the Gospel. After he had made a renegade come
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back to his faith, the Moors, blinded by their religious hatred, silenced him and imprisoned him. To anger him, the Moors
would bring him people who uttered horrible blasphemies against Jesus Christ’s divinity, they would beat him, giving him
only some bread and water until they left him without food for four days. Then when Pedro felt he was losing his strength,
he addressed the Lord entrusting the captives to him and gladly offering the sacrifice of his own life. He died embracing
the cross.
After Father Company returned to Tunis, he remained in captivity. During that time, he wrote prayers and litanies
which he would recite every day to implore divine help for the liberation of captives. After 15 years in captivity, Father
Company was finally liberated in 1457, after King Alfonso V gave a few ships back to the Moors. Father Company was
elected Master General “having lived 55 years in the Order with great virtue,” as can be read in the letter which John II
sent to the pope to request his confirmation. He died as a saint in Valencia on December 20, 1479. His remains were
buried in the Church of El Puig. Mercedarian chroniclers highly praised him, calling him blessed or holy and this is the
way he was venerated by everyone.
Juan de Zorroza and Juan de Huete were part of another holocaust of the Mercedarian redemptions. They were
killed in Baeza in 1482 because they had encouraged the faith of Christian captives at a time when Moors were
exasperated by the capture of Alhama by the Reyes Católicos. Both redeemers spent a long time in jail where they endured
all kinds of insults. They were taken out into the street to be exhibited with shame and handed over to boys who beat them
to death.
Alonso de Sevilla was a most humble religious who had the reputation of being a saint. He worked hard in the
Order’s most modest houses like Uncastillo and Sangüesa. In a decree of February 5, 1472, to confer full powers over the
city of Sangüesa to Brother Alonso, King John II defined him as an “honest, faithful and well-loved religious.” He died in
the odor of sanctity in the vicinity of Lérida, around 1495, praying before a cross along the way. He was walking to
Barcelona to attend a chapter. He was buried in the old cathedral of Lérida.
Natalia of Toulouse. She was born in 1312, in Gaillac in the Albi Diocese. When she was 17, she moved with her
parents to Toulouse. She started spiritual direction under a Mercedarian religious who had been in that city since 1256.
She felt called to religious life and made her wishes known to Father Bernardo Poncello. He advised her not to leave her
parents alone and to receive the habit of a Mercedarian tertiary. She was very devoted to the crucified Jesus. She is
supposed to have had the gift of bilocation: she went to Africa to convert and to free a slave girl from Calabria. Natalia
died on July 4, 1353 and was buried in the Mercedarian church of Toulouse. Ever since she died, she has been venerated
as a saint. The process of immemorial custom in the Toulouse Diocese was concluded in 1907 and it was moved to Rome.
!!
8. CULT TO THE VIRGIN OF MERCY
!Expansion of Marian Devotion in the Order
! The preeminence of the Virgin Mary appears in the Constitutions. She is the one who gathered the Mercedarian
Brothers as she gathered the disciples of the early Church around her so that they might share what they had with one soul
and one heart. The friars are to bow their heads when they hear or pronounce her name. In Nadal Gaver’s Speculum
Fratrum, Mary appears as the central figure of the Order as the inspirer, foundress, mother, coredemptress and mediatrix.
Writing in the same Marian theological line, Gaver’s contemporary, Pedro Cijar, always presents the Virgin with the Child
in her arms.
The first morning prayer is to Mary in the recitation of the Office of Saint Mary offered daily in her honor. The
1445 Constitutions contain a norm for reciting the Office of Saint Mary on Saturdays, with special prayers in honor of the
Mother of Mercy who is called Redemptrix captivorum. Each liturgical hour was to conclude with the words: In omni
tribulatione et angustia subveniat nobis Virgo Maria.
The Toledo General Chapter (1466) issued dispositions referring to the praise of the Virgin Mary, making the
special Marian Office a precept for Saturdays and setting up the recitation or singing of the prayers Virgo Parens Christi,
Salve Regina, Sancta Maria virginum piisima and Sub tuum praesidium at the different canonical hours of the day.
At the General Chapter, held in Pamplona in 1487, it was decreed that all religious were to kneel at the versicle
Monstra te esse Matrem and that the four major feasts of the Blessed Virgin, to be prepared by acts of penance, were to be
celebrated with solemn octave: The Nativity, Purification, Annunciation and Assumption. With this, the chapter of the
Praises to the Blessed Virgin was almost completed. It is part of the codexes of the late fifteenth century Constitutions
which will continue until now, with very few changes, in all subsequent Mercedarian legislation.
!
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When the feast of the Virgin of the Snows also spread outside of Rome in the fifteenth century, Mercedarians
adopted it as a family feast to remember the foundation of the Order on August 10. Later, the special feast of the Virgin of
Mercy would be set for September 24.
The bull Sane dilecti filii was issued on October 17, 1379. It favored the works of the Barcelona church which is
the “main house and head of the Order where the Blessed Virgin Mary works many miracles.”
In Palma de Majorca there is a stone sculpture (1295) of Mary of Mercy as a Mother protecting a group of people
under her cloak. In 1391, the people of Pollensa (Majorca) built a chapel to honor the Virgin of Mercy even though there
never was a Mercedarian convent in the town.
In 1388, the Order was entrusted for a while with the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This indicates the
special fervor of the Mercedarians to honor the Virgin. For a time, the Mercedarians were also entrusted with the Marian
sanctuary of Aránzazu and the Aragon basilica of Santa María del Portillo.
In 1397, Queen doña María had given the name of Saint Mary of Mercy to an elegant merchant vessel sailing on
the Mediterranean sea.
Mercedarian confraternities were increasing in various houses and the confraternity of weavers was set up in the
Barcelona church under the protection of Mary of Mercy.
When the kings granted privileges to the Order, they usually made references to their love of the Virgin.
In 1414, Master General Antonio Caxal addressed the Holy See in these words: “In special praise and glory of
God and of his glorious Mother, the Virgin Mary who is the foundation and the head of our Institute…”
From the records of Master General Nadal Gaver’s canonical visits, it is clear that the image of the Virgin of
Mercy presided in many of the Order’s churches. When Master Urgel started to visit convents in 1492, he found that the
Virgin’s image was venerated on the main altar of almost all Mercedarian churches.
!
51!
!
III
UNTIL THE TRIDENTINE REFORM
!
(1492-1574)
!
INCEPTION OF EVANGELIZATION
!
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1. THE FIRST MERCEDARIANS IN THE AMERICAS
!
When the New World burst on the stage of European history, along with Franciscans, Dominicans and
Augustinians (the only religious orders authorized by the Reyes Católicos to go to America), the Order of Mercy
zealously undertook the task of evangelizing the inhabitants of these virgin lands.
It has been ascertained that no priest or religious took part in Christopher Columbus’ first journey. Christian faith
came to the new continent with the second voyage (1493). The Italian chronicler, Peter Martir de Anghiera, a necessary
reference for all who seek reliable information about that event, is certain that Mercedarians went with Columbus at the
beginning. He has irrefutable proof of the Mercedarian presence in the Americas since he quenched his thirst for
knowledge by direct contact with the protagonists and witnesses of the events which he narrates meticulously. In relating
the exploration of the coasts of Cuba, this author provides a text dealing with the presence of a Mercedarian friar. Because
this text is so important in the history of the Church in the Americas, it is quoted literally: “When firewood was being cut
and barrels filled, one of our crossbowmen went hunting in the forest. There, he came upon a man clothed in white so
suddenly that at first sight, he thought he was a brother of the Order of Saint Mary of Mercy whom the admiral had taken
along as a priest” (De Orbe novo Decades, Compluti 1516, f. 9).
According to de Anghiera’s cited text, the presence of at least one Mercedarian friar with Columbus on his second
journey is undeniable. In the many testimonies from dependable historians, from the Order and from others, we can verify
the names of three Mercedarian religious who accompanied Columbus: Juan Infante, Juan de Solórzano and Jorge de
Sevilla. Modern authors have attempted to identify the Mercedarian mentioned by Peter Martir with Friar Jorge, the
superior of the Seville convent, who was in the Indies in April 1495. In his instructions to Columbus, the king requested
the friar’s return to Spain and after the religious organizer of the missionary expedition of 1493, Minim Bernardo Boyl
had returned in December of the previous year. Friar Jorge was in Spain as provincial of Castile in 1505.
!!
2. ESTABLISHMENT IN AMERICA
!Preliminary General Situation
! The redemptive Order of Mercy was about to assume its mission from a missionary perspective which would have
a profound impact on the evangelizing task in the Americas.
When it was proven that the new continent was not a deserted, empty and uninhabited land belonging to no one
but that, instead, it was inhabited and it had a very advanced culture and civilization, the Order’s superiors felt a strong
impulse to evangelize the people. The Mercedarian Province of Castile generously provided an uninterrupted contingent
of brothers. Along with the Gospel, they brought their Mother, Mary of Mercy, from Central America to Tierra del Fuego.
The provincial of Castile, Father Antonio de Valladolid, had the invaluable insight to send the first Mercedarians
to America. Juridically, the Province of Castile could establish itself in these lands since they were subject to the kingdom
of Castile. This is why the Mercedarian religious, who went from Spain to America, belonged to that province.
In May 1493, Pope Alexander VI had granted the Reyes Católicos the rights to conquer the islands and the lands
of the American continent, with the condition that they would send God-fearing men to teach the Catholic faith and
Christian customs to the natives. The kings of Spain never forgot this condition and they observed it as a precept from the
Roman Pontiff who was in charge of the propagation of the Gospel throughout the world. Ever since the beginning of
evangelization in America, the kings of Spain asked the Orders’ provincials, either through letters or summoning them in
person to the Court, to look in their communities for the most suitable and willing religious who wanted to go to convert
non-Christians in order to send them to the new continent for at least ten years.
At this point, one might wonder why the Order of Mercy, a redemptive Order, decided to become involved in the
evangelization of these new people. Friars contemporary with these events already endeavored to respond to this concern.
In his Chronicle, Father Bernardo de Vargas shows that in going to America to evangelize aborigines, Mercedarians were
doing this in the spirit of redemption which characterized their institutional charism. The redemption of the soul is
essential and the redemption of the body is only a means to obtain the former. On the other hand, in a letter addressed to
his provincial. Friar Juan de Vargas, Father Luis de Valderrama, a missionary in the Tucumán region, tells him: “the
multitude of believers increases daily and our sacred Institute, founded in Spain to redeem captives, dedicates itself in
these remote lands to another lofty kind of redemption; it liberates souls from the deception of the devil and it redeems so
many of them that it is impossible to know their number.” The principle of a genuine theology of liberation is found in
52!
53!
!
these expressions: the truth of the Gospel is the only truth which can lead to total liberation and to human promotion. In
his work, Chronicler Vargas himself states that the natives’ conversion to faith in Christ constitutes an authentic
redemption from the slavery of idolatry, of superstition and of the devil.
!Santo Domingo, the First Convent of the Americas (1514)
! Father Francisco de Bovadilla’s arrival in America was very important for the Mercedarian presence in these lands
since he was responsible for the foundation of the Santo Domingo convent.
A document of July 15, 1514, preserved in the General Archives of the Indies, is the earliest mention of the
foundation of the Santo Domingo Mercedarian convent which subsequently became a house of observance and studies
and the missionary center of the Order.
We know from this document that in the apportionment which took place in the city of Santo Domingo, the Order
of Mercy was assigned three naborias (day laborers) who were to work to build the convent and the church. During the
first decades of the evangelization of the Indies, this important large convent housed ten or so Mercedarian missionaries in
its cloisters. In 1528, there were fifteen religious in the community (9 priests and 6 professed). Between 1528 and 1534
alone, twenty-seven religious, in their white monastic habits, walked through the luminous arcades of this historical
Mercedarian abode. Their names will not be easily forgotten since many of them would become the founders of new
convents on the continent. From then on, Santo Domingo will be the arrival point of Mercedarian religious from Spain to
America and a center of expansion to other regions. Their convent would quickly be the largest and best structured. On
July 15, 1530, the Council and Government of the city wrote a letter to the king stating: “Among the monasteries in the
city, there is one of Our Lady of Mercy… and until now it has not been possible to begin work in said house which is why
nothing has been done as what is now planned… A very sumptuous church for said house has been started…”
As a result of the first battle in which Columbus faced natives in May 1495, when the miracle of the cross and the
apparition of the Virgin of Mercy occurred, a chapel was built according to Columbus’ testament. It is dedicated to the
Virgin Mary of Mercy, proclaimed Patroness of Santo Domingo, on September 8, 1616. Today this first American Marian
sanctuary is an accredited center of cult to Mary. Her image was a gift from Queen Isabella to the first Mercedarian
religious. Therefore, we have grounds to assert that the Virgin of Mercy was the first Marian title known and venerated by
natives in the New World. Soon a Mercedarian convent was built there.
!Panama
! After Santo Domingo, the Mercedarians founded the first convent on the continent in Panama in 1522. It would
become the starting point of Spanish expansion to South America. A good friend of Pedrarias Dávila, the founder of the
city (1519), Father Francisco de Bovadilla set up the foundation of this convent which would later belong to the Province
of Lima.
At Pedrarias’ request, the active missionary went back to Spain and he attended the provincial chapter of Castile
in Burgos in 1526. There, he gave an extensive report on the Mercedarians in America and their needs. The chapter agreed
that Father Francisco should return as vice provincial to Santo Domingo and take twelve religious with him in order to
start regular observance. Pedrarias begged Charles V to receive Father Francisco de Bovadilla, an exemplary and
knowledgeable person who was going to report to him, the emperor received him on four occasions. He confirmed the
foundation of Mercedarian monasteries in America and authorized him to open others.
Back in America, this active organizer, established the first convent in Santa Marta, Colombia, at the end of 1527.
He left Father Juan de Chaves there as superior with three other religious whom he had brought along from Spain.
The following year, with his friend Pedrarias Dávila and a group of Mercedarians, Father Francisco headed for
Nicaragua where, with four religious, he established a Mercedarian convent in the new city of León (1528). He named
Father Diego de Alcaraz as superior and as conventuals, Fathers Diego de Salazar, Pedro de Málaga and Alonso Dómino.
There, he also preached the Gospel with passion and baptized many natives.
Around 1536, Father Bovadilla was at work elsewhere. In Peru, in October 1537, he was appointed by Francisco
Pizarro and Diego de Almagro to arbitrate the dispute between both conquerors about possessing the city of Cuzco. “The
arbitrator did not pass quick judgment but only after previous study and knowledge of the cause and when it was
possible.” However, everything ended abruptly with the battle of Salinas (1538) near Cuzco when Almagro was defeated
and executed by the Pizarro brothers. As superior of Cuzco, Mercedarian Juan de Vargas has the sad mission of burying
Chile’s discoverer in the Mercedarian Church.
The dynamic Francisco Bovadilla surrendered his soul to God in Lima during the winter of 1538.
!Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica
! !
54
!
The first bishop of Guatemala, Francisco Marroquín, writes that the Mercedarians were the first religious to arrive
in the region in 1535 and that Father Juan de Zambrana was the most distinguished evangelizer of the country. He was
also the founder of the Mercedarian convent in the old city of Santiago de Guatemala.
Another renowned missionary, a good organizer and a companion of Father Juan de Zambrana was Father Marcos
Dardón, the founder of the convent of Ciudad Real of Chiapas (1537). In 1549, at the request of the President of the Royal
Audiencia [Court] of Guatemala, don Alonso López, Father Dardón founded the convents of Gracias a Dios, Tencoa and
Comayagua in Honduras. In 1551, Bishop Marroquín made him responsible for a group of seven doctrinas in Guatemala.
Father Dardón evangelized them and he died in the capital city in 1558. Missionaries Juan de Zárate and Francisco
Alcaraz were his contemporaries and companions. They continued to spread Christianity in Guatemala and they were also
active in El Salvador.
Costa Rica was discovered by Columbus in 1502, but Spaniards only came in 1560, with Juan Cavallón who
brought Mercedarians Lázaro Guido and Cristóbal Gaitán as chaplains. They obtained the conversion of Indian Chief
Coyoche who was the most important leader in Costa Rica. The two Mercedarians were the first missionaries of that
country where they were baptizing with the permission of the prelate of León. They did not establish any convents there.
!Mexico
! The first priest to set foot on Mexican land was Mercedarian Bartolomé de Olmedo. He was Hernán Cortés’
friend, chaplain and adviser. He arrived in America in 1516, at the age of 31. From Santo Domingo, he went to Havana
and landed with Cortés’ expedition first in Cozumel and then in Veracruz (1519). He had to comfort Spanish soldiers in
the Noche Triste [Sad Night] episode (July 1, 1520) during which many soldiers and natives died in a bloody night
confrontation which ended up with Spaniards abandoning the city. The friar’s life was miraculously saved.
Historians of the conquest of the Aztec Empire are unanimous in their favorable expressions of praise for the
many-sided activities that this young Mercedarian had to undertake. They underline his intelligence, culture, sound
judgment, his loyalty to his friends, his knowledge of the natives’ idiosyncrasies to promote a better understanding among
people. Chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo presents the Mercedarian in various situations, many of which were very
difficult for Cortés. From all of them, this self-sacrificing missionary emerged unharmed. Some of these situations are
interesting because they enable us to know Father Olmedo’s rich personality. He was a kind man, evangelical, candid with
Spaniards and natives, shrewd, erudite, wise and always ready to fulfill his mission. Transcending his role as the
Spaniards’ chaplain, Father Bartolomé was the pioneer of the missionaries of Mexican natives and of the evangelization of
the great Aztec Empire.
He introduced devotion to the Virgin of Mercy among Mexico’s early inhabitants. He would place an image of the
Virgin on the altar. She was “small but very beautiful and Indians fell in love with her and the friar would tell them who
she was.” Later, this Marian seed would bear fruit and Mexicans would center their love of Mary on Our Lady of
Guadalupe. Díaz del Castillo said that the good Bartolomé de Olmedo was a saintly friar who worked hard with the
natives preaching to them and teaching them the articles of faith. During the entire time of the conquest, he remained with
Cortés as his faithful adviser. He died at 39 in Mexico in November 1524. Alonso Suazo gave the news to Cortés, telling
him that “all of Mexico had mourned his death and that the Indians had not eaten from the time of his death until he was
buried.” The Franciscans celebrated his funeral and preached the homily saying that Bartolomé de Olmedo had given
more to the natives that the emperor since he had given them the knowledge of God and gained their souls for heaven.
According to his own admission, the Mercedarian baptized over 2,500 natives including the famous Malinche, Cortés’
interpreter, since she knew Spanish, giving her the Christian name, Marina. Bartolomé was buried in Santiago de
Tlatelolco.
With Father Bartolomé’s premature death, the Order lost the opportunity of establishing convents in Mexico. This
is because he went there alone and especially as Cortés’ chaplain rather than with other Mercedarians to establish the
Order in Mexico.
After him, another great missionary, Father Juan de las Varillas, replaced him as Cortés’ adviser and chaplain,
accompanying him on his expedition to Honduras in 1524. From Guatemala, he attempted to establish the Order on Aztec
land but he did not succeed. The Mercedarians had no monasteries in Mexico until 1597, when the houses of Antequera
and Puebla de Los Angeles were founded.
Venezuela
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The first Mercedarian to set foot on this little Venice was Father Antón Merino, chaplain of conqueror don Juan de
Ampiés, the founder of Coro (1527). There, this Mercedarian from the island of Santo Domingo celebrated the first Mass
in Venezuela. However, neither of these men were able to achieve what they wanted and they had to return to their starting
point.
More than a century elapsed and during that period the Order of Mercy spread throughout the rest of South
America except in Venezuela. It was only in 1637, that Mercedarians Juan de Espinoza and Baltasar the Jaque landed in
La Guaira. They founded the first Venezuelan convent in Caracas in 1642.
!Colombia
! The Mercedarians had already landed in Colombia in 1527 with Father Francisco de Bovadilla. The Gospel and
devotion to Mary of Mercy came to Colombia with another great Mercedarian apostle, Hernando de Granada. He
accompanied Captain Sebastián de Benalcázar as chaplain and he quickly earned the renown of being a man of God and
lover of the natives.
With his participation, the cities of Santa Ana de Anserma, Popayán and Cali were established between 1535 and
1542, and he established convents there. In turn, missionaries Diego Meléndez and Juan de la Orden, who had come from
Quito, founded the important convent of Pasto, a center of great devotion and cult to Mary of Mercy.
In 1543, the secular town councils of Popayán and Cali wrote Charles V to request the bishopric of Popayán for
Father Granada. In November of the following year, he was in Seville preparing to return to America and to bring more
missionaries along with him. But in May 1545, he found out that the prince, the future Philip II, had ordered that they
should not be allowed to leave, a measure which was related to the 1543 royal cedula which reduced the number of
Mercedarian monasteries in America. Friar Hernando de Granada had to resign himself to stay in Spain. However, he had
the satisfaction of having founded several convents where other friars, dressed in white, continued his work of
evangelization.
!Ecuador
! When conqueror Sebastián de Benalcázar arrived in Ecuador and most of Colombia, he was accompanied by
Mercedarians Hernando de Granada and Martín de Victoria. These religious were present at the first Quito foundation
(August 28, 1534) and at the second (December 6, 1534), both being the work of Benalcázar. In a very Christian gesture
of gratitude to Mary, Benalcázar made a donation of lands to our Lady of Mercy as the first Colonist of the city. Father
Granada immediately founded the convent, the starting point of the rich history of Mary of Mercy in Quito and in
Ecuador.
It was in this convent that the first school of Quito was founded by Martín de Victoria who had a great deal of
ability to learn native languages since in a very short time, he succeeded in speaking Incan fluently. This is why Father
Victoria taught Quechuan to religious of several Orders so that they would be able to teach natives. Father Victoria
himself wrote the first grammar of the Quechuan language. It should be mentioned that the chair for teaching the
Quechuan language at the University of Lima was created by a royal cedula only in 1580.
After he established Quito, Benalcázar left with Hernando de Granada for the estuary of the River Guayas in order
to found the city of Santiago de Guayaquil on the river banks. At the same time, the missionary founded a Mercedarian
convent (1535). On March 12 of the same year, Mercedarian Dionisio de Castro came to Manabí with Captain Francisco
Pacheco. The former had a Mercedarian convent built in Portoviejo at the same time that the city was being established.
From Quito, the Mercedarians also evangelized the Bay of San Mateo in Manabí and they went to the Amazon
with the expedition of Francisco de Orellana who was accompanied by Father Gonzalo de Vera.
!Peru
!
From the Panama convent, Mercedarians Miguel de Orenes, Diego Martínez and Sebastián de Castañeda arrived
in the Incan Empire as they accompanied conquerors Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. Their first foundation was
in San Miguel de Piura (1532). Father Antonio Bravo celebrated the first Mass in Lima on January 18, 1535, possibly
before the Spanish foundation of the city. The same year, Father Miguel de Orenes established a Mercedarian convent in
Lima and, in 1534, Father Sebastián de Castañeda founded the convent of Cuzco, the capital city of the Incan Empire,
which would soon become a major evangelization center from which frequent missionary expeditions would leave for
more remote areas.
The Order of Mercy was expanding very rapidly and during the sixteenth century, it established convents in
Trujillo (1535), Huamanga (1540), Arequipa (1540), in Chachapoyas (1541) and in the Upper Peru (Bolivia now)
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territories: Chuquisaca (1541), La Paz (1541), Potosí (1549), Cochabamba (1587), Santa Cruz de la Sierra (1557) and La
Plata, Sucre, now.
Among the most distinguished missionaries in evangelizing the inhabitants of the vast Peruvian territory, we must
also remember Fathers Juan de Vargas, Antonio Bravo, Alejo Daza, Miguel Troilo and Gabriel Alvarez de la Carrera.
Father Diego de Porres was the most eminent missionary figure of the Order. He worked with tireless zeal and
effort in evangelizing the Andean people in the sixteenth century. Born in Spain in 1531, he went to Mexico and from
there, he went to Peru as a soldier with Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. After the viceroy’s death in 1552, Porres received
the Mercedarian habit in Cuzco. He was ordained to the priesthood in Lima on June 3, 1558. In the setting of the Lima
Archdiocese, Porres quickly set his intensive missionary work into motion. Later, he moved on to the Province of
Chacalla (now Cangallo) and from there to Cuzco where he worked as a missionary in the region of Chumbivilcas and
Marcapata. He was superior of the Chuquisaca convent, vicar provincial and visitator of the Provinces of Santa Cruz de la
Sierra and Paraguay. He worked as a missionary in the Santa Cruz de la Sierra area for twelve years, “teaching and
preaching to the Indians because I understand the Chiriguana language” and as Porres himself explains, “where I have
endured hardships, hunger and risks for my life.”
He made a trip to Spain in 1583 and he informed the king about his working for 33 years preaching the Gospel
and converting natives. Father Diego de Porres himself even prepared a map of the Province of Santa Cruz and Southern
Peru which he knew like the palm of his hand and gave it to Philip II who granted him a life annuity of 1,500 pesos per
year. He went back in 1586 with 20 Mercedarian missionaries whom he personally assigned to the houses most in need of
personnel. Porres continued his apostolic work evangelizing the Chiquito, Itatin and Chiriguano natives and organizing
the Church among them. Subsequently, this missionary worked in Argentina and years later, he was appointed superior of
the large convent of the Assumption in Paraguay.
In his well-known Memorial de servicios, Porres himself relates that during his life he was responsible for many
Indian doctrinas and Indian assemblies, that he baptized and married many natives in the Church and built more than 200
churches in indigenous towns.
This illustrious Andean missionary died between 1604 and 1605, well on in years, in his city of Santa Cruz de la
Sierra.
It should be noted that at the end of the civil wars in Peru, Mercedarians devoted themselves to the evangelization
of natives in the many Indian doctrinas which they took over.
!Argentina
In the sixteenth century, Mercedarians penetrated what is Argentina today from three independent fronts and
several years apart.
From the Atlantic, they arrived with Pedro de Mendoza’s fleet to Río de la Plata. Fathers Juan de Salazar and Juan
de Almasia were present at the foundation of the port of Buenos Aires on February 2, 1536. They are credited with
revealing the Marian-Mercedarian title of Our Lady of Buen Ayre or Buenos Aires, under whose name don Pedro de
Mendoza founded the city in the port of Santa María del Buen Ayre. Later, Father Salazar accompanied Juan de Ayolas on
the expedition to Paraguay and he was present at the foundation of Asunción on August 15, 1537. At that time, he founded
the convent and church of his Order and stayed there almost ten years during which he evangelized the natives until his
death as a martyr.
The second front to enter Argentina was through the North, from Cuzco. The expedition which left Cuzco on July
3, 1535, to discover Chile under the leadership of Diego de Almagro, included Mercedarians Antonio de Solís and
Antonio de Almansa. They were the first religious of the Order to set foot on Argentine soil before crossing the Andes.
The third front came from the West. Francisco de Villagra and reinforcement troops for don Pedro de Valdivia in
Chile started out from Peru. They camped out approximately where the present day city of Mendoza is located in May
1550 and they finally arrived in Chile in October 1551. Father Antonio Sarmiento Rendón accompanied this expedition.
From Chile, after crossing the Andes Mountains, Mercedarians established the Mendoza convent (1562) and they
evangelized the territory.
During Juan Pérez de Zurita’s government, Father Diego de Porres founded the convent of Santiago del Estero
(1557), the first Mercedarian house in Argentina. In the lands of the Tucumán’s government, Mercedarians were present
since the arrival of Spaniards and their convent dates back to 1565. In 1568, the superior of Santiago del Estero sent
Father Luis de Valderrama, a native of Quito, who built the convent of Talavera del Esteco. The Mercedarians carried out
their evangelizing work among the Diaguito, Chiriguano and Tamacoci natives. Missionary Fathers Luis de Valderrama,
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Gonzalo Ballesteros, Pedro de Cervantes, Antonio Pereyra, Pedro Castillo and Cristóbal de Albarrán who was martyred
later, were especially outstanding in the area.
!Chile
!
Adelantado [at the time of the Spanish conquest, the person with highest power in America] Diego de Almagro
crossed part of Bolivia and Northern Argentina to discover Chile (1535). He brought Mercedarians Antonio de Almanza
and Antonio de Solís as chaplains. They were the first priests and religious to tread on Chilean territory. For Almagro, this
trip was an odyssey and a disaster: crushed, defeated by indomitable Araucanians and impoverished, he returned to Cuzco.
The Mercedarians went back with him and they were in the same physical condition.
Years later, on February 12, 1540, Pedro de Valdivia, also from Cuzco, succeeded in founding Santiago (Chile). In
1548, the following priests settled in the future Chilean capital: Fathers Antonio Correa, from Portugal, the first
historically recognized apostle of Chile and founder of the Santiago convent which would become the alma mater of the
Province of Chile; Antonio de Olmedo and Miguel de Benavente who joined the first Mercedarian community in Chile.
On Huelén hill, now Santa Lucía, Father Correa used to celebrate Mass and to evangelize the natives through singing and
music, a method which proved to be original and very effective among sixteenth century Mercedarian missionaries in the
Americas. In 1551, this incipient community was reinforced by Father Antonio Sarmiento Rendón, later called the Apostle
of Arauco, a people he evangelized for over twenty-five years. He was a priest in Angol and Villarica and Osorno’s first
pastor.
In the sixteenth century, several Mercedarian convents rose rapidly on Chilean territory: Santiago (1548),
Concepción (1550), Imperial (1550), Villarica (1550), Valdivia (1552), La Serena (1556), Mendoza (1562), Angol (1564)
and Osorno (1578).
It is worth underscoring the vicissitudes which the Araucanian convents endured, especially La Concepción. It
was destroyed along with the city by Araucanians in 1554. It was rebuilt in 1558, once again destroyed by indomitable
Araucanians in 1564 and once more rebuilt by the no less determined Father Juan de Zamora in 1566.
!!
3. APOSTOLIC WORK IN AMERICA
!Initial Activity
! It is necessary to think that like any Europeans, Mercedarians had no knowledge whatsoever of the reality of
American people. They neither knew their language nor the idiosyncrasies of so many different peoples. Therefore, it was
difficult to penetrate into the intimacy of the hearts of unknown people. Nevertheless, the depth, the vitality, the
magnitude and the fruits of Mercedarian missions on this continent are wonderfully surprising. Mercedarians only knew
they were coming to preach the Gospel and to convert a pagan multitude.
The languages, so different from that of Cervantes, were the first obstacle. Although the richness of languages is
something that is culturally positive, for the missionaries, it was one more obstacle since from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego
there were various languages very different from one another. Like other missionaries, Mercedarians started to proclaim
the Gospel by following the inspiration from the Holy Spirit and their good Christian sense. They were using rudimentary
methods.
In South America, missionaries came across great difficulties for evangelization such as the enormous distances,
swift rivers, high mountains, thick forests and vast deserts. But they also found many factors which benefited
evangelization especially in the territories of the Incan Empire: royal roads crisscrossing Incan domains, established
towns, large cities, a developed agriculture, a very advanced social organization, a general language and, above all, the
good disposition of the inhabitants to accept the Gospel.
In addition to their ministry in cities, Mercedarian missionaries were going to evangelize natives who lived far
away. These people were scattered in large and small towns, very distant from one another. Missionaries had to go look
for them on their evangelizing visits. At times, the religious would stay to live among them in order to intensify the
teaching of religion. Missionary shortage and the distances made the frequent repetition of such visits difficult.
The missionary’s success depended on whether the natives received him well or not. If he was welcomed, he
would begin the catechesis in the open. A cross would be erected first and then the construction of a church would start. In
this way, people were learning the first rudiments of faith. This was the earliest way of preaching the Gospel.
The catechetical methodology was very simple although it was rather effective: the first didactic resources were
the cross and Mary’s image. With these as a basis, missionaries would explain the foundations of faith, through gestures at
first, then through a native interpreter and finally, after they had learned the language, in their own words. Fathers
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Bartolomé de Olmedo in Mexico, Antonio Correa in Chile, Marcos Dardón in Chiapas and Martín de Victoria in Ecuador,
used music as a novel and effective way of capturing the attention of their listeners.
The conquistador of American lands became the owner. He would assign or entrust [encomendar] people with
their lands and goods to Spanish settlers with the condition that, in exchange for tribute and service, they were to provide
either a cleric or a religious to teach Christian faith to the encomendados. The person in charge of an encomienda or
allotment was called an encomendero. Because he had to provide a priest and pay his salary, the encomendero was
practically in charge of evangelization. This is why the priest felt conditioned by the encomendero’s wish. This system,
legalized by the crown, was the source of abuses which the Church had to confront in order to defend the natives. In part,
this process helped evangelization but it also had negative results for missionaries and their teaching work.
The missionary priest taught Christian doctrine in the encomienda. This is why the site where the evangelical
proclamation took place was called a doctrina and the person in charge of a doctrina was a doctrinero. In general, the
terms missionary and doctrinero had the same meaning. A doctrinero could not govern a doctrina [usually including a
church, priest’s residence, school, hospital, cemetery and a workshop] if he did not speak the language of the natives.
Despite good royal legislation, as long as the colony lasted, there were polemics. It is regrettable that bishops, clerics and
religious were their protagonists.
In fact the doctrinas were catechetical centers, genuine rural parishes. Each doctrina included several villages
separated by great distances. The main village served as the principal center. It usually had a church as a meeting place,
for teaching and learning Christian prayers. With regard to the dynamics of the teaching, adults were meeting twice a
week for catechesis and children had to attend daily. The beginnings of a doctrina were difficult: missionaries had to
travel long distances to get in touch with every village. Later on and only when the encomiendas were suppressed did the
doctrinas take on the nature of missionary centers under the zealous vigilance of bishops and religious superiors.
Throughout America, Mercedarians had numerous and very important doctrinas.
!Defending the Natives
! Spanish legislation about aborigines was undoubtedly humane and its inspiration was Christian. However, its
practical application left a lot to be desired and it was the source of countless abuses.
The Order of Mercy raised its voice against this everywhere from the start of the conquest. It had not fought for
the sake of freedom for three hundred years on the old continent for nothing. In America, Mercedarians confronted
conquistadores, drawing encomenderos’ attention and constantly informing the king by letters and reports. This went on in
the historical period from the time that American convents belonged to the Province of Castile until they were later
constituted as new autonomous provinces.
Thus, among others, Father Marcos Dardón, an untiring Mercedarian missionary in Central America, was named
by the Guatemala Royal Assembly as “protector and defender of the Indians,” a responsibility which he carried out
diligently for five years. In León, Nicaragua, Father Francisco de Bovadilla was a great defender of the natives as he
himself expressed in a letter from Toledo to Queen Joan, on July 31, 1551. In 1550, by a royal cedula, the king of Spain
ordered 500 natives be set free following the advice and intercession of Mercedarian missionary, Juan de Almazán. In
1551, Father Bartolomé de Montesinos presented the same defense of the natives working in the Potosí mines to the
Charcas Assembly. In 1576, from New Granada, Father Alonso de Avila informed Philip II about the abuse to which
encomenderos subjected natives. In Chile, Fathers Antonio Correa, Antonio Sarmiento Rendón and Miguel de Benavente
staunchly defended Indians from mistreatment by encomenderos.
This attitude toward those who held temporal power placed missionaries in a key position for natives to believe
and trust them.
!!
4. CONSOLIDATION OF THE ORDER IN AMERICA
!Religious Life
! The friars had a hard time adapting to the new life which their apostolic activity in America imposed on them.
Everything was very different from the convent life which they had led in their peninsular monasteries. Yet, they did their
best to maintain communal life by establishing strategic convents which served as starting points for evangelizing
expeditions and as centers of observance. Thus the so-called major or large convents were fundamental. They were Santo
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Domingo, Panama, Guatemala, Quito, Cuzco, Lima, Santiago (Chile), Buenos Aires and Asunción in Paraguay. Prayer
and life in common were springs which vitalized evangelizing work and made it fruitful. Father Antonio Correa organized
praying Matins at midnight at the Santiago convent. Other convents did the same. Testimony of one’s life was the best
way to support preaching.
Mercedarian missionaries did all their work prompted by their love of Christ and they endured hardships,
discomfort and the deprivation which the environment imposed on them. Human interest did not rule their actions and
they let natives know that their concern was to make them good Christians. With efforts and sacrifices, they built the first
churches dedicated to Mary of Mercy.
Most of the first convents were very modest buildings. At times, charitable patrons would provide the material
means to build a more solid and larger church and convent. It should be noted that though Mercedarians were present at
the foundations of many cities and though they had received lots on which to build a church and a convent for their Order,
they managed to build their own houses and the house of the Lord only later. On the other hand, the prolonged struggle of
the conquest, implied a great deal of effort, a lack of security and anguish for Spaniards as well as for the natives.
Only friars who were solidly formed in Saint Peter Nolasco’s spirit succeeded in sowing faith in Christ and love
of Mary of Mercy. They were the ones who created the now flourishing American Provinces.
!Vocations, Formation and Studies
! During the sixteenth century, the Order of Mercy sent 387 missionary friars from Spain to America. To them, one
should add friars originally from Spain and many Creoles who received their formation in cloisters and were consecrated
priests in the New World.
As the houses of the Order multiplied and the territories, which became part of the Spanish Empire in America
expanded, the Province of Castile received the enthusiastic and essential help of American vocations. A glance at the
books of professions shows that the vocational movement was slow at first but it was continuous. From 1575 on, many
more men took their vows in the Order of Mercy. They were not adolescents but more mature young men. Almost all of
them were candidates to the priesthood and a few of them to coadjutor brothers.
Novices and young students, formed in American convents, emerged marked by the missionary spirit of the
pervading atmosphere of these lands. Their formation was not inferior to the one received in Spain since it was based on
the Constitutions and most of the professors were from Spain and trained in Spanish universities. The first Mercedarian
priests of the New World were formed like European novices and professed. They observed the same Constitutions; they
were steeped in the same charism and similar methods. They studied theology in convents of the Order and in universities
of major American cities. When the Province of Chile was set up in 1566, there were already three priests formed in
Santiago.
Among the first group of American-formed friars during this initial period, the following men excelled: Antonio
Correa, Alonso Muñoz, Antonio Carvallo, Diego de Yuva, Alejo Daza, Diego de Porres and Antonio Bravo. Born in Santo
Domingo, Antonio was an illustrious missionary in Guatemala and later in Peru. Father Marcos Dardón lived as a student
for several years in the Santo Domingo convent before he was ordained a priest. In 1550, the son of a Spaniard and of a
Christian native, Friar Gabriel Alvarez de la Carrera, received the habit and studied in Cuzco. Before becoming a religious
(1549), he served as an interpreter and wrote the deed in which Incan Cayo Topa, Atahualpa’s cousin, made a donation to
the Cuzco convent.
Many of the first American vocations emerged in Guatemala. After being professed, these young Central
Americans would go to study at the Royal University of Mexico with an older religious who served as a teacher. This
pattern started in 1574. Since the Order did not yet have any convents in the land of the Aztecs, religious students lived
outside of the city in a house loaned by a friend of Father Olmedo. When they completed their studies, after six years, they
would return to Guatemala and other young religious came to study in the same manner.
!Process of Autonomy of the American Provinces
! With the expansion of the Order to places separated by enormous distances where convents were established,
religious residing in South America soon felt the need to have some autonomy from the Province of Castile from which
most of the Spanish friars came. In fact, from Spain, it was impossible to govern so many convents located so far apart.
The huge distances, the affairs whose nature required immediate attention and other inconveniences prompted American
religious to become an autonomous province as was the case with other religious orders. With time, these aspirations
gathered strength among the friars. Thus, the religious who were working there experienced the need to have a central
government with closer headquarters within reach of the places where they were doing their apostolic work.
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A certain independence was conceded to them with the appointment of vicars provincials who resided in America
and could intervene in the name of the provincial of Castile in the life of the convents and in the missionaries’ work. As
time went by, this proved insufficient and American religious sought a broader and more complete organization. Father
Juan de Vargas went from Spain to Santa Marta (1533) and shortly after (1537), to Peru. In November 1556, he
summoned an assembly in the Cuzco convent in which the superiors of Cuzco, Lima, Trujillo, Panama, Quito,
Chachapoyas, Arequipa and eight professed friars took part. They elected Juan de Vargas—the one who had called the
meeting— as provincial of Peru, Tierra Firme, Popayán and Chile. The participants designated Fathers Miguel de Orenes
and Alejo Daza as their representatives to appear before the pope, the king, the authorities of the Council of the Indies and
of the Order to negotiate their respective approvals.
For this cause’s sake, Father Juan de Vargas, the visionary leader of the creation of the first American Mercedarian
Province and of the total autonomy of the Indies’ convents, traveled to Rome to explain the friars’ position with valid and
powerful arguments and reasons. He succeeded in obtaining a bull from Pius IV, in Rome, on December 30, 1560,
according to which the election of Cuzco was “confirmed and approved.” After a lot of hard work, Father Vargas was
heard by the Castile provincial who yielded to the motives and demands of the priest and granted autonomy to American
religious. Then, in a document of January 13, 1563, Gaspar de Torres, the provincial of Castile, divided the Order of Our
Lady of Mercy of America into four provinces: the Province of Guatemala with the convents of Guatemala, Chiapas,
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and for a while Mexico; the Province of Cuzco with the existing convents in the Cuzco
region, Charcas and the ones to be founded near Río de Plata; the Province of Lima with the houses of the territories of
Lima, Quito, Popayán, New Kingdom of Granada and Panama and the Province of Chile with the pre-existing houses and
those to be set up around the Magellan Straits.
Father Vargas returned to America. He brought seven more religious with him. In appreciation for his persevering
struggle for independence, Father Vargas was elected as the first provincial of the new Mercedarian Province of Cuzco.
!!
5. THE LIFE OF THE ORDER IN EUROPE
!The Masters General
! During this period, six Masters General steered the bark of Saint Peter Nolasco as his successors for life.
After hearing the news of the death of the Master General, Antoine Morell, in Toulouse on June 15, 1492, Juan de
Urgel (1492-1513), the prior of Barcelona, summoned electors to gather in chapter in Barcelona on September 8 of the
same year and he himself was proclaimed Master General. In 1493, he held his first chapter in Huesca. Important
measures for the life of the Order were taken at that chapter. During his government, the first Mercedarians went to the
New World with Christopher Columbus and, among others, the Oran convent was established (1509). Juan de Urgel died
in Barcelona on August 26, 1513.
Jaime Llorens de la Mata (1513-1522) was born in La Mata (Teruel). He received the Mercedarian habit in the
convent of Santa María de El Olivar. He was a doctor in theology and a professor at Huesca University. He was the
superior of El Olivar when he was elected Master General on November 23, 1513, and Pope Leo X confirmed his election
on January 18, 1514. He held his first chapter in Játiva in 1514. During his generalate, Friar Bartolomé de Olmedo went to
America and thanks to him, the new church of El Olivar convent was built. Father de la Mata promoted the redemption of
captives. He encouraged studies in the Order and sent students to Paris and to Alcalá de Henares. He died in El Olivar
convent on June 7, 1522.
Benito Safont (1522-1535) was from Elche (Alicante). He was a philosopher and a renowned theologian. His
election as Master General occurred in Barcelona on August 20, 1522 and it was confirmed by Pope Adrian VI on October
24 of the same year. The following year, Safont held his first chapter in Barcelona. He fostered the cultural movement of
the Order by increasing the privileges of theology masters bringing them to the same level as doctors in law or canons. He
chose responsible and prestigious religious as vicars general for Italy. He died in Barcelona on August 20, 1535.
Pedro Sorell (1535-1546), a Catalan by birth, was chosen for the supreme government of the Order on November
11, 1535, when he was the Barcelona prior. His election was confirmed by Paul III. He held his first chapter in Saragossa
in 1536. During the chapter, for redemption’s sake and in a spirit of greater restraint, he renounced certain privileges
enjoyed by the Master General and a collector was appointed for each province to collect the responses and the dobla
(share paid by each capitular for the chapter’s expenses) to deposit the money in the Taula or the Bank of Barcelona and it
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was established that collectors should also get the convents’ contribution for the support of a student from each province
in Paris. Sorell died in Barcelona on February 10, 1546.
Miguel Puig (1546-1567) was the Barcelona prior when he was elected on May 2, 1546, by the chapter held in
that city. Paul III confirmed his election. He held his first chapter in Gerona on October 17, 1547. Numerous masters,
preachers and writers were in attendance. At that chapter, Master Gregorio Arcisio exposed his conclusions (an academic
exercise on a doctrinal theme). It was the first time on record for such an exercise which would later be the norm at the
Order’s chapters. In reference to promoting studies, the chapter made the Paris College support one student from each
province. Master Puig made sure that the chapter’s provisions were put into practice without neglecting the redemption of
captives. The 1561 redemption involved many captives. Puig died in Barcelona on November 22, 1567.
Matías Papiol (January 1568-July 1568) was the Barcelona prior. At Master Puig’s death, he convoked electors for
January 20, 1568. The chapter was held and he was elected Master General. The election was not confirmed by express
wish of Philip II to the Holy See. Matías Papiol died in Saragossa on July 23, 1568. He was the last Master General for
life of the Order of Mercy.
Upon his death and in keeping with the Constitutions in force at the time, the prior of Barcelona, Bernardo Durán,
headed the Order as vicar general. However, due to instructions of King Philip II and to the appointment of apostolic
visitators for the Provinces of Aragon and Castile by Pope Pius V on August 20, 1569, no general chapter was held until
1574, in Guadalajara.
!New Foundations and Residence of the Procurator in Rome
! During that time, there were different foundations. Some of them would become very important at a later time.
Immediately after the conquest of Granada in 1492, a convent was established less than a mile away from the city
and in 1500, it was moved close to the Elvira gate. Gonzalo de Ubeda, the superior and auxiliary bishop of Granada, had
the church and most of the convent built between 1521 and 1525.
In 1499, Mercedarians accepted the donation of the hermitage of Vera Cruz and other properties outside of
Málaga offered by Alonso de Ribera, one of the city’s conquerors, to erect a convent. Because the place was threatened by
pirates’ raids, in 1507, the Mercedarians moved inside the ramparts to a site given to them by the city and confirmed by
Queen Joan.
In 1509, the Counts of Palma founded a convent in Ecija in the Province of Seville and Alonso de Godoy, the
superior of Huete, accepted the donation.
In 1515, Father Nicolas Barrère completed a foundation in Paris on a plot behind the Sorbonne donated by the
Count of Dreux, Alain d’Albret. It was the headquarters of the College.
An important college was founded in 1518 in Alcalá de Henares in houses donated by the University with the
honorable obligation for the superior to be the University curator.
The Ronda convent was established in 1522. Antonio de Chaves was its first superior and don Pedro Martín de la
Mata, its patron. When Pedro de Orense was the superior, it was transferred to a better location in 1551.
New foundations were also started in Italy during the second half of the fifteenth century. Around 1567, Father
Juan Ordoñez from the Province of Castile, went to Italy with the task of visiting existing convents and of founding
others. In 1567, he founded the convent of Santa María del Monte in Naples. However, due to a flood, it was abandoned
two years later. In 1569, the religious moved to the Santa Ursula convent in Naples, a convent with a long history.
The year Father Ordoñez went to Rome (1569), he agreed with the canons of Santa María in Trastevere to look
after the church of Santa Rufina. In 1582, Father Ordoñez was named procurator general and, in that house, he set up the
center of the Order’s procurators general. In fact, all religious who, before him, had to handle special matters with the
Holy See, came to Rome for a while and they would stay in that place until they had completed what they had come to do.
Procurators general will also serve as vicars general for the houses in Italy.
Around 1590, Father Pedro de León founded the Rocca di Papa convent which would later go to Discalced
Mercedarians.
The extensive data contained in the minutes of the 1547 Gerona General Chapter reveals the Order’s make up
around the middle of the sixteenth century. In the Province of Catalonia , there were 14 convents with 87 friars; in Aragon
and Navarre, 15 with 124; in Valencia 7 with 78; in Castile, 32 with about 300 and in France, 14 with 140. The three
Italian convents, Cagliari, Naples and Palermo could have had as many as 30 religious. There were about 20 houses in
America. Several of these were missionary residences with 154 religious altogether. Therefore, in the Order as a whole,
there were approximately 900 religious in 106 houses.
!A Difficult Situation in France
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With the Protestant turmoil, religious wars broke out in France. They were especially directed at religious houses.
In part, these did not have a lot of personnel and they were heavily burdened with extraordinary taxes. During this period,
the Order of Mercy and the other religious institutes suffered great losses in human lives and properties in the houses of
Southern France.
In 1548, the Mercedarians of Auterive, in the Foix County, presented a petition to the king of Navarre—they were
his subjects—asking for the preservation of their assets described in the inventory they presented, assets which were
threatened by reformers. The resistance lasted until 1570, when the convent was destroyed. Years later, in 1598, King
Henry IV gave a contribution to restore it.
In 1547, the Montpellier superior, Pedro Penxinat, had serious difficulties in sustaining his community made up of
about ten religious and he had to sell a few properties. Jean Dufoure was elected superior at the 1561 chapter and he saw
his convent destroyed in the same year. In spite of that, he stayed there for some time. He rented some community
properties which were later assigned to the Carcassonne convent by the 1586 Toulouse chapter. Later, this Montpellier
convent was rebuilt.
The Toulouse convent lost several properties, especially with the fire of a mill near Carmail in 1560. But, it
managed to avoid destruction thanks to the prestige of Father Antoine Tremoulières who had been a member of that city’s
parliament.
The Béziers convent had a worse fate since it was destroyed by rebels in 1562. Provincial Pedro Penxinat filed a
claim with the authorities who gave him heretic Léon Malvoyr’s house. The religious settled there until 1584 when the
same authorities gave the house back to its owner. The Mercedarians left the place. Their convent in ruins was given to the
Jesuits.
In 1563, the Maleville convent burned down causing serious damages. Other convents also suffered losses
because of the religious wars but they were able to survive. They were poor and became even poorer.
Not only properties but above all, people were lost in this struggle: several religious were murdered. Some authors
writing toward the end of the century exaggerated in indicating the losses and the number of dead and the Mercedarians
also believed this exaggeration. Since there were about 150 religious in France, there could not have been that many dead.
In that situation, the Province of France was ruled by vicars provincial for several years. But, things were
gradually returning to normal. At the May 8, 1599 chapter held in Toulouse, Jean Castet, who had been a vicar and the
superior of that convent, was confirmed. In 1597, this friar had founded the Salies-du-Salat convent where he had also set
up the Confraternity of Mercy for which he asked the procurator general, Bernardo de Vargas, to obtain the approval of
the Statutes from the Holy See for the spiritual benefit of the members.
Among Mercedarians, no religious supported the reformer’s ideas. On the contrary, some of them fought against
errors, both orally and in writing, like Fathers Tremoulières and Dionisio de Altoponte. All religious remained faithful to
the Church and once peace was obtained, they devoted themselves to material and spiritual reform in keeping with the
impetus of the Council of Trent and the decisions of the Order’s general chapters.
!Attempted Reforms
! As the number of friars and of convents was increasing, it became evident that some constitutional provisions
should be modified to be more suited to the circumstances.
Thus, at the Huesca chapter (1493), an important decision was made to suppress perpetual encomiendas entirely
since their results were deplorable. It was also determined that no one was to graduate from a university without
permission from the Master General or the provincial. It was also agreed to have chapters in each province so that friars
would not have to make long journeys, a mandate which was later added to the Constitutions. It was also decreed to
amend the Constitutions at the chapter concerning clothing which specified that every friar was to wear the shield on his
cape and on his scapular. From then on, it should read: on the cape or the scapular. Wearing tabards or capes when
traveling is allowed whereas it was absolutely forbidden before.
The records of this chapter also note that many breviaries and missals were not according to the Order. Because
the cost of manuscripts was very high, friars used whatever they were given as it was done in the thirteenth century. This
must have made the Master General, Juan de Urgel, think it would be convenient to have them printed. This was done in
1503, by Lucantonio Giunta in Venice.
The Council of Trent, which started in 1545, had finally and vigorously led the way to the desired reform of the
Church both at the top and in its members. The 1547 chapter, held in Gerona and attended by many and highly qualified
religious, indicated that reforms would take place within the Order. Some innovations already had a renewal flavor. Ample
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powers were given to the Master General to remove unworthy superiors and the recently restored Algar castle in Spain
and the Toulouse convent in France were designated to incarcerate those who would not reform. Superiors and subjects
were rigorously ordered to recite the Divine Office publicly and privately under severe penalties. In 1561, Master General
Miguel Puig ordered the use of the breviary recently printed by him in Lyons and he arranged the purchase of new missals
to make the celebration of Holy Mass and the recitation of the Divine Office uniform in the Order. Provincials were to
serve for six years except for the colleges of Alcalá and Salamanca where the superior could be reelected for another three
years. Definitors were to be elected by the chapter and they could not be reelected.
The Castile provincial, Gaspar de Torres, made sure that the canons of the Council of Trent were introduced in the
edition of the Constitutions which he ordered prepared and published in Salamanca in 1565.
!The Redemption of Captives
! The redemption of captives, the principal ministry of the Order of Mercy, continued to be the Mercedarians’
essential task during this period. Redemptions were not as frequent as they had been in the first 270 years of liberating
activity when, at times, there were as many as three expeditions per year. The number of redeemed captives also
decreased. Thus, in 74 years (1499-1573), there were 41 redemptions with some 7,000 redeemed captives with an average
of 170 people freed in each rescue.
One of the reasons for this decrease was a royal decree of King Ferdinand the Catholic in a 1511 cedula according
to which alms collected in our churches had to be given for the Crusade. Mercedarians complained to the King that, under
such circumstances, they could not meet the demands of redemption but their appeal was not heard. It should also be
noted that almsgiving generally decreased in the whole peninsula. Nor should it be forgotten that in some places, bishops
also tried to meddle with alms collection for redemption by limiting the rights which the Holy See had conceded to the
Mercedarians in this matter. In this difficult period, for the first time, the Order had to resort to loans (1495) in order to
carry out a few redemptive expeditions. In France, in a cedula issued in Lyons on November 29, 1515, King Francis I
authorized the Mercedarians to solicit alms and to travel throughout France, with or without captives, and the king also
ordered prelates and civil authorities to welcome and support the friars.
On the African coast, the strategic Oran house, founded by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros in 1509,
rendered very important services to redemption. Father Pedro de Bustamante was Oran’s first superior. Normally there
were eight religious in that convent which permitted dealing with the captives’ rescue without jeopardizing the money.
However, its upkeep cost the Order great sacrifices due to constant sieges by the Moors. In 1532, this convent came under
the Master General’s direct jurisdiction.
It is impossible to summarize all the redemptions which took place during that period. Therefore, only a few of
the most significant ones are mentioned here.
In 1514, Master General Jaime Llorenz de la Mata held his first General Chapter in Játiva. Among other things,
Arnaldo de Duce, the Toulouse superior, Juan Lupi, the Huesca superior and Luis Boil, the Valencia superior, were elected
redeemers. Either at the end of 1515 or the beginning of 1516, they embarked and following a hard voyage, they arrived
in Tunis where they rescued 458 captives. However, because plagues were raging in that country, some of the redeemed
died, others became sick and stayed behind and, to live more freely or to give in to their vices, still others fled and went
back to the Moors. Distressed by the loss of these souls, the redeemers tried to gather the rest and left for Spain.
Despite the hardships and the tribulations which the redeemers experienced in this redemption, neither they nor
the Order became discouraged. In just over two months, enough money was collected for another redemption and the
same friars went back to Tunis in the same year, 1516. They rescued 70 captives who cost a considerable sum of money
because many important people were among them. The group left Tunis and arrived in Trapani, Sicily. The redeemers
decided to go to Rome and to present the redemption to Pope Leo X. They arrived in Rome in July and after obtaining
permission, they went in solemn procession to give thanks to God in Saint Peter’s Basilica and to kiss the pope’s feet.
Rejoicing over so many redeemed captives, the pope confirmed all his predecessors’ blessings and privileges for
redemption as it is recorded in the bull, Dum grata Deo of July 28, 1516, and welcoming the redeemers’ petition, Leo X
named Cardinal Francisco Remolino protector of the Order on September 24, 1516.
At the General Chapter held in Saragossa in 1525, the following redeemers were appointed: Martín de Labayén,
the Pamplona superior, Jerónimo Pérez, an educator, Domingo de Clavería, the Gerona superior, Juan de Potja, the
Toulouse superior and provincial of France. The group was to go to Tunis. This took place in 1525, after the redeemers
had gone for the Holy Year Jubilee in Rome where they obtained from Clement VII the confirmation of the most
important privileges conceded to the Order by a bull issued on September 22. They left Rome and going through Sicily,
they arrived in Tunis where they redeemed 234 captives. They did not arrive in Spain until 1527.
In 1561, the General Chapter was held in Barcelona. On that occasion, the Master General, Miguel Puig, sought to
prove the Order’s vitality by organizing a redemption which would combine redeemers from Aragon with those from
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Castile. The Aragon redeemers were Fathers Matías Papiol, secretary general, and Fortunio de Esparza, the Pamplona
superior, and those from Castile were Antonio Martínez, very experienced in this ministry, and Juan Vallejo, a model of
recollection and fervor, who saw the threshold of martyrdom on his way to Algiers. There were 427 redeemed captives, a
number never reached since the start of the foundation. Some of them were very expensive. The Order celebrated this
redemption as a glorious triumph despite the enormous cost which came close to forty thousand gold escudos. Among the
redeemed, there were four Franciscan women religious who had been taken captives when they were going to Cagliari to
reform the monastery of their Order. This redemption arrived in Valencia on November 27, 1562.
Concerning the redemptions, it should be noted that, in the quoted bull overflowing with praises of the Order,
Pope Leo X allowed convents to use the third part of the alms collected for their own support and to deposit the rest safely
under lock and key. This would be included in the Constitutions. In 1530, Clement VII required Mercedarian friars
themselves to collect alms and he forbade the use of collectors. This decision was also incorporated in the Order’s
legislation at a later date.
!Cultural Activity
! In addition to redemptive and evangelizing activity, during this period, there was also an emphasis on education.
Friars continued to attend universities to obtain academic degrees and titles. In this regard, the concern of the Master
General, Miguel Puig, Licentiate in canon law (the way he signed during his whole life), a very cultured man and a friend
of culture, could not have been more beneficial in steering the bark of Peter Nolasco. To the Veracruz College of
Salamanca, the first in the Province of Castile and perhaps in the Order at the end of the fifteenth century, were added that
of Paris (1515) and of Alcalá de Henares (1518).
Countless religious distinguished themselves in the halls of universities during that period. Chronologically, the
first Mercedarian professors of Salamanca were Francisco Merino and Alonso de Medina. The following stand out among
many: Domingo de San Juan del Pie del Puerto, a professor at the University of Paris who was brought to Spain by the
University of Salamanca in 1518 to teach philosophy and who became its vice-chancellor.
Miguel Jerónimo Calmell (+1558), a doctor in theology, in law and an apostolic lawyer, wrote Super Cantica
canticorum and other works of a spiritual nature.
Jerónimo Pérez was a doctor in theology and a professor at the University of Valencia. This famous Mercedarian
theologian, born in Valencia at the end of the fifteenth century, was considered one of the most brilliant and enlightened
professors of the time. In his teaching, he replaced Peter Lombard’s book of Sententiae by Aquinas’ Summa Theologica.
Other universities followed his example. He wrote the first commentaries on the Summa, published in Spain. The
University of Gandía founded by Francisco de Borja contracted Jerónimo Pérez as professor of young Jesuits whom he
taught almost until his death (1549). Another Mercedarian, Pedro Juan Tárrega, an art professor, taught with him in
Gandía.
Gregorio Arcisio was a renowned master in theology and a doctor in medicine in Paris. From 1551, he was a great
figure in Salamanca. He practiced medicine brilliantly and, at the 1554 chapter, he contributed a hundred escudos for
redemption from his honorariums as a physician. His philosophy books were in demand with students and there were
editions of them in Salamanca, Alcalá and Valencia.
Father Gaspar de Torres (1510-1584) was a Salamanca professor. As vice-chancellor, he played an outstanding
role in organizing one of the first teaching centers in the world at the time. He is the author of the University of
Salamanca’s Statutes which were approved in 1561, and many of them have lasted through the centuries. He also wrote
the Reglamento of the Faculty of theology of the University.
In France, among others, Fathers Jerónimo de San Román, Agustín Noblet, Martín Peronato, Domingo de
Clavería and Pedro Aymerich became renowned for their vast culture and teaching in Paris.
Theologically, in terms of doctrine, Mercedarians did not form a special school. The existing schools sufficed. In
general, Mercedarians were faithful to Saint Thomas except for the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin which they
interpreted freely without submitting to any school.
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FRUITS OF SANCTITY
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The rich Mercedarian history is filled with a numerous gallery of humble friars who lived their lives of
consecration to the fullest and who are examples of virtue for all Christians. Some of these forgotten religious are
deservedly remembered here.
Bartolomé de Laurencio lived in Italy—concretely in Sicily—in the fifteenth century. He was a renowned
preacher, the superior of the Santa Ana de Palermo convent and vicar general for Italy. He enjoyed deserved prestige with
the viceroy and the princes of the kingdom of Sicily. He would spend most of his day totally absorbed in contemplation:
he abhorred worldly honors and to be able to live only in prayer and in God’s service, he renounced all posts in the Order.
Thus, he spent the last years of his life in total surrender to the Lord.
Agustín de Revenga was one of the sixteenth-century religious who had the greatest influence on the new
evangelization which prevailed in the Order at that time. He served as rector of the Alcalá College from 1545 to 1569, the
year of his death. Emphasizing austerity and holiness of his life, Francisco Zumel, who was his companion at the Toledo
chapter (1565), said: “He came from a distinguished family but he was even more distinguished for his works and his
lifestyle. He fasted almost every day of his life (I am a witness to that), except on Sundays and feastdays, abstaining from
meat. He always slept on the ground which explained the pallor of his face which everybody noticed. His clothes stood
out because of their simplicity. He would do a lot of corporal penance. He was admirable in prayer and contemplation to
which he devoted long hours during the day and at night. His conversation and his manners were also kind.” He is buried
in the Mercedarian College in Alcalá. People always considered him as a saint.
Luis de la Peña received his religious formation in Santiago (Chile) where he took his first vows in 1578. On
January 16, 1581, as a student, he signed the minutes of a conventual meeting at the time when Pedro de Moncalvillo was
provincial. After being ordained a priest, he performed various functions in the province and he devoted himself especially
to the Araucanians’ evangelization using the Valdivia convent where he was superior as the basis of apostolic activity. In
one of the malones (surprise attacks) by Araucanian warriors who entered the convent to sack it and to burn it, after
having warned the other religious of the attack, Father Luis rushed to the church to consume the Eucharist to prevent its
profanation. He was still holding the ciborium in his hands when the bellicose natives who killed him with their spears,
burst into the church and looking for the Blessed Sacrament, they cut Father Luis’ chest open and tore his heart out. His
body was consumed by flames. It was November 24, 1599. Father Luis de Peña, a protomartyr of Chile who died for his
faith, is considered a martyr of the Eucharist because—as Tirso de Molina observed—“while he could have saved his life
by fleeing, rather than his life, he preferred to save within his chest his consecrated God whom he deserved to take to
heaven as Viaticum.” This event was remembered with special veneration at the Order’s General Chapter held in Toledo in
1627 and in Father Francisco Saavedra’s report, which was sent to the Governor of Chile, don Francisco de Meneses, in
1664. At the present time, as a testimony of this episode, a small chalice is kept in the Santiago Mercedarian convent and
it is used on Holy Thursday. On the same occasion, the Araucanians took another religious, José de las Heras, with them
and hanging him from a tree, they shot him to death with arrows.
Juan de Santa María was born in Andalusia. From his days as a novice until his death, he was a perfect example
of observance. As a priest well-versed in Sacred Scriptures, he was fervent and zealous in the religious instruction of his
parishioners and those under his spiritual direction through his homilies and exhortations filled with the spirit of Saint
Paul. Aware of his apostolic gifts, his superiors sent him to America where he proclaimed the Gospel for many years.
Chronicler Bernardo de Vargas related many extraordinary deeds attributed to this religious among which were the
conversion of Chief Tamaracunga and his constant struggles against the enemies of evangelization. He lived as a poor,
penitent religious and was always fervent in prayer. He died in 1549.
Cristóbal de Albarrán was one of the first priests venturing to go proclaim the Gospel to the natives of Southern
Peru and to a large area of what is now in Argentina and Paraguay. From an account sent to the procurator general,
Esteban Muniera, and mentioned by Chronicler Bernardo de Vargas, we know that he had preached zealously in Santiago
del Estero, Córdoba, Jujuy, Asunción, etc. From another report sent to Philip II in 1566, we also know that during that
year, Father Albarrán was martyred by Chiriguayanos.
Alonso of Arequipa, known only by the name of Alonso, lived and died at the Arequipa convent. He was just a lay
brother but a very cultured and humble man who did not want to accede to priestly dignity. He took care of domestic
chores but, in addition, he devoted himself fervently to prayer and to contemplation before the crucifix and the Blessed
Virgin. He did corporal penances and made tremendous sacrifices in a small chapel that he had built in the convent’s
garden. It is said that he performed several miraculous deeds only by making the sign of the cross and these deeds were
confirmed in the inquiry gathered after his death in 1569, a death which he had predicted. The process for his beatification
was initiated immediately but it was not continued.
Vidal Dubusc. This servant of God was born in Cominges, France, around 1571. His parents raised him in the fear
of God. Endowed with excellent qualities, he was sent to Bordeaux where he studied not only to be wise but also to
become virtuous. He received the habit with great joy and entered the novitiate where he lived according to the Rule and
“it can be truly said that from his profession until his death, the life he led in the Order was just the continuation of the
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exercises of the novitiate… dedicated to prayer, humble, obedient, charitable, self-sacrificing and so oblivious of himself
and of everything which was not according to God that he can be proposed to others as the perfect model of virtue.” He
studied philosophy and theology and brilliantly obtained his doctoral degree. He was an outstanding professor as a young
man. Elected superior and later, provincial, he governed the Province of France with wisdom, charity and zeal for
observance. He was the first superior of the newly founded Paris convent which Queen Marie de Médicis had donated in
1614. In Paris, his piety and his erudition quickly earned him the admiration of the nobility and the faithful who made him
their spiritual director. The queen herself held him in high esteem for his outstanding virtues. Father Dubusc used his
prestige to solicit plenty of alms for the redemption of captives.
Father Dubusc, perfectly versed in the paths of mystical life, wrote and published the book Les saints devoirs de
l’âme, “a monument to his unusual teaching and great piety.” He died in Paris in 1618, leaving behind such a trail of
sanctity that people who knew him requested pieces of his habit to keep as a precious relic.
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MERCEDARIAN LAITY AND MERCEDARIAN NUNS
Since the start of the Order, there had been confraternities made of pious men and women who, moved by the
spirit of charity and penance, cooperated enthusiastically in the redemptive endeavor of Saint Peter Nolasco and his
Mercedarians. They were helping the friars in their personal work of attending to captives and with their financial
resources. Near convents, a nucleus of people was being formed. These people were trying to imitate religious life insofar
as they could. They would take part in Mercedarian charitable works and aspired to participate in their fruits and merits.
Thus, confraternities, brotherhoods and the Third Order of Mercy were born. In their desire to foster the piety of the laity
and to help the Order in its work of redeeming captives, the Supreme Pontiffs blessed and encouraged their members and
associates with special graces. Women formed the major part of confraternities, brotherhoods and the Third Order. With
time and as their number kept increasing, legislation applying to them also developed.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, Tertiaries came together in houses to live in community and they
formed what is known as beaterios. They would live there observing the enclosure, without excluding active life, after
taking their vows recorded in the book of professions of the religious. From the sixteenth century on and especially after
the Council of Trent, these beaterios became autonomous convents of papal enclosure and they formed the Second
Mercedarian Order. They had great vitality and produced many fruits of sanctity. This does not mean that when the
beaterios or convents became organized the Third Order disappeared. It did continue its apostolate in the world and later
became a strong nucleus in the Mercedarian family.
From the first convents of Mercedarian nuns, historically, the oldest one is the Guadalajara convent. It was
approved by Pope Julius II in 1509. Chronologically, then came the convent of the Madre de Dios del Consuelo of Lorca
(Murcia). It started in 1514, and it was canonically approved in 1515. The Bilbo (Bilbao) convent started around 1514 at
the center of the old city and later moved to Lañomendi. Religious from this monastery started the Deusto convent in
1538. The following year, the Lete (Guipúzcoa) convent started and later moved to Escoriaza, less than a mile away from
the previous one. The Marquina convent appeared in 1548.
In Seville in the South, with the approval of Pius V and adjacent to the large magnificent Mercedarian convent,
the Assumption monastery of Mercedarian nuns was founded in 1567.
The renowned monastery of Berriz started as a beaterio of religious women incorporated in the Order of Mercy in
1542.
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CULTTO THE VIRGIN OF MERCY
AND MERCEDARIAN MARIANISM
Every new convent was, along with its church, a new place of cult to the Redeeming Virgin, Mary of Mercy and
of Marian illumination in the region. In this sense, the 1515 foundation of the Paris convent with its university college and
church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of Mercy was the occasion to start promoting devotion to ‘Notre Dame de la
Merci.’
It is interesting to note that at the beginning of each canonical hour of the Office of Saint Mary, the Ave Maria was
recited with the second part: Santa Maria, Virgo Mater Dei, ora pro nobis marking the end of the prayer. In the edition of
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the Order’s breviary which Master Jaime Llorenz de la Mata had published in Paris in 1514, the words: Nunc et in hora
mortis. Amen, appeared for the first time in Mercedarian liturgical books. Later, these terms became used by the Church.
During the evangelization of America, the Mercedarians spread the devotion and cult to the Blessed Virgin under
the title of Mercy throughout this immense continent. From the foundation of the first sanctuary dedicated to Mary in
Santo Cerro on the island of Santo Domingo, Saint Peter Nolasco’s friars rapidly spread the devotion to Blessed Mary of
Mercy throughout the Americas. The Mercedarian friars went from Mexico to remote Patagonia proclaiming the Gospel
and enthroning their Mother in churches, chapels, altars and above all, in people’s hearts.
The American people have kept this Marian devotion alive and deep-rooted. It can be said that the Order of Mercy
contributed efficaciously to the Marian physiognomy which characterizes Latin American Christianity. During the
evangelization and when America reached its Christian status, the Virgin of Mercy bound together lay institutions like the
Third Order and the Confraternity of the Scapular. Inspired by the Order’s charism and redemptive spirituality, members
of these groups lived and worked, along with religious.
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IV
DURING ITS GREATEST FLOURISHING
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(1574-1770)
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CHARISMATIC AND CULTURAL GROWTH
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1. GUADALAJARA GENERAL CHAPTER (1574)
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Situation of the Order at the End of the Sixteenth Century
! The Order of Mercy had not yet completed its reform in terms of the full introduction of the decisions on religious
life mandated by the Council of Trent. Pope Pius V and Philip II, the King of Spain, were interested in the concrete
application of the Tridentine dispositions.
When changes come from the outside and are imposed, they are not always received obediently. In general, the
reform created opposition and tension in many religious institutes. Within the Order of Mercy, there was a legion of
venerable, virtuous and wise religious who assumed the protagonism of their own reform with profound sincerity and firm
determination. As a result, the Mercedarian reform was more effective because it came from within, from the heart of each
friar.
After the death of Master General Matías Papiol, in a papal brief of August 2, 1569, his Holiness Pius V arranged
the appointment of two Dominican religious as apostolic visitators, one for each province of the Order in Spain. For four
years, the visitators traveled to the houses of the two provinces and after concluding their visitation, the Barcelona prior,
Father Juan Enríquez convoked his friars to the elective General Chapter of November 8, 1574, in Guadalajara. The
chapter, which is known in the Order as Chapter of the Reform, was one of the most significant Mercedarian chapters
because of the reforms which were made to apply the norms of the Council of Trent and for the Order’s life and
government.
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!Tridentine Decrees Applied to Structures
! It was decided that the elective general chapter would be held alternately in Aragon and in Castile. For each
province, those who voted were the provincial and two general electors, selected by the respective provincial chapter. The
alternance system was introduced in the Order for the Master General’s election, that is to say, one time the Master elect
will be from the Province of Castile or the Indies and another time, he will be from the Province of Aragon, Italy and
France. Together, the Master General and the chapter select the procurator of the Order in Rome, where he is to reside and
be the prelate of said house in order to handle matters before the Holy See.
Once again, the Master General is “the universal head of all religious of the Order in any kingdom or province
such as Castile, Aragon, the islands, the Indies (America), France and Italy.” Castile renounces an ancient bull which
granted it a century of absolute autonomy. Masters General will serve for six years instead of for life. Until the reform is
completed, they will reside in the Aragon kingdom. In the course of the six years, they will visit the entire Order and they
will hold an intermediate general chapter after three years. If the generalate see is vacant, the Barcelona prior temporarily
succeeds in the government until an elective chapter is convened. In keeping with the decree of Trent, the election will be
by secret votes. The Master General will no longer have the power to name provincials. He is to live like the rest of the
reformed friars, without privileges, and he is to be the servant of all friars. The Master General is to renounce the title of
lordship as well as pages and servants. He must stay in the convent and eat in the refectory like other friars. He will not
have his own property, income or inheritance from deceased superiors or provincials, except what the Order has in Algar
“for common expenses.” He must render an account of what he spends to the general or intermediate chapter. Finally, he
is advised “not to stay too long in convents because of the poverty of the houses and his entourage is to be reduced to two
friars, one serving as a secretary and the other, as a companion.”
Provincials will be elected by the respective provincial chapters and their term will only be three years. They will
not be eligible for reelection until after six years.
In the Province of Aragon, some houses have only one friar and others are very poor; they will have to be reduced
according to the papal bull. Thus, there will be only one province. It will be called the Province of Aragon and it will
include the kingdoms of Catalonia and Valencia, Aragon and Navarre, Naples and the islands of Majorca, Sardinia and
Sicily.
Superiors will be appointed by the provincial and his definitors at the same chapter. Their term will start and end
with the provincial’s term. They will be able to repeat a three-year term in the same house only once. The norm for the
Barcelona house is different: the prior will be elected secretly by the conventuals, as Trent wants, and his term will last
three years, unless there is a justified order from the Master General.
!Application to the Common State of the Order
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Precise norms are set up concerning the observance of communal life, a life of poverty, the application of income
and the census for each convent and account giving.
Praying Matins, already done at midnight in some convents, is to be extended to all convents. Enclosure applies to
every part of the convent except the church, the cloisters and the chapel. The prescribed numerous norms of personal and
communitarian discipline remain in effect. Punishments are set. The provincial and general archives are to be put in order
with all the deeds on the convents’ revenues, properties and assets.
Novices are not to go out to collect alms for redemption. Suitable houses for the novitiate are established in
Aragon and Castile. Novices are sons of the house where they enter. However, they are allowed to go from the Province of
Castile to the Province of Aragon and vice versa while retaining all the rights they had in their province of origin. Take
care of the spiritual and Mercedarian formation of masters and novices.
Each provincial indicates its houses of studies. The degrees given by the Order are regulated: titles of grace are
suppressed. A province is not to have more than 24 candidates or more than 12 masters with a university position.
The new Provinces of the Indies—Guatemala, Lima, Cuzco and Chile—previously under the jurisdiction of the
provincial of Castile, are henceforth to be under the Master General like the other provinces. The tax of 100 ducats, which
the Province of Cuzco sends to the Castile provincial, is maintained. Guatemala, Lima and Chile will pay new taxes to the
Master General for his expenses and those of the Order.
On February 20, 1576, the pope confirmed the decisions of the Guadalajara Chapter. The judgment was accepted
by most of the Order’s religious.
Although all these decisions were not immediately implemented, the renewing and unifying thrust was firmly
established. Prior capitular decisions and those contrary to this chapter were suppressed.
!Government of the Order and Masters General of this Period
! At the Guadalajara Chapter which had made the important and renewing decision of reducing the generalate to a
six-year period, Father Francisco de Torres, the first term Master General was elected. But he died in Saragossa on
September 29, 1575, while traveling with his secretary, Father Francisco Maldonado, to visit the Catalonia convents. The
nuncio and the king put Father Maldonado in charge of completing the visit to the Catalonia convents and of preventing
the election of the new Master General, This is what Catalans wanted and succeeded in doing.
Since the pope had not yet approved the Guadalajara Chapter and its dispositions, Catalan religious who saw
themselves as defenders of the Order’s tradition held a chapter in Barcelona on November 6, 1575. It was presided by
Father Luis Valls in the presence of three French electors: Antoine Tremoulières, the superior of Toulouse and provincial
of France, Peter Masson, the prior of the Paris College and Domingo Castet. Father Antoine Tremoulières, a very worthy
man, was elected. Obviously, the pope annulled the election. Father Antoine Tremoulières died a holy death in Toulouse in
August 1577.
Following the Aragon provincial chapter on May 20, 1576, in El Olivar under Father Maldonado’s presidency, a
General Chapter was convoked in Saragossa for June 10. Peruvian Father Francisco Maldonado was unanimously elected.
He was the first American Master General of the Order. He took special interest in applying the decrees of reform ordered
by the chapter and he fostered piety and divine worship.
After Father Maldonado’s six years (1576-1582), there was no chapter held immediately and there was a five-year
vacancy in the position of Master General. King Philip II was interested in what was happening in the Order, where
Catalan religious, with the support of the people of Barcelona, wanted the chapter to be held in their city. The king
opposed this and he had Bishop Benito Tocco appointed as apostolic commissioner. The bishop entrusted the government
of the Order to the provincials of Aragon and Castile and immediately to Father Francisco Salazar who was elected
provincial of Aragon in 1585. Confident in tradition, Catalans were opposed to this election and they attempted to place
the government of the Order under the prior of Barcelona, Pedro Castellón, who died shortly after and then under Father
Vicente Mendía whom they elected against the commissioner’s will. Given this uncertain situation, the apostolic
commissioner ordered the visit to the houses of the Province of Aragon, while in a short period, there were two more
priors in Barcelona: Francisco Serafín, named by the commissioner and Juan Antonio Barray who died eight months after
his election. Finally, in May 1585, prior Francisco Esteve was elected. He held this post for two years until the May 23,
1587 General Chapter, held in Saragossa, elected Father Francisco Salazar as Master General (1587-1593).
This chapter put Father Francisco Zumel in charge of preparing a new edition of the Constitutions of the Order
incorporating in them all the reforms of previous chapters, in addition to those imposed by the Council of Trent. The new
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edition was published in Salamanca in 1588, with interesting commentaries and a brief history of the Order, that is the
opuscule De vitis patrum. With these Constitutions, the formula of profession with the express fourth vow became
obligatory. It had already been in use for a few years according to Gaspar de Torres’ observations in 1565. This chapter
established thirty minutes of mental prayer twice a day, a prescription which is still observed although in other ways.
From Francisco Salazar until the time of suppressions and persecutions, there were no other periods of vacancy in
the government of the Order except those due to the end of a term, the promotion or death of a Master General. Many of
them were appointed bishops and one Master General, Pedro de Salazar, even became a cardinal.
In addition to special initiatives indicated elsewhere, the Masters General of this period guided the Order with a
view to its progress and expansion. They sent missionaries to America to evangelize; they appointed respective vicars with
the intention of fostering a life of observance. They were also interested in the formation of religious and in increasing
personnel and convents, all of which allowed the creation of new provinces.
As far as Europe was concerned, the Masters General’s main concern was regular discipline and observance. To
that end and depending on the circumstances, they named visitators and punished, at times rather severely, those who did
not comply. They gave a remarkable impulse to the promotion of culture with religious specializing in disciplines of
which they would later become professors in universities and to the publication of important works in different branches
of knowledge. The Masters General of that period did not fail to observe the rhythm indicated by the Constitutions in
holding chapters at which many important decisions for the Order were often made. However, it should be pointed out that
the religious entitled to participate in these assemblies, especially those from America, did not always attend regularly.
With the approval of new foundations in France and in Italy, the Order expanded in these nations. Recollection started to
blossom in the Order itself and the Masters General supported it, both what later became concretized in discalced
Mercedarians and also within the Order with the institutions of houses of greater austerity and observance which formed
the adequate setting for countless religious’ holy lives. The Masters General also fostered devotion and veneration to the
Order’s saints, most of whom were canonized during this period.
Concerning activities, the Masters General methodically extended rural and popular missions and, in particular,
they increased the rhythm of redemptions as they multiplied their efforts to ransom the highest possible number of captive
Christians. They had to oppose those who wanted to abandon redemptions and captives to their fate under the pretext that
those ransoms were making the Moors rich. This was the period of the greatest redemptive activity of the Order which
succeeded in redeeming many captives. The documentation with details of the redemptions is rather well-known. This was
also the time when redemptions of the traditional type ended. About one hundred redemptions were carried out, more or
less one every two years, with a total of 19,352 captives redeemed.
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2. THE REDEMPTION OF CAPTIVES
!Acts Related to Redemption
! As time passed, the redemption of captives adopted certain methods which were codified in successive rituals of
the Order, especially starting with this historical period. The many circumstances related with redemption provide a clear
view that this event was experienced by the whole Order as an expression of communion with the religious who were
going to redeem and it concluded with a ceremony of an ecclesial nature. In fact, three moments stand out in the
realization of a redemption: the redeemers are sent off, the entire Order accompanies them during the redemption and the
redeemers return together with the redeemed.
After they had been elected by the authorities of the Order, the redeemers, that is to say, those friars who had been
assigned to go to Moorish territories, had to obtain the necessary authorizations from civil authorities (safe-conduct,
permissions, etc.); they had to announce the redemption to the people, collect alms, prepare the expedition and also
prepare a banner which they would take along hoisted on the ship. The image of the Crucified or Christ’s descent into
limbo was painted on one part of this redemption banner, and on the other, an image of the Virgin Mary who protects
captives with her mantle. They were also to take the shields of the ruling Pontiff, of the king of Spain and of the Order.
The redeemers’ departure was preceded by a liturgical ceremony with the entire religious community attending. During
the ceremony, the provincial would give the sending off order, recommending faithful observance of the constitutional
provisions about redemption.
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During the entire redemption time, that is to say, from departure to return, religious communities of friars and
nuns accompanied redeemers in the daily recitation of redemption litanies with psalms and prayers for the success of the
friars’ mission in Moorish lands.
After completing the redemption, the redeemers, along with the redeemed, would start out the return voyage and
informed the superior of their return. The superior had to notify the bishop of the redeemers’ arrival and agree on the
welcome of the redeemed with the bishop. Once a day was set, a procession was organized in which all diocesan and
religious clergy of the city participated. The redemption banner headed the procession, followed by redeemed captives
wearing the Mercedarian scapular and redeemers at the end. Singing hymns, they all headed to the main church or the
cathedral where the redeemed were welcomed by the bishop. They sang a Te Deum of thanksgiving and celebrated the
Mass of the Virgin of Mercy. During the Mass, after the Gospel, one of the redeemers or another Mercedarian religious
gave the talk telling people about the details of the redemption and of the sacrifices endured. Then, the redeemed were
lodged in houses of the Order until, according to the circumstances, their dismissal and reinsertion into their own families
were organized.
When they returned from redemptions, at times, redeemers and redeemed had to go through a quarantine, or a
period of isolation and recovery because many came back sick and could present a danger of infection.
!Ways of Collecting Alms and of Carrying out Redemptions
! The system of responses, or annual quotas, which every convent had to give for redemption, implied an excessive
burden in the daily lives of the friars who were rather poor. At times, they resorted to mortgaging or even pledging the
goods of the Order to be able to fulfill this essential work of redemption. With changing times and circumstances, the
system of responses had become very difficult and at times, even impossible. General chapters often dealt with this matter
and they gradually dispensed from the yearly obligation so that it was no longer observed at the beginning of the sixteenth
century. To replace that system, houses were asked to make offerings in extraordinary situations. As of the 1588
Constitutions, responses no longer appear in the legislation of the Order. A few houses had properties—though not many
—destined to the liberation of captives. The income which they produced were destined to the redemption fund.
Captives were ransomed with goods, cattle, Moslem captives serving in the exchange and, especially with money.
One source of money involved institutions, relatives or others concerned about the situation of their loved ones. They
would give the amount destined for their liberation to the redeemers. Another source entailed the collections done by
religious for the redemption of captives who had no one to look out for their interest. Religious would beg for the
faithful’s offering, soliciting from door to door or collecting it in churches and town squares after they had preached about
redemption, making the captives’ sufferings known.
The 1574 Chapter gave concrete norms for collecting alms and these norms were later included in the
Constitutions. It was established that the begging friars had to be honest, wise, virtuous and God-fearing. They had to
carry letters of recommendation with a clear indication of the indulgences conceded by popes to Christians who helped
with redemptions. In preaching about redemptions, they were to present only the truth without exaggerating their
descriptions of the captives’ situation. They were to limit themselves to the territory assigned to them. They were not to be
a source of scandal to others. They were to be moderate in terms of food, drink and clothes without spending the money
collected for captives on themselves, either directly or indirectly, except what was strictly necessary. In addition, the
chapter ordered that all alms be recorded in the Redemption Book and that, if someone had received money for
redemption, he was to communicate this immediately and, within twenty-four hours, place it in the Redemption Box found
in every house and under lock and key given to other religious to keep. All of this was mandated under penalty of serious
sanctions. The legislation of the Order always had a strict ban on using redemption goods for any other purpose.
Until Philip II, the Order was totally free to carry out redemptions.
It was always a great honor to be a redeemer. Other friars considered redeemers as their representatives since all
joined in spirit in this liberating, charismatic endeavor at the heart of being a Mercedarian.
To be named a redeemer, a friar had to be mature, virtuous, endowed with learning and utmost prudence; he had
to be shrewd to negotiate the liberation in order not to run the risk of being deceived by infidels. With compassion, the
redeemer had to redeem captives by himself, not through arbitrary persons and he had to buy them prudently from
Saracens as demanded by the captives’ greater need and danger. To increase the number of redeemed: captives who were
in danger of apostasy and if there was not enough money to redeem them, then one of the redeemers had to stay behind as
a hostage in the place of the redeemed captives, following the example of Jesus Christ the Redeemer. When it was
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impossible to go to Saracen lands to redeem personally and, only then, could redemption be entrusted to other people.
However, extreme care had to be taken not to lose the money of the goods of redemption.
Having accomplished the redemption by means of a public document, redeemers returned to Christian lands with
the liberated captives who, for a period not to exceed two months, stayed in the service of the Order to accompany
redeemers in collecting alms for the next redemption. After that period of time and before they left the Order’s houses, the
redeemed were provided with clothing, shoes and all they needed for their return trip to their families.
Redeemers had to present a detailed account of what they had spent at the first provincial or general chapter held
after the redemption. If, at times, the money received for the liberation of a determined captive or captives had not been
used, it had to be returned to the donors.
At the conclusion of each redemption, a detailed report of the total cost was generally written and a poster or
document was also prepared to indicate the year and place of the redemption, the number of redeemers and the list of the
redeemed, specifying their place of origin, the length of their captivity and the price paid for each person’s liberation.
!Contribution of the American Provinces
! Once the convents of the New World were organized and the American Provinces established, they did not forget
to help with the redemption of captives with cash which they sent to Spain.
In 1576, the first royal cedula on that matter was issued. It stipulated that alms should no longer be sent by
provincials or visitators but instead, by fiscal employees or by the judges of the Audiencia to the Casa de Contratación
[chamber of commerce set up by Isabella I and Ferdinand V] in Seville. This royal provision created difficulties for the
Order which felt limited in its institutional prerogative and by the monarchy represented by the Council of the Indies. The
difficulties came from the fact that it was not always possible to use the money for the specific purpose for which it was
solicited from the faithful and sent to Spain and that the Order was forced to pay a tax on the amount it used. From New
Spain and Central America, alms were sent to the Mexico convent and, from there, to Seville. The Provinces of Lima,
Cuzco, Chile and Tucumán sent their collections to the Lima convent and, from there, they were sent to Seville. Panama
sent its collections directly. In Castile, redemptions were organized with American money—fruit of the efforts of the
missionary friars—which the procurator general or the redemption commissioner would withdraw from the Seville Casa
de Contratación. Already in the seventeenth century, Father Gabriel Gómez de Losada, a Castilian definitor, used to say at
the time that “most of the alms for captives came from the Indies where our faith is so widespread” and he added: “there
are days when 4,000 pesos have come from Lima alone.”
Several deeply rooted methods were used for collecting alms. In Cuzco and elsewhere, religious used to place a
money box with a key in the church, with the shield of the Order and a sign saying: “This is the place to put alms for the
redemption of poor captives.” In addition, in churches and other places, there were Redemption Confraternities whose
members were collecting alms for this noble goal.
In spite of all this, it was especially the religious themselves who solicited alms as they traveled from one place to
another or in the exercise of their apostolic ministry. In this service, they had to adjust not only to the norms established by
the Constitutions but also to the severe prescriptions of the chapters of the American Provinces. The doctrineros, who
might have failed in their obligation to collect alms for redemption, were removed from their positions. This alms ministry
demanded enormous work and quite a few sacrifices on the part of religious. There is a pathetic description of the
difficulties which friars had to face in this mission in the memorandum which Father Guillermo Ubalde, the redemption
procurator, presented to the Cuzco provincial chapter of June 12, 1795: “I have endured many rejections, slights and even
insults in order to comply fully with this obligation. Oftentimes I have endured the rigor of the sun in the valley under a
tree with mosquitoes feeding on me, with no other food than a mouthful of bread that I take along for such occasions… I
have continued in this ministry with no other interest than to comply with the fourth vow that I have professed until death;
I have endured natural indigence because I had no temporal help either from my church or from my relatives but only the
help of divine providence which never falls short in my needs…”
!Some Important Redemptions
! As the rhythm of the redemptions was restored, three very significant redemptions took place under Father
Maldonado’s generalate.
In 1575, according to the king’s cedula, there was a redemption in Algiers in which Fathers Rodrigo de Arce and
Antonio de Valdepeñas were involved as redeemers. We know that the redemption banner was used in this expedition.
There were 143 captives redeemed.
Fathers Jorge del Olivar and Jorge Ongay led another redemption which took place in Algiers in 1577. On that
occasion, Rodrigo de Cervantes, the younger brother of the author of Don Quixote, was among the 106 ransomed
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captives. Even though they tried, the friars could not redeem Miguel because of the high price set by his captors. Father
Jorge del Olivar stayed as a hostage for a year during which time he became friends with Miguel de Cervantes with whom
he planned his unsuccessful escape. Fathers Jorge del Olivar and Rodrigo de Arce left a profound imprint on Cervantes’
soul. He recalled them with fondness and quoted them with praise in Los baños de Argel and Los tratos de Argel, two of
Cervantes’ works with autobiographical aspects.
In 1579, in Tetuán, Fathers Rodrigo de Arce and Luis de Matienzo were successful in redeeming 220 captives
among whom was a group of important Portuguese gentlemen and the cost of redemption was raised because of their
presence. Father Matienzo had to stay as a hostage for almost three years during which he was cruelly treated. It was
necessary to mortgage the goods of the Province of Castile to gather the 12,000 gold escudos needed for his ransom.
!Other Works of Mercy
! The religious of the Order were convinced that the ministry of the redemption of captives included the practice of
works of mercy for others and, when circumstances demanded it, they did not hesitate to offer their services to the needy
even in dangerous situations.
In Palermo, there occurred a terrible plague which devastated the city in 1625. Prompted by the demands of their
fourth vow, the religious decided to put themselves at the material and spiritual service of the plague-stricken people. This
is reported by an eyewitness, Chronicler Bernardo de Vargas in his opuscule De contagioso morbo regni Siciliae. In this
heroic and charitable service, Mercedarians Juan Bautista de Zurita, Vicente Calderón, Nicolás Noara, Antonio Braco,
Buenaventura Palmieri, José Latona and Pedro Martínez died and so did a Mercedarian tertiary, Ninfa Vicenta Cuzco.
Other religious who had been infected went back, after they recovered, to serve those plague-stricken without
worrying about the risks. Among them was Vicente Salanitro, a contemplative and penitent, who died a holy death on
October 17, 1626. Several prodigious healings were attributed to his intercession.
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3. CREATION OF NEW PROVINCES
AND VICE-PROVINCES
!In Europe
! The Mercedarian Order was growing and becoming established in different places and countries. A better
government and the specific characteristics of each kingdom or country suggested creating new independent provinces.
Father Francisco de Salazar was elected Master General at the 1587 Saragossa General Chapter and the Province of
Andalusia, which was part of the Province of Castile, was created. The Guadiana river would be the dividing line. Juan de
Ribas was its first provincial.
At Master General Alonso Monroy’s request, in a brief of May 5, 1603, Pope Clement VIII granted the division of
the Province of Aragon, which was too extensive, into three provinces: the Provinces of Aragon and Valencia with
convents located in Spain and the Province of Italy with the convents which were there. The division was ratified at a
provincial chapter held in El Olivar and the Province of Valencia was established immediately. However, the creation of
the Province of Italy was postponed until the 1606 provincial chapter which elected as first provincial the renowned
preacher, Father Hernando de Santiago, called silver tongue by Philip II. He had been living in Rome for several years.
Master General Alonso Monroy asked the provincial to establish regular discipline in the new province. As his mandate
was being implemented, several difficulties arose and led to suspending the creation of said province and Father Hernando
de Santiago was ordered to rejoin his Province of Andalusia. As a result, the convents of the Italian peninsula went back to
their situation before 1606, that is to say, under the authority of the vicar general, while Cagliari was reincorporated in the
Province of Aragon in 1607.
Toward the end of 1610, discalced Mercedarians arrived in Italy where they founded several convents in a few
years. In 1618, there were the following convents: Rome, Rocca di Papa, Naples, Palermo, Traetto, Messina (2), Mineo
(2), Agrigento, Vizzini, Cattolica Eraclea and Francofonte. By virtue of the June 12, 1619 papal brief, the provincial
chapter of Italy was held in Naples with the participation of the superiors of 7 convents, plus six discalced Mercedarians.
The Province of Italy was restored at that chapter and Father Juan Hurtado was elected provincial.
The Congregation of Paris, equivalent to a province, was approved by Rome in 1672. This congregation with
many professors and doctors, scholars and renowned redeemers was born of the Parisian friars’ desire to have more self-
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government since the Southern, Mediterranean province was far away and it did not take them into account. The
congregation included the following convents: Chenoise in the Sens Archdiocese, Nantes in Brittany, Paris with two major
houses, one in the Marais district and the other, the University College, next to the Sorbonne. It was very prosperous until
it disappeared at the time of the French Revolution.
In the meantime, the following convents had been established in Sardinia: Alghero, Sassari, Villacitro, Muravera,
Bolotona and Bono. A brief from Benedict XIII, on May 14, 1750, constituted the Province of Saint Serapion, separate
from the Province of Aragon. It included the Cagliari convent and these new foundations. Father José Valonga Sisternes
was its first provincial. But the province only lasted 18 years since by a brief from Clement XIII on October 7, 1768, the
convents of Bono and Bolotona were suppressed because they were very poor. As a result, the province was transformed
into a Congregation with special statutes.
!In America
! The Province of Tucumán, taken from the Province of Cuzco, was founded on January 6, 1593, under the title of
Santa Barbara. Father Pedro Guerra was its first provincial. It included the convents of Santiago del Estero, Talavera del
Esteco, Jujuy, Tucumán, La Rioja, Salta, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Santa Fe, Asunción (Paraguay), Corrientes, Catamarca
and the hospice of San Ramón de las Conchas.
The Province of Santo Domingo was established in 1607, with the convents of Santo Domingo, Concepción de la
Vega, Santa Cruz de la Vega, Puerto Príncipe, Toza and Santiago de los Caballeros. Father Pedro de Torres was its first
provincial.
The Province of Mexico was established in 1616, and it was confirmed by Pope Paul V. It was formed by eight
convents: Mexico, Veracruz, Puebla, Morelia (Valladolid), Tacuba, Oaxaca, Atlisco and Colima. Father Baltasar Camacho
was its first provincial.
The Province of Quito, taken from the Province of Lima, was established in 1616, with the following convents:
Quito, Pasto, Cali, Portoviejo, Guayaquil, Riobamba, Ibarra, Latacunga, Ambato and Santa Marta (Colombia). Father
Antonio de Pesquera was its first provincial.
The Marañon Congregation was formed by religious from Quito in 1635. It had several convents. The most
outstanding were: Belem do Pará (1639) and San Luis del Marañon (1654). Although it had a peak period with one
convent in Lisbon, it was never more than a vice-province.
!The Vicars General for America
! Since at that time, Masters General did not go to America for the visitation, the 1574 Guadalajara Chapter
determined that the Master General would appoint for the Indies a vicar general who would always be from Castile. This
did not take effect until the 1587 chapter dealt with the matter again and established that by decree and with the view of
the definitors in general chapter, after his election, the Master General would name two vicars general for the American
Provinces: one for Peru with a residence in Lima and the other for New Spain and Guatemala with a residence in Mexico.
The vicars had to be instituted and named alternately only from the Provinces of Castile and Andalusia. These decisions
were incorporated in the 1588 Constitutions. The jurisdiction of the Peru vicar included the Provinces of Lima, Cuzco,
Chile, Quito and Tucumán. New Spain, Guatemala and Santa Domingo pertained to the Mexico vicar. Their function was
to be responsible for regular observance, fraternal correction, the authority to convene and preside over provincial
chapters, to confirm or cancel the elections of provincials, to mediate in conflictive cases, etc.
Given the extent of the vicars’ powers, the American Provinces always resisted the presence of those vicars on
their territories. The friars of America complained that vicars abused their authority, they restricted the friars’ activities
and invalidated their autonomy. In addition, vicars occasionally took advantage of their attributions to send significant
sums of money to Spain. As a result, between indigenous friars and superiors from Spain there were disputes that even
reached the Council of the Indies. In the end, vicars were seen as intruders.
To avoid problems of this type, by an agreement between the Council of the Indies and the Order of Mercy, on
March 29, 1639, the vicars’ prerogatives were restricted and their jurisdiction was limited. Vicars general lasted until
1769. They were part of a concrete historical reality that cannot be ignored. That same reality rings differently when it is
seen from America or viewed from Europe.
!!
4. RELIGIOUS FORMATION
!Characteristics of the Formation Plans
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!
The Council of Trent found a favorable echo in the Order in what pertains to the formation of its friars. This is
reflected in the new edition of the 1588 Constitutions as well as in the 1692 Constitutions of Father José Linas. Both have
this formation plan: two examiners, to be named by the community, investigate aspirants before they join the Order. This
type of probe deals with their morality, ability, character and suitability for religious life. Aspirants should not have
“vanity of nobility or property interests.” In order to ascertain the seriousness of a candidate’s decision, the superior
“sends him to confession and dismisses him indicating the day when he is to return.” There is no room for easy deceit.
When he returns, the candidate will need the community’s vote in order to join.
There are meticulous norms concerning the formation of novices. Starting with the novice master: he is appointed
by the superior and he must have sufficient religious competence and be diligent, learned and pious. The school for
novices must be in a remote place, separate from the professed. Novices will be properly instructed about the Rule, the
Constitutions, religious life and the liturgy. They will also be taught to read, to pray, to observe the common office and
Gregorian chant. They are to be totally dedicated to their formation as religious, not distracted by philosophical or
theological studies which will come later. They are to be simple and humble. They are to wear the habit out of devotion
and surrender rather than out of curiosity or vanity. The shield of the Order is to be simple, made of wool or silk, not of
gold or silver. They are to confess every 15 days and to go to communion each month. The master hears their confessions
although it can be another priest if they wish. There is a special emphasis on devotion to Mary, a devotion they will have
to manifest throughout their religious lives: “All things must be started and done in her name.”
The superior listens to the master’s opinion and he consults the community before novices are professed.
Candidates to the priesthood must be proficient in Latin. The vows are steps to imitate and to follow Christ the Redeemer.
For the first time, it is mandated that the fourth vow, like the others, be expressly made. It is expressed in the formula of
profession: “and I will remain captive as a pledge, in the power of the Saracens, if it should be necessary for the
redemption of Christian faithful.” It is manifestly explicit although it is less expressive than before. At least three years of
profession are required before being ordained to the priesthood. Studying “to defend the faith” is highly valued. In large
houses, there are studies in scholastics, philosophy and moral theology.
!Mercedarian Colleges
! In addition to the university colleges of Salamanca, Paris and Alcalá de Henares of the sixteenth century, others
are created in Europe as well as in America.
The Province of Andalusia founded the San Laureano College (1589) in order to be able to graduate its friars
without having to send them to Salamanca or Alcalá. Its first rector was Father Francisco Beamonde.
In the Province of Aragon, there were Saint Peter Nolasco Colleges in Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia and
Saragossa.
On January 11, 1665, by a royal cedula, the Province of Lima founded Saint Peter Nolasco College. Its first rector
was Father José Barrasa who was named by Pope Alexander VII on the same day. Its Statutes or Constitutions, written by
its rector, Father Barrasa, were published the following year in Madrid. Distinguished university professors and famous
bishops came from this renowned Lima College, like Juan Durán, Francisco Padilla, Sebastián de Almoguera y Pastrana,
Pedro Sanz de la Vega, Francisco Gutiérrez Galiano, Juan Manuel García de Vargas y Rivera and José Higinio Durán
Martel.
Another Saint Peter Nolasco College was founded in the Province of Cuzco in the middle of the seventeenth
century.
Thanks to these colleges, arts, theology and Sacred Scriptures chairs at the University of San Marcos were held by
Peruvian Mercedarians from the end of the sixteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century. The most
outstanding were Fathers Nicolás de Ovalle, Luis de Vera, José de Ondarza, Juan Báez, Bernardo Mispilivar, Sebastián
and José de Almoguera y Pastrana, Jerónimo Calatayud and Melchor Talamantes.
The San Ramón College for jurists was founded in Mexico in 1654. Father Francisco Pareja was its first rector.
Numerous good jurists and several bishops came from that establishment. In 1665, Aguas Calientes was the site of another
College whose first rector was Father Nicolás de Arteaga. The San Pedro Pascual College of Belén was established in
1774. Father Vicente Garrido became its first rector.
Santa Domingo also had its own Mercedarian College where Tirso de Molina taught three semesters of theology.
In Quito, Mercedarians graduated from their own college and then attended the San Gregorio Jesuit University.
!
77!
The Province of Santa Barbara de Tucumán created the San Ramón College which operated in the San Ramón
Convent in Buenos Aires.
In the Province of Chile, the San Pedro Pascual College was established in 1574, in the city of Santiago.
!
5.
!
CULTURALANDUNIVERSITY WORK
Starting with the fifteenth century, the Order of Mercy started to stand out in university milieus first by the quality
and quantity of its student religious and then, by its university professors. This was not to emulate or to copy other orders.
It was the logical thrust which the Spanish Golden Age communicated to peninsular institutions, including the Order of
Mercy. Capitular records show the increase of students with university degrees and titles. The passage from a lay to a
clerical Order helped clerics to be more interested in studies.
!Sacred Sciences
! In the sixteenth century, Francisco Zumel emerged in Salamanca as the Order’s most eminent figure in theology.
Zumel was born in Palencia in 1540. He was a professor of moral philosophy in Salamanca and the Master
General (1593-1599). He is the author of extensive commentaries on Saint Thomas Aquinas’ works and he also had
several volumes printed in Salamanca. He took part in the polemics between Jesuit Luis de Molina and Dominican
Domingo Bañez. He sent his report to Rome with his personal point of view on this delicate question of the relation
between free will and divine grace. Zumel proposed an intermediate way on the theme: divine grace assists free will
which does not suffer from it nor is it conditioned. Zumel was a free-minded Thomist. After his death, he received the
admiration of the Calatayud chapter (1615) which stipulated that Father Zumel should be followed in “the article of the
Pure Conception of the Virgin, Our Lady, as we want her Immaculate Conception to be inviolably defended in the whole
Order from the pulpit as well as in teaching.” In his Historia, Fray Gabriel Téllez spoke of this capitular mandate which
he and his companions put into practice in Santo Domingo where no one was preaching on the subject. The result of his
preaching on the Immaculate Virgin was notorious: the faithful immediately filled the Mercedarian church which was
almost empty before.
The Order of Mercy had many renowned theology professors until the nineteenth century: Machín de Aquena,
Francisco de Mendoza, Silvestre Saavedra, a mariologist, Juan Prudencio, Ambrosio de Almendea, Antonio de Solís,
Francisco Echeverz, Pedro Salazar and Manuel de la Peña.
Mystical writers: Juan Falconí, Pedro de la Serna, Mateo Villarroel, Francisco de Ribera, Gaspar Prieto, Marcos
Salmerón, Antonio Centenero, Venerable Pedro Urraca, Blessed Mary Ann of Jesus.
Discalced Mercedarians: Pedro de San Cecilio, José de San Marcelino, Gabriel de la Concepción, Celestino del
Santísimo Sacramento, Francisco de San Marcos and Manuel de la Natividad.
For the history of the Order: Bernardo de Vargas, Alonso Remón, Gaspar de Torres, Gabriel Téllez, Felipe
Colombo, Marcos Salmerón, Mariano Ribera, Martín de Murúa, Felipe Guimerán, Melchor Rodríguez de Torres, Agustín
Arqués, Juan Antillón and Jean Latomy.
In America, the following historians deserve to be mentioned.
Mexico: Francisco Pareja and Cristóbal de Aldana; Peru: Luis de Vera, Francisco de Miranda Valcárcel and Diego
de Mondragón; Chile: Simón de Lara, Alonso Covarrubias and Rafael Cifuentes; Ecuador: Antonio de Pesquera, Esteban
Mosquera, Juan Narváez and Juan Aráuz.
Literature and Other Disciplines
!
Father Jaime Torres, master of Tárrefa and of the Argensola brothers, is the author of a delightful poetic play:
Divina y varia poesía (1579). In 1598, Father Juan Suárez de Godoy published his voluminous Renaissance work
Misericordias Domini in Barcelona. Father Alonso Remón (1571-1632), a playwright, was a friend of Lope de Vega . We
still have eight of his comedies, among which, El hijo pródigo and Tres mujeres en una.
Fray Gabriel Téllez, known by his pseudonym Tirso de Molina, is without a doubt the key figure of Mercedarian
literature. He was a poet, a playwright, a novelist, a theologian and a historian. This Madrilenian friar admits he wrote
more than 400 plays in verse. He published five volumes of 12 plays each, several separate comedies, Cigaralles de
Toledo (1624), Deleitar aprovechando (1635) and finally, he left a manuscript of his Historia General de la Orden de
Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes in two thick volumes kept at the Academy of History of Madrid. These volumes were just
published by the Order in 1974. His best-known comedies, the source of his fame are: El burlador de Sevilla y Convidado
de piedra (he invented the character of Don Juan), El condenado por desconfiado, La prudencia en la mujer, Don Gil de
las calzas verdes, La villana de Vallecas, Los balcones de Madrid, La Dama del Olivar, Tanto es lo de más como lo de
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menos, La venganza de Tamar, La mujer que manda en casa, etc. And auto sacramentales: El colmenero divino and Los
hermanos parecidos.
In America, two men were outstanding in literature, the Peruvian Fray Francisco del Castillo, called the Ciego de
la Merced and in Chile, Father Juan Barrenechea y Albis.
Father Juan Interián de Ayala, a trilingual professor in Salamanca, was eminent in another field. He was one of the
founding members of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language and the coordinator of the etymologies of the first
Diccionario de Autoridades as the Dictionary of the Royal Academy used to be called. He published a very interesting
work in classical Latin, Pictor Christianus Eruditus, a work which he himself translated into Spanish: El pintor cristiano
erudito. He also wrote Opuscula poetica, a summary of his excellent poetic work in Latin, in which he was a better poet
than in Spanish and two volumes of his Sermones, a valuable work in Spanish prose. He had great academic success. He
died in 1730. Another Mercedarian, Fray Francisco de Mendoza, from the San Laureano College of Seville, replaced him
at the Academy of the Spanish Language.
Fray Augustín Leonardo Argensola (+1643) was a renowned painter. He painted in the El Puig monastery in 1620.
He went to Andalusia and Castile where he decorated various convents. There are 38 of his paintings in El Olivar convent.
Fray Eugenio Gutiérrez de Torices (+1709) was a famous sculptor who dedicated himself to work on colored wax
with such perfection and naturalness that his works were acclaimed by other artists of the period. In the field of sculpture,
we have to mention Fray Pedro Pascual García
(+1756) who worked in the Mercy church of Verín and several churches in Orense (Galicia).
In architecture, two religious from Lima who left important works should be mentioned. In 1698, Cristóbal
Caballero (1631-1702), an architect, sculptor and joiner was named “Chief Master of the factories of the Lima Cathedral”
and later, he was given the official post of “Chief Master of the royal factories or chief architect of the Peru viceroyalty.”
This eminent architect designed and built the beautiful façade of the Mercy church and that of Santa Catalina in Lima. He
also sculpted an image of Santa Rosa for the cathedral main altar and he rebuilt the city walls and many other works
which are still admired today. The other architect, Pedro Galeano, sketched the plans and built the Mercy church of Lima
as well as the churches of Copacabana and the Prado in the same city.
In several other fields of inspiration: Mexican Diego Rodríguez published several works of logic, geometry and
arithmetic and the Arte de fabricar relojes. Juan Aparicio de Játiva, a very talented Mercedarian, wrote several Treatises
of arithmetic and geometry, De los diez elementos de Euclides on square root, geography, astronomy and planets. Fray
Gabriel Palmer, from Majorca, left a Manual de hacer relojes (eighteenth century).
!!
6. APOSTOLIC ACTIVITY
!Evangelization of America and the Doctrinas
! In America, the Mercedarians were attending to the religious life of the peninsulars and the Creole Mestizos in the
cities and in the rural doctrinas, they were teaching the natives the truths of the faith and how to live as brothers.
From the beginning and through its competent bodies, the Order showed its ongoing concern for the good care of
the doctrinas in its charge. In appointing vicars general, the Master General selected religious of exemplary conduct and
well-versed in doctrine to be doctrineros. There is abundant legislation concerning the doctrinas and the doctrineros from
the chapters of the different American Provinces. The minutes of a chapter, which we mention as an example, state: “This
definitorium mandates all priests and doctrineros to be very careful and vigilant in looking after the spiritual welfare of
their flock, teaching them Christian doctrine with love and charity, instructing them in the mysteries of our holy faith and
in administering the holy sacraments promptly.”
Throughout America, in 1576, the Mercedarian Order had 50 convents with 340 religious who were looking after
many doctrinas. Each one of these was made up of one or several villages.
The main doctrinas entrusted to the Mercedarians in different countries are:
Guatemala: Malacatán, Huehuetenango, Jacaltenango, Chantla, Zacatepequez, San Cristóbal de Chiapas, etc.
Honduras: Rencas, Cururú, Gracias a Dios, Tencoa, Cares, Tatembla, etc.
Nicaragua: Pozoltega, Cebaco, Somoto, Coindega, etc.
Panama: Chririquí, San Pedro de Aspatara, San Pablo del Platanar, Camaná, etc.
New Granada: Cali, Valle de Cali, La Montaña, Digua, Mallama, Cumbla, Calimba, etc.
Quito: Otavalo, Tulcán, Tuza, Huacán, Lita, Quilca, Nanigal, Picoasa, etc.
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Lima: Lati (now Ate), Carabayllo, Huamantanga, Bombón, Churín, Ichopincos, Collanapincos, Pacaraos,
Bagazán, Huambos, Moche, Virú, etc.
Cuzco: Paruro, Accha Anansaya, Acca Hurinsaya, Livitaca, Checacupe, Pampacucho, Yanaca, Pocoanca,
Huancaray, etc.
Upper Peru (now Bolivia): Huarina Anansaya, Huarina Hurinsaya, Coata, Capachica, Huata, Yúrac, etc.
Tucumán: Santiago del Estero, Chiquilligasta, Ampatagasta, Later, in 1768, the Mercedarians from Argentina took
over the 10 doctrinas which the Jesuit Fathers had been in charge of before their expulsion from America.
In Chile, Mercedarians had few permanent doctrinas. But from the start, they developed a system of circular
missions, a method which made it easier for them to go to places farther away from urban centers. They were already in
Castro in 1567, evangelizing in the Chiloé Archipelago. Later on, in the eighteenth century, the Order had the following
doctrinas around its convents: Colchagua, Copiapó, Huasco, Castro, Osorno, Valdivia, Peumo, Legueimo, Nancagua and
Pichidegua.
Almost everywhere, when the doctrinas were well organized, bishops became interested in converting them into
parishes and in giving them to the clergy. Many of these former doctrinas are now capitals of provinces, episcopal sees or
major parishes.
!Popular Missions and Mission Colleges
! Groups of preachers of redemption started to form around Father José Montagudo (1657-1729), an eminent
missionary. They would travel throughout the peninsula in their liberating mission. When the number of redemptions
decreased, Father Montagudo and his group took advantage of the experience they had gained to continue their
evangelization in Spanish towns. Father Francisco Echeverz, his most outstanding disciple, was an apostolic soul devoted
to popular missions. This missionary approach was so successful among the faithful that it became necessary to establish
authentic missionary schools which were called Mission Colleges. Thus, a Mission College which began with 12
missionary friars was created in the Convent del Pilar in Embún. Then, Father Echeverz founded the Moratalla Mission
College. Castile founded the Olmedo Mission College; Valencia, the Burriana Mission College; Aragon had its college in
Montblanch and France had one in Bordeaux. Later on, there were other foundations in cities where the Order was
present.
These mission centers were so beneficial and so well-accepted that many bishops were constantly requesting the
presence of Mercedarian missionaries in their dioceses.
In a decree of October 23, 1740, Master General José Mezquía published the Estatutos de los colegios y
seminarios de misiones in which he sought to provide a structure and organization more suited to the purpose for which
these colleges had been founded. Prepared religious or those who had to prepare to give missions among the faithful
through preaching, confessions and explanations of Christian doctrine, used to flock to these colleges and seminaries.
Pope Benedict XIV approved these Statutes in the bull Explicare verbis non possumus of March 24, 1741. In it,
the pope said that among Mercedarians “some devote themselves to liberate others from the Turks’ tyranny, others to
teach the mysteries of the Catholic faith and still others, to confirm the faithful in their faith with greater benefit for
souls.”
The system of popular missions and the creation of Mission Colleges also spread to America. In 1789, the great El
Tejar convent of Quito was converted into a College for Missionaries among the faithful. Chile had its own Mission
College (1740) in the large Chimbarongo convent, geographically located in the center of the country. From there,
missionaries covered all the territory included between Copiapó to the North and Chiloé and the nearby archipelagos to
the South. This explains the existence of countless towns, churches and chapels dedicated to the Virgin of Mercy and also
the abundance of Mercedarian vocations from this central region of Chile.
!
7. NEW LEGISLATION AND CONFIRGURATION
OF THE ORDER
!Father José Linás’ Constitutions (1692)
! Taking advantage of the experience accumulated in the many years during which the early 1327 Constitutions
were in force, at the 1686 Huete General Chapter, the Order decided to prepare a new, better structured and more
actualized legislative code. In his bull Militantis Ecclesiae of May 15, 1687, Pope Innocent XI granted the Order full
power to reform its laws, both in form and substance. To elaborate this new codification, a commission was appointed and
it succeeded in having the text of the new Constitutions ready at the end of 1691. Master General José Linás, with the
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power of the 1686 capitular decision, requested the Apostolic See’s approval. Pope Innocent XII approved them in the bull
Ex iniuncto nobis divinitus on December 7, 1691, and the Constitutions became effective in 1692. They were approved by
the Holy See without prior discussion in general chapter. They were also called Constitutions Matritenses because they
were published in Madrid.
A new terminology is evident in the title: Constitutions of the Friars of the Sacred and Royal Order of the Blessed
Virgin Mary of Mercy, Redemption of Captives. The Constitutions start with a great emphasis on Mary as they insist on the
Blessed Virgin Mary’s apparition to Saint Peter Nolasco entrusting him with the foundation of the Order. The goal is very
clear: to liberate captives from the infidels’ tyranny, underlining that it was Mary who founded this work.
After the mentioned Proem, comes the body of the Constitutions, as such, divided into eight distinctions or parts.
These are made up of several chapters which are themselves subdivided into numbers. Contents: divine worship and
prayer, redemptions, the vows specifying the fourth Mercedarian vow of redemption, regular discipline and communal
life, entrance and profession, transgressions, faults, offenses and penalties. It concludes with what pertains to chapters,
elections and rules for houses and provinces. The Constitutions also legislate for nuns, tertiaries and brothers. The sixth
part, “Exercise and profession of letters,” is entirely new.
!The Order of Mercy, a Mendicant Order
! Mendicant Orders had in their rules the observance of strict poverty, not only for individuals but also for convents
and the institution. They obtained what they needed to survive by begging for alms which they received from the faithful.
These Orders emerged in the thirteenth century as an expression of the evangelical ideal of poverty. The first were
Carmelites, Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians. The Trinitarians, a redemptive Order, destined a third of the alms
for redemption.
For a long time, the Order of Mercy had enjoyed all the privileges of the Mendicant Orders which had been
granted by several pontiffs. However, Pope Benedict XIII declared it to be a Mendicant Order in his July 8, 1725 bull
Aeternus aeterni Patris without ceasing to be a redemptive Order since, from its origins, it possessed goods in order to
redeem captives.
!Situation of the Order at the End of the Eighteenth Century
! From a numerical viewpoint, this was undoubtedly a period of growth. The houses and provinces of Europe and
America seemed firmly established, including the vice-province of Marañon.
France was recovering from the losses caused by the bloody struggle against Protestantism. There, in 1674, Father
Andrés Navas y Quevedo, later Bishop of Nicaragua and Guatemala (1677-1683), founded a convent in Mas Saintes
Puelles, Saint Peter Nolasco’s home, near Castelnaudary in the San Papoul Diocese. In Brazil, Father Marcos de la
Natividad founded a convent in Río Mearim (1669). In 1674, in Huanca, a place near Cuzco, the Lord appeared to a
peasant, Diego Quispe. The Lord left his sorrowful image painted on a large rock on a Mercedarian property which is now
a great sanctuary. Everywhere, vocations were invading convents which had to expand to accommodate such a large
number of friars.
In 1770, the Order of Mercy had 229 convents with 4,495 religious in the following provinces or vice-provinces:
Aragon, 27 convents and 590 religious; Castile 20 convents and 589 religious; Valencia, 15 convents and 430 religious;
Andalusia, 22 convents and 705 religious; France, 16 convents and 81 religious; Paris, 3 convents and 23 religious; Italy,
7 convents and 75 religious; Sardinia, 5 convents and 70 religious; Mexico, 20 convents and 427 religious; Santa
Domingo, 7 convents and 148 religious; Guatemala, 17 convents and 161 religious; Quito, 10 convents and 145 religious;
Lima, 15 convents and 271 religious; Cuzco, 12 convents and 310 religious; Tucumán, 12 convents and 227 religious;
Chile, 16 convents and 174 religious and Marañon, 6 convents and 70 religious.
!!
8.
!
FRUITS OF SANCTITY
During this long period of history, the Order had countless religious who gave testimony of their consecration to
God and to the service of others. They lived the Mercedarian spirituality intensely and they are its fruits of sanctity.
!
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Gonzalo Díaz de Amarante. He was born in Amarante (Portugal) in 1540. As a sailor, he traveled to Peru where he
became a Mercedarian religious in the Lima convent in 1603. He distinguished himself by his surrender to a life of prayer
and by the practice of charity with natives and the most needy. He humbly and effectively carried out his doorkeeper role
giving admirable examples of virtue to everyone coming to the convent. He moved to the Callao convent where he
exercised the function of a beggar. This is where death caught him by surprise on January 27, 1618. The diocesan process
of beatification was already concluded in 1621 and in 1675, the apostolic process was initiated and progressed with
justified hope. Since 1746, the body of this servant of God lies in the Mercedarian church of Lima.
!
Venerable Pedro Urraca de la Santísima Trinidad. He was born in Jadraque (Spain) in 1583. His brother, a
Franciscan, took him to Quito where Pedro was inspired by the Virgin to join the Order. From an early age, he devoted his
life to virtue and distinguished himself especially in penance, abnegation, prayer and humility. After being ordained a
deacon, he was sent to the Belén Mercedarian Recollect convent in Lima where he was ordained a priest in 1610. After
that, he dedicated himself to preaching and to evangelizing the poor. He went back to Spain in 1621, with the innermost
desire to go to Africa to redeem captives. After seven years, he returned to Peru and exercised the ministries of preaching
and hearing confessions, at the same time as his renown in the practice of virtues was growing. Though he was paralyzed
in the last years of his life, he still continued his apostolate in the spiritual direction of many souls until his death on
August 7, 1657. The process of beatification was initiated immediately and once concluded, it was taken to Rome in 1678.
The decree on his heroic virtues has been proclaimed on January 31, 1981.
!
Antonio de San Pedro. He was born in Portugal in 1570. He was baptized as a Christian but, when his parents
converted to Judaism, they raised him in that faith. He went to Lima where he was engaged in trading. Discovered as a
practicing Jew, he was arrested by the Inquisition on March 22, 1604. Moved by grace, he abjured to come back to the
Catholic faith. In punishment for his error, he was given three years of public penance which he did in the Mercy convent
of Lima as a kitchen helper. There he met the servant of God, Gonzalo Díaz de Amarante, who instructed him in the truths
of faith and in the practice of Christian virtues. As a consequence of the penalty imposed on him, he had to go back to
Spain where he was a donate in a Dominican convent. Since it was known that he had been Jewish, he was denied the
habit. Then he entered the Osuna convent of the discalced Mercedarians as a donate in June 1614, and made his
profession two years later. His religious life was one of penance and mortification, service and charity to the needy and to
the imprisoned whom he served with abnegation without neglecting prayer and union with God. He showed his love for
souls, especially prostitutes. He converted many of them and founded a home where they were welcomed after they had
returned to the right path. In the Church of Santa Ana of his Order, he set up the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
which had 4,000 members. He was a mirror of virtues, especially faith, charity, humility and the observance of the vows.
Such a saintly life was blessed with special graces which God granted through his intercession before and after the death
of this servant of God. He died in his Osuna convent on July 30, 1622. The process of beatification was opened shortly
after his death.
!
Peter Nolasco Perra. He was born in Gergei (Sardinia) at the beginning of 1574, and was baptized on February
15 of the same year. He received the Mercedarian habit in the Bonaria convent on February 14, 1598, and made his
profession on February 19 of the following year. He was sent to pursue theological studies in Valencia where he was
ordained in 1602. He was a model of interior life, obedience and sensitivity in dealing with people. His recollection and
fervor in celebrating Holy Mass deeply moved the faithful. He had words of encouragement and consolation for everyone
especially during the long hours he devoted to the sacrament of penance. He died young in Valencia when he was only 32
on June 15, 1606. A church called Santu Impera (Saint Peter in Sardinian dialect) was built in his honor in his hometown.
The villagers venerate him as a saint with love and faith in the church which is still there today.
!
Alonso Gómez de Encinas. He was born in Cuéllar (Segovia). He received the habit in the Valladolid convent and
completed his studies in Salamanca where he was enrolled in 1597 and 1598. In 1609, at the age of 44, he went to Mexico
as a secretary and preacher with Vicar General Antonio Mendoza. After concluding his mission with the vicar, he asked to
stay on as a missionary and he was appointed doctrinero or priest of the Puná island in the Gulf of Guayaquil. While he
was there, he was caught by surprise by the arrival of the Dutch pirate Jacobo L’Hermite. After crossing the Strait of
Magellan with several ships, the pirate sacked the defenseless coasts of the Pacific. He also planned to attack Guayaquil
but the people put up a heroic defense forcing him to reembark with grave losses. The pirate withdrew to Puná where he
unleashed his hatred and spite over his defeat on the Mercedarian ordering him that he be disemboweled to look for the
Eucharist. This took place on June 13, 1624, and on July 10, the Quito Audencia gave a detailed account of what
happened to King Philip IV. Father Encinas is one of the best-known Mercedarian martyrs of the period. Since the year of
his death, he has been venerated in the Mercy Church of Barcelona.
!
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Juan Falconi de Bustamante. He was born in Almería in April 1596. He joined the Order of Mercy in 1611, and
studied theology in Salamanca. Then he dedicated himself to teaching, especially in the colleges of the Order. Assigned to
the apostolate by his superiors, he devoted himself to the ministry of spiritual direction, hearing confessions and preaching
at every level of Madrilenian society. He promoted the practices of meditation, frequent confession and especially daily
communion. He wrote many works or theology and mysticism, the most important being El pan nuestro de cada día on
communion. He died in Madrid on May 31, 1638. The beatification process was initiated after his death.
!
Luis Galindo de San Ramón. He was born in Trujillo (Peru) in 1634. He entered the Order of Mercy of Lima
where he made his profession on April 6, 1660. Ordained a priest, he moved to the Belén Recollect convent to devote
himself to a life of prayer and penance. He was an outstanding preacher and spiritual director. He also had the gift of
prophecy and he announced the October 20, 1687 earthquake which destroyed the city of Lima. He was very devoted to
the Virgin Mary in whose honor he wrote De la Concepción Inmaculada de María, published in Lima in 1663. He left
many poems of a mystical nature and about death, both in Spanish and in Latin. Some of his manuscripts are preserved at
Yale University (USA). In the last years of the century, he was busy building the lovely façade of the church which is one
of the most beautiful in the city. He died on March 8, 1704. His body lies in the sacristy of the Mercedarian church of
Lima. Shortly after his death, the ordinary initiated the beatification process and in October 1943, the Trujillo National
Eucharistic Congress requested the continuation of the process.
Buenaventura Guisado, a man of admirable virtue, was a contemporary of Father Galindo and he lived in the
same convent. He wrote Colloquia spiritualia concionatoria, a work of mystical theology which was published in Seville
in 1645. After a holy and exemplary life, he died on September 25, 1704. Two years after his death, the ordinary
informative process of beatification was initiated and on August 16, 1710, his corpse was juridically examined for the non
cultu process.
!
José Montagudo. He was born in Saragossa in 1657. His parents were Juan and María Fernández. He received a
strict education from his mother. Drawn to the religious state, he entered the convent of his native city where he received
the Mercedarian habit in 1672, and he made his profession on June 24 of the following year. Soon after his ordination, he
was named novice master at the Bonaria convent in Sardinia which belonged to the Province of Aragon at the time. Back
in Spain, he performed the difficult task of begging for redemption for twelve years. He collected many alms and proved
to be an excellent preacher. This helped him to dedicate himself to the missionary apostolate to which he gave the last
thirty-six years of his life. It is estimated that he must have heard some forty thousand confessions. At the end of his life,
he became involved in the redemption of captives. At his own request, he was named redeemer for the Province of Aragon
in 1727. Even though he was 70 years old, he started his pilgrimage to collect alms with the same fervor as when he was
young and he managed to collect 3,000 pesos. With other redeemers, Rafael Suriá and Vicente Ibañez Rubio, he
embarked in Barcelona for Tunis. During the crossing, a violent storm forced the ship to dock in the port of Cagliari
where, at the archbishop’s request, Father Montagudo preached a sermon to ask for rain. In Tunis, the redeemers were able
to rescue 129 captives. When he returned to Barcelona in August 1729, he was asked to deliver the official speech for the
return of captives. He surrendered his soul to God on October 9, 1729.
In 1741, Father Francisco M. Echeverz, his disciple as a preacher, wrote the life of this exemplary religious,
fervent missionary and tireless apostle.
!
Andrés Garrido. He was born in Vallada (Spain) in 1663. At baptism, he was given the name of Bartolomé, the
patron of the town. On June 18, 1679, he received the white Mercedarian habit in El Puig where he had an uncle who was
a religious. He was a sensitive, penitent soul and very patient with physical sufferings. An eminent preacher in Valencian,
he was effective and fervent in his exhortations. He never despaired of the conversion of the greatest sinners and he was
always generous with the poor. He was the superior of Valencia and Játiva. In the eighteenth century, at a time when the
number of priests seemed excessive, Father Andrés would spend entire days in the confessional without eating. His only
interruption was the time he needed for Mass. He used to say: “How could I leave these poor people waiting—in danger
of being condemned—to go eat and rest?” He died in Játiva where he had spent most of his life on February 23, 1728.
Master Vicente Oliver, the Mercedarian provincial of Valencia and Father Andrés’ companion for forty years, delivered his
eulogy at the funeral. He spoke for three hours and fifteen minutes and, yet, his discourse seemed short to his compatriots
who rushed to have it printed in order to savor it fully.
!
!
83!
Sebastián del Espíritu Santo. He was born in Cajamarca (Peru) in 1668. He was brought up as a Christian. After
the deaths of his parents, he moved to Lima to look for the wise and virtuous religious, Luis Galindo de San Ramón who
already had the reputation of being holy and he approached him with these words: “I have come to seek you, Father, so
that you may teach me how to be holy.” He entered as a donate, made rapid progress in the paths of virtue and he
remained pure and humble. He did not accept to be a coadjutor brother because he considered himself unworthy. He
worked eagerly for the dignity of the church and for the splendor of worship. He was very devoted to the Lord of
Perpetual Help for whom he had an altar built. He devoted five hours to prayer every day. God rewarded his sanctity by
granting him exceptional privileges which drew everyone’s admiration and love. The viceroy chose him as his daughter’s
godfather. He died on July 17, 1721. The process about his life, his fame as a saint and the miracles of this servant of God
was started immediately. It was concluded in 1734.
!
Francisco Salamanca. He was born in 1668 in Oruro (Bolivia) where he entered the Order. He was ordained a
priest in Cuzco. On May 16, 1695, the provincial, who requested the degree of master in theology for Father Salamanca,
said: “He is a very talented man and he is so virtuous that he is the example of this entire city.” Father Salamanca loved to
live in his cell, dedicated to prayer and penance. He was a great preacher, a missionary, a musician (he built an original
organ which still exists), a poet, and above all, a painter: he himself decorated his cell with extraordinary mural paintings.
This cell is preserved intact in the Cuzco convent. He died in 1730.
!
José de la Puerta. He was from the city of Ecija where he received the habit in 1681, and took his vows on
December 4 of the following year. He studied in his own Province of Andalusia and in the course of his studies he showed
great love for recollection and prayer which would characterize his life. In the investigation on his life and virtues done at
the request of the bishop of Seville, witnesses declared that “everyone knew his absolute withdrawal from any secular
contact, from his relatives and even from religious except for community acts and that, in over thirty years, he did not
spend an entire day outside the convent.” With great devotion, he would celebrate Mass daily and after giving thanks, he
would withdraw to the choir to pray. He only ate at noon and mortified his body with scourges and a hair shirt and he
mastered his irascible character through self-control. He died on October 1, 1738. He was buried in the tomb of the
Marquis and Marquise of Peñaflor. From there, his remains were transferred to the Church of Santa María de Ecija where
his sepulcher can still be seen. Many miracles were attributed to him, both during his life and after his death.
!
Francisco de Jesús Bolaños. He was born in Pasto (Colombia) on October 4, 1701. He entered the Order in that
city when he was 15 years old. His brothers José and Pedro would also become Mercedarians. After he finished his
studies, he was ordained a priest in Quito on March 17, 1727. Then he dedicated himself to his own sanctification and that
of others through his ministry of preaching and in the confessional. At age 32, he withdrew to the hermitage of El Tejar
where he built a convent, a church and a retreat house nearby. Religious, lay people, young and old, poor and rich, would
flock there in search of the spiritual nourishment which Father Bolaños would lavishly give them. A poor, humble,
austere, virtuous religious, he was especially charitable with the most needy and he was admired by everyone. He died on
December 14, 1785. At the present time, his beatification process is underway in the Quito Archdiocese.
!
Blessed Mary Ann of Jesus. She was born in Madrid in 1565. Her mother died when she was barely nine years old
and her father remarried. Mary Ann’s stepmother began to make her life impossible and to take her away from the house,
she arranged her marriage. But the young girl had already chosen Jesus as her only spouse. In anguish, Mary Ann went to
the Mercedarian chapel of the Virgen de los Remedios. There she met Father Juan Bautista González who illumined her
steps and guided her along the paths of perfection. He was her spiritual director from 1598 until his death. A serious
illness prevented Mary Ann from entering any convent as a religious. However, she set up residence in a small house, next
to the convent of the Recollect Mercedarians. She spent several years there dedicated to prayer and penance. She was
finally accepted as a tertiary and received the Mercedarian habit from Father Felipe Guimerán, the Master General of the
Order, who received her profession the following year on May 20, 1614. Wearing the habit, she lived in that house and
dedicated herself to works of charity for the sick and the needy. In addition, she distinguished herself by her humility, her
devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to the Blessed Sacrament. She wrote her spiritual autobiography. Stricken with acute
pleurisy, she died on April 17, 1624. Her uncorrupted body is preserved in the Madrid church of Don Juan de Alarcón and
it was examined in 1627, when the beatification process was initiated. Her body was re-examined in 1731, in 1755, in
1924, on the occasion of the third centennial of her death and in June 1965, on the occasion of the fourth centennial of her
birth. Pius VI solemnly beatified her in the Vatican Basilica on May 25, 1783.
!!
9.
!
THE MERCEDARIAN FAMILY
! !
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From the trunk of the tree solidly planted in the bosom of the Church by Saint Peter Nolasco, a series of institutes
began to emerge. Animated by the same charism and nourished by the same Marian redemptive vitality, together with the
laity, these institutes make up the Mercedarian Family. They are: the discalced Mercedarians (men and women), the
Mercedarian Sisters and laity with the Confraternity, the Slaves of the Order of Mercy and the Third Order.
!Discalced Mercedarians
! During Father Alonso Monroy’s generalate (1602-1609), at Father Juan Bautista González’ initiative and with the
financial help of the Marquise de Castelar, doña Beatriz Ramírez de Mendoza, the Order of the Discalced came into
existence in Spain. It was initiated with the appointment of Father González as chaplain and sacristan of the Madrid
chapel of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios. This is where he established a recollection house with the authorization of the
Master General (1602). Master Monroy himself wrote the first Constitutions for the Mercedarian Recollection.
Father González started to use the name Juan Bautista del Santísimo Sacramento and soon, he founded convents
in Almoraima, El Viso, Ribas del Jarama, Santa Bárbara (Madrid), Alcalá de Henares and Huelva. Father Juan had been in
Peru in charge of the Huamantanga doctrina and in Madrid, he had been the friend and confessor of Blessed Mary Ann of
Jesus. During his life, he never sought separation from the Order. He died on October 5, 1616, at the Santa Bárbara
convent. In 1617, the discalced already had 7 convents in Castile, 10 in Andalusia and 6 in Sicily. Along with the
Mercedarian sisters, they quickly multiplied in the Mancha and Andalusia. By a decree of November 26, 1621, Pope
Gregory XV declared them separate from the Order and under the government of a vicar general. They kept the fourth
Mercedarian vow and, for the redemptions, they joined the calced and worked in collaboration with them. The discalced
Mercedarian nuns also prayed and collected alms for redemptions. During the eighteenth century, they had many mystical
writers and some eminent philosophers and theologians.
Austere and dynamic, the discalced increased in vocations and convents in Southern Spain with the help of noble
families. They also expanded in Italy. In 1774, the Province of San José in Castile had 12 convents with 352 religious; the
Province of Concepción in Andalusia had 19 convents with 581 religious and the Province of San Ramón in Sicily had 12
convents with 120 religious. In addition, the Rome vice-province had 4 convents and some 30 religious.
!Mercedarian Nuns
! As of the Council of Trent, the existing Mercedarian beaterios were transformed into monasteries of cloistered
nuns. At first, the monasteries of nuns were under the jurisdiction of the Order. All religious considered themselves as
heirs of the first monastery of Saint Mary Cervellon. They felt identified with the charism of the redemption of captives.
They lived the spirit of the fourth vow and participated in it. They used to collect alms in a small chest for redemption,
they prayed and recited litanies for the happy outcome of redemptions.
These are the convents of nuns founded in this period: Ibarra-Orozco (Biscay) in 1652, Guernica in 1625, the
Alarcón (Madrid) convent founded on January 11, 1606, the San Fernando convent also in Madrid, founded in March
1676, Miguelturra founded in 1682 and the Salerno convent (Italy) founded in 1692.
With the emergence of the Discalced Mercedarians, the women’s branch of Discalced Mercedarian nuns started in
order to live in strict enclosure and to dedicate themselves exclusively to contemplation. Their first monastery, Lora del
Río (Seville), was founded in June 1617. In 1620, the Fuentes de Andalusia monastery was founded, in 1626, another one
in Osuna, San José of Seville in 1633, Marchena in 1637, Toro in 1648 and the Lima beaterio founded in 1670, was
transformed into a cloistered monastery in 1724.
According to statistics about cloistered nuns in Spain, presented by the minister of Charles III, Count of
Floridablanca, there were 560 Mercedarian nuns in the two branches in 1724.
Many of these nuns distinguished themselves by their exemplary lives and the practice of virtues and they left
behind a trail of sanctity. Some of them are: María de la Antigua (+1617), María de la Paz (+1630), Ana de la Cruz
(+1636), Jacobella de la Cruz (+1643), María de la Santísima Trinidad (+1653), Magdalena de Cristo (+1706), María
Angela del Santísimo Sacramento (+1726), María Antonia de Jesús (+1748), Melchora de Jesús (+1781) and María Josefa
del Rosario (+1805).
Several nuns were also outstanding writers: María de la Antigua, Luisa de la Ascensión, Gregoria de Jesús María,
Isabel del Santísimo Sacramento, Teresa María Angela del Santísimo Sacramento, Paula de Jesús Nazareno (+1787),
Melchora de Jesús (+1725) and María Antonia de la Natividad.
!
!
85!
Mercedarian Laity
!
In keeping with the most constant Mercedarian tradition, lay people have always been actively united and closely
associated with the Order. Ever since Saint Peter Nolasco’s original companions, brothers were very significant. The
Supreme Pontiffs often granted indulgences, graces and privileges to all Mercedarian Confraternities. These were present
in all the main convents of the Order and they had lots of members. In order to avoid excessive proliferation, in 1668,
Clement IX limited the right to establish confraternities to the Master General, the vicar general of the discalced and to the
respective procurators general.
Another form of association was the one called the Slaves of the Order of Mercy. On November 13, 1613, Paul V
granted many indulgences to the Confraternity and Congregation of the Servants, popularly called the slaves de la Virgen
de los Remedios, established in the church of the Madrid convent. These indulgences were confirmed and expanded on
May 28, 1646. Meanwhile, as shown in the previously mentioned bull by Paul V, these confraternities were known among
the people under the name of slaves. A truly perfect example of this organization is the Slaves of the Order of Mercy of
Seville which was there since the beginning of the Order. After a period of decadence caused by the 1598 plague, it
became active again in 1644, and it achieved a vitality never reached before. It was solemnly approved, along with its
Statutes by Pope Innocent X in a bull of March 2, 1655, and it was enriched with countless indulgences and spiritual
benefits by another bull issued two days later.
The theoretician of the Mercedarian Slaves of Mary was discalced Pedro de la Serna or Pedro de Jesús María
(1583-1642). According to him, no religious order had the right to call and to consider itself Mary’s object and family as
the Mercedarian Order did. The notion of seeing themselves as slaves of Mary was connatural to the spirit and practice of
the Order of Mercy which dedicated itself to the rescue of slaves in Mary’s name: slaves freed from the material power of
the lords of the earth acknowledged Mary as their Lady in the spiritual order.
Worthy of note is the Confraternity of the Knights of Our Lady of Mercy of Lima, in existence since the
eighteenth century.
The most committed lay people in the Order were the Mercedarian tertiaries who started in the seventeenth
century. In 1680, it was determined that superiors would confer the habit to these brothers of the Third Order of Mercy.
They could delegate formation to other virtuous religious. The Third Order had its own Rule. In 1624, Father Bernardo de
Vargas published a Rule and Constitution of the Third Order of Mercy in Palermo. In 1728, Benedict XIII granted
Mercedarian tertiaries the same privileges as Franciscan tertiaries had at the time.
The purpose of the brothers of the Third Order, as well as the goal of the other fraternities, was their own
sanctification, participation in the Order’s spiritual benefits and collaboration in redemptive work. Therefore, being
enrolled in these fraternities in the Order meant being part of a school of perfection and moving toward sanctity. It is only
when we keep this interior aspect of Mercedarian fraternities in mind that we can understand the flourishing of holy souls
which history recorded among these faithful.
People united to the Order in this manner would wear Mary’s habit: a scapular which was blessed with a special
formula. In addition to enrolled members, ordinary people also wore the Mercedarian scapular over their shoulders as a
pledge of identification with Mary and of her motherly protection.
In this period, among the associates most distinguished by their sanctity, we must mention Blessed Mary Ann of
Jesus. There were—and still are—noble, wise, holy associates who are very committed to the Mercedarian charism in
Europe and in America.
!
10. CULT TO THE VIRGIN OF MERCY AND
TO THE SAINTS OF THE ORDER
!The Feast of Mercy in the Church’s Calendar
! Ever since the foundation of the Order of Mercy, the cult to Mary had deep roots and her feast was celebrated with
fervor and filial love with the participation of the people of Barcelona. From the beginning, on the Sunday closest to
August 1, date of Mary’s revelation to Saint Peter Nolasco, the liturgical feast was celebrated by praying the Office and by
the Mass of Our Lady of the Snows (which was celebrated on August 5). During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
there were two different dates for the feast of Mary of Mercy: September 8, made official at the 1599 Valladolid General
Chapter, and September 24, since 1696. In many places, the September 8 feast was transferred to September 24 or both
feastdays were kept. Before 1614, a text prepared by Father Francisco Andreu for the Mass and the Office of the Virgin of
Mercy had been presented to the Holy See. In 1616, Paul granted the three proper lessons of the first nocturn of matins
and the proper of the Mass was approved in 1685.
! !
86
In 1680, Innocent XI extended this feast to all of Spain and its dominions. In 1690, the King of France, Louis
XIV, requested the feast to be extended to his country, which was granted. In 1696, the feast of Our Lady of Mercy was
definitively transferred to September 24 and with its proper Mass and Office, it was extended to the calendar of the
universal Church. Most of the liturgical texts were taken from the Song of Solomon. The readings for the second nocturn
were relatively historical and they narrated the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to Peter Nolasco. The hymns were those of
the Common of the Virgin Mary for the whole Church and proper to the Order as were the very expressive antiphons
referring to captivity.
!Liturgy and Saints of the Order
! Initially, the liturgy of Mercedarian churches was the same as the liturgy of any church of the time except for
Saturdays which were always especially Marian. Mercedarians did not have a uniform liturgy until 1327, when the
Agramunt chapter ordered the adoption of the corrected Dominican breviary. The uniformity thus obtained was very
relative until Master General Juan de Urgel had a breviary printed in Venice in 1503, according to the particular customs
of the Order of Mercy. Thus, for over 250 years, the Order had its own liturgy for the celebration of the Mass and the
Divine Office. In 1576, in honor of Holy Mother Church, the Saragossa Chapter General agreed to accept the Roman
liturgy which had been reformed by Saint Pius V although the Order was allowed to keep its own liturgy because it had
existed for over 200 years. But the differences were really minimal and the distinction was not worth it.
The main Mercedarian saints with immemorial custom were canonized during the eighteenth century. The Order
was interested, above all, in its Founder Saint Peter Nolasco and in Saint Raymond Nonnatus. On September 30, 1628,
Pope Urban VIII granted the Propers of the Mass and Office. On October 11, the confirmation brief was granted. The
Order was overjoyed and at the beginning of 1629, solemn festivities took place in all the convents to celebrate the
confirmation. These two feasts would be extended to the universal Church on June 12, 1664.
On June 4, 1670, immemorial custom was recognized for Saint Peter Paschasius. However, he was only included
in the Roman Martyrology on September 8, 1675.
Immemorial custom for Saint Peter Armengol was approved on March 28, 1686. He was included in the Roman
Martyrology on October 14, 1688.
Immemorial custom for Saint Mary Cervellon or the Helper was approved on February 13, 1692. Her memorial
was introduced in the Martyrology in 1629. She had been invoked as the patroness of sailors for a long time.
Finally, the official approbation of immemorial custom for Saint Serapion occurred on April 14, 1728. Much later,
on August 24, 1743, he was included in the Martyrology.
As a result of the first canonizations, it became necessary to publish a breviary of the Order according to the
Roman liturgy and, for the first time, including the saints of the Order. By a provision of Master General Francisco
Antonio de Issasi, this edition was completed in 1683. The first Missal with Propers of the Masses was published in 1694.
The 1692 Constitutions had special regulations for the liturgy in the convents and churches of the Order. On
special feasts, the conventual Mass had to be sung and all friars had to attend. There were also prescriptions concerning
the time when the seven hours of the Divine Office in common had to be recited according to the Roman breviary. They
insisted on praying matins at midnight, a prescription which disappeared in the next legislation.
!Renowned Sanctuaries and Images
! This list should start with the Mercedarian Basilica of Barcelona and the first historical image of the Virgin of
Mercy. Today they are no longer in Mercedarian hands.
The Province of Aragon heads the list: Santa María de El Puig (Valencia), Virgen de El Olivar (Teruel), Santa
María de la Guardia dels Prats (Tarragona), Santa María de Sarrión (Teruel) and Santa María de Arguines (Segorbe). In
Castile: Our Lady of Mercy of Jerez de la Frontera, patroness of the city. In Italy: Our Lady of Bonaria (Cagliari). In
Mexico: Our Lady of Mercy of the Belén Church in the capital and the one in Guadalajara church. In Ecuador: Our Lady
of Mercy (Quito), a very ancient stone sculpture venerated in the basilica. In Peru: Our Lady of Mercy (Lima), a beautiful
and ancient image in whose honor the Lima Basilica and the sumptuous niche were built; the image of the Cuzco Basilica
and of Our Lady of Counsel, venerated since the sixteenth century, in the Mercy Church of Arequipa. The image which is
venerated in the Paita sanctuary is also famous. Chile: Our Lady of Mercy (Santiago), an image brought by Father
Antonio Correa in 1548. Argentina: Our Lady of Mercy (Córdoba) and Our Lady of Mercy (Buenos Aires), venerated in
the Basilica of Our Lady of Buenos Aires and commonly called Virgin General. Both wood carvings are very old.
!
87!
! The Constitutions speak lovingly of Mary. The Ritual organizes her feast and ceremonies.
In the evangelization of America, Mercedarian missionaries left Mary’s image and her name in numerous places
of the New World. The center of popular piety and of apostolic life revolved around Mary, the best way to come to Christ
the Redeemer.
Around 1536, the name Mercedes [Mercies] appeared for the first time in Peru as the plural form of this title and
from there it spread everywhere. The significance of Mercy was expanding: the people made it a synonym of favor or
grace and they invoked Mary with the expressive title of Virgin of Mercies.
In Europe and in America, the image of Mary of Mercy, in a variety of forms, inspired manufactured arts
(sculpture, painting, illustrations). The legendary traditions of the Order started with Mary: Mary appearing to Saint Peter
Nolasco to order him to found the Order; Mary protecting the captives and their redeemers under her mantle; Mary the
Superior of the Choir who replaced absent friars in praying matins at midnight at the Barcelona convent and Mary
blessing the rooms of the friars at night while they were resting.
Mercedarians have always been staunch defenders of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. In prose and in verse,
in writing and in person, our theologians, poets, playwrights and orators have sung the greatness of the one who called
herself the servant of the Lord.
According to Father Linas’ Constitutions, no Mercedarian was admitted to the Order’s academic degrees or
numbered among preachers of God’s Word, without having first sworn to “believe, support, defend, preach and teach the
Immaculate Conception of Mary.”
It is interesting to observe that two Mercedarian prelates, Ambrosio Machín de Aquena, Archbishop of Cagliari,
and Gaspar Prieto, Bishop of Alghero and Viceroy of Sardinia, proposed and promoted a public oath, issued on March 7,
1632, by virtue of which all Sardinian people represented in three orders, ecclesiastical, civil and military, pledged to
“believe at all times and everywhere, to hold, teach and defend the natural and authentic conception of the most pure
Virgin without original sin.” On that occasion, Archbishop Machín delivered an eloquent discourse in praise of the
Immaculate Virgin who was declared Patroness of the city of Cagliari in 1667.
All this Mercedarian Marianism is concentrated in the maxim found in Father Linas’ Constitutions. According to
it, religious are to find nothing pleasing without Mary and nothing displeasing with Mary: “Nihil sine Maria sapiat; nihil
cum Maria displiceat.”
!
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!
!
V
BETWEEN SUPPRESSIONS AND HOPES
!
(1770-1780)
!
CRISIS AND SURVIVAL !
89!
1. NEW CURRENTS OF THOUGHT
!
!
Throughout the eighteenth century, Europe was invaded by a movement of ideas which became known as the
Enlightenment whose teaching expressed the need to illuminate, to enlighten the realities of this earth with the lights of
pure reason. Hence, this fight was against the mentality connected with the values of tradition, especially Christian
tradition.
Another current of thought with practical repercussion on the relations between State and Church was what was
called Regalism. In France, it was called Gallicanism and it was founded on the authority of the State over the Church.
This was especially manifested in the exercise of royal patronage by way of the so-called ecclesiastical police and the
introduction of the right to appeal to civil authority against the abuses of ecclesiastical authority. In some place, the State
also claimed the right to intervene in religious affairs and it even went as far as imposing inspections of religious houses
and dictating norms about worship.
This state of affairs had to have a negative influence on the inner life of religious institutes and consequently on
the Order of Mercy which, in Europe, extended to France, Spain and Italy.
!!
2. SITUATION AND SUPPRESSION OF THE
ORDER OF MERCY IN FRANCE
!The Commission of Regulars and the Mercedarians
! During the eighteenth century, religious institutes which had a glorious past in France were in a general state of
identity crisis. Large communities with a great vitality before it had become reduced to small insignificant communities
were devoid of the evangelizing and spiritual thrust which characterized them. On the other hand, the new ideas, spread
by philosophers who despised religious values and every form of monastic life, contributed to weaken the vocational field
and to strengthen the idea of taking away the goods of religious for the benefit of the nation and of the poor. This
offensive unleashed discredit of the regular clergy. A campaign against all religious ensued.
In this context, King Louis XV was slyly informed that in monasteries of different religious orders, there had been
abuses prejudicial to the orders themselves, to the edification of the people and to the good of the state religion. On May
23, 1776, the king appointed a commission, made up of state councilors and people named by bishops, to verify the
situation and to resolve it. A Commission of Regulars was formed. It was presided by the Archbishop of Rheims,
Monsignor La Roche-Aymone, whose secretary was the Archbishop of Toulouse, Monsignor Loménie de Brienne.
This commission took up its duties immediately. It sent a questionnaire to bishops in order to know the situation
of the religious in each diocese. Without underestimating the positive aspect of communities, the bishops did describe
certain abuses which had entered religious life.
Without waiting for the results of the work undertaken by the commission, in March 1768, the king published a
decree by which he forbade admission to religious vows before 21 years of age for men and 18 for women and decided to
suppress communities with fewer than 15 religious for autonomous houses. Where it was not possible to have 8 members
of the same institute, religious had to join other institutes with a similar goal. These measures simply accelerated the
effective decrease of religious, especially among men.
The commission had to take action in a difficult and complex situation with problems in many houses and
institutes even though religious, as a whole, formed a solid group. These negative circumstances were resolved by taking
into account the opinion of those involved and the views of diocesan bishops. One of the commission’s first measure was
to close the houses whose income was insufficient to support its religious and those with few members. The application of
this measure was entrusted to the bishops of each diocese. The bishops were aware that small communities were engaged
in an irreplaceable pastoral service, especially in rural areas.
At the time of the commission, Mercedarians in France had 16 houses with 81 religious and an income of 145,317
pounds in the old Southern Province while the Paris community had 3 houses with 23 religious and an income of 8,400
pounds. Thus, in France, Mercedarians had 19 houses with more or less 105 religious with a yearly income of 153,717
pounds.
The documents of the commission contain a report by de Brienne which deals with the Mercedarians’ situation.
Three aspects are especially emphasized. In the first place, the large number of small houses with few members. Secondly,
their poverty which force religious to beg for alms for themselves, not for captives according to their charism, leading to
deceiving the faithful, forcing religious to seek food and clothing and thus favoring their having their private peculium.
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This situation was worsened by an outstanding debt incurred by the province because of a loan for a redemption of
captives and for the privileges of the graduates. Finally, the report points to the rather elderly religious, some of whom had
called on the pope requesting to join the secular clergy because the convents were so poor.
After having examined the situation, De Brienne was convinced that the Order of Mercy was heading toward its
unavoidable extinction. There were three possible solutions before him: preserving it after the application of the 1768
decree, suppressing it with the dispensation from the same decree and uniting it with another similar Order like the Order
of the Most Holy Trinity. De Brienne was leaning toward this third solution.
!!
Negotiations to Resolve the Situation
! The commission convinced the capitulars of the old province, gathered in Toulouse in April 1769, to accept this
third solution. In compliance with the orders of the royal commissioners, the chapter named some religious to negotiate
the matter with the Trinitarians. The provincial, Father Remigio Estève, was opposed to this solution and he informed the
Master General of the Order, Gil de Bernabé, by sending him a memorandum in which he requested him to prevent the
union of French Mercedarians with Trinitarians.
The intervention of the Master General who had resorted to the king of Spain asking him to support the cause in
favor of preserving the Mercedarians of France had as its immediate result a change for the time in the fate of the Order.
The state council ordered the religious named in the chapter who had been meeting since November 1771, at the
Montpellier convent with the Trinitarians to establish the unification. to stop discussing the matter. The bishop of
Mirepoix, a royal commissioner, declared the assembly dissolved.
The following year, there was to be an ordinary provincial chapter but it was suspended because the commission
deemed it more opportune to inform the Master General of the situation of the Mercedarian religious and to request
adequate remedies from him despite the fact that De Brienne had asked Rome to appoint an apostolic commissioner to
visit the houses and to divide the religious into two groups: those who wanted to join the Trinitarians and those who
wished to remain in their Mercedarian houses after their proper reorganization.
The situation brought to the Master General’s attention did not bring good news. In its session of April 22, 1773,
the state council had ordered the suppression of small convents, the reduction of the number of religious according to the
income of the province, the affiliation of religious to the remaining houses and the election of the superior of the house by
the religious residing there. As a result, the provincial chapter of that year had decided that six houses were to remain:
Toulouse, Bordeaux, Cahors, Perpignan, Montpellier and Marseilles. Faced with this situation, the Master General
responded that the houses could be reduced in proportion to the income of the former province, that the superiors of the
Order were indifferent about the individualization of the houses which the commission had deemed opportune to close,
that he could ban the acceptance of religious from other institutes in Mercedarian houses thus making it clear that the
union with other religious should be avoided.
Since the closing of some convents was unavoidable, the commission did not follow the instructions of De
Brienne who wanted to put the matter in the hands of the royal commissioners and it chose to follow the measures
established by the Master General. In fact, the Master General delegated Father Agustín Puel, a religious of the former
province, as procurator general for the reform after the death of the provincial, Father Estève, and he made Puel his vicar
general and visitator of the Province of France under the authority of the commission. He was in charge of coming to
terms with the state council and with the bishops concerning the closing of some houses, the sale of their assets and the
living condition of the other religious.
In May 1774, Father Puel had already concluded the visitation and he had proposed the immediate suppression of
seven houses and the suppression of four more upon the deaths of the religious living there at the time. Father Puel also
made other agreements with the state council. For example, religious could continue to collect alms for the redemption of
captives and the provincial chapter, whose objective would be naming new superiors and organizing the communities, was
to open on January 22, 1775, in the presence of the royal commissioner, the bishop of Mirepoix.
!!
Suppression of Houses
! The process of dissolution of the Mercedarian Order in France was very quick. By a decree of the state council of
July 29, 1774, the assets of the suppressed houses were attributed to the remaining houses unless the bishops had planned
!
91!
to establish a pension for the religious. A subsequent decree of May 1, 1775, established the assignment of nine religious
from the suppressed houses to a convent where they could stay. These were the six houses indicated in the 1773 chapter,
one more than the ones proposed by Father Puel: Marseilles with 12 religious, Bordeaux with 17, Montpellier with 9,
Perpignan with 12, Toulouse with 18 and Cahors with 14. The other convents could only remain open until the deaths of
their religious who, in the meantime, were authorized to sell their assets. In this way, the following convents were
preserved: Auterive with 6 religious, Aurignac with 6, Carcassonne with 6, Aix with 3, Riscle with 3 and Maleville with 2
religious. At its May 1778 meeting, the provincial chapter authorized the houses to negotiate their own suppression with
the ordinaries. This authorization suggests a sense of distrust of the future.
The first Mercedarian convents to close were: Salies-du-Salat, Castellane and Toulon. These were followed by the
suppression of the convent of Saint Peter Nolasco’s hometown, Mas-Saintes-Puelles (1775), where two religious had been
serving as vicars in the local parish since 1703. The Maleville convent was abandoned in 1777, when the religious
informed the bishop of Rodez that they could no longer meet the demands imposed on their possessions. The Carcassonne
convent was suppressed by a decree of October 21, 1780, issued by the bishop who transferred the convents’ assets to the
seminary and the diocese. The convents of Cahors, Montpellier and Aix were suppressed in 1787. In 1785, the archbishop
of Toulouse had been authorized to suppress the houses of the religious of his diocese and to use the assets of the
suppressed houses for educational institutes. With such an authorization, the archbishop suppressed the Toulouse convent
by a decree of August 4, 1789, and its assets were assigned to the seminary of the city.
Concerning the Paris community, a March 1774 report from the Commission of Regulars revealed that after
abandoning the Chenoise house, the congregation was reduced to the house on Chaume Street in Paris, where the college
was also about to be suppressed by the bishop. There were 12 religious in the Paris house and the Commission deemed it
superfluous to have a chapter which was suspended sine die.
In a letter of February 14, 1788, Master General José González reminded the King of France, Louis XV, that he
had granted the continuation of the Mercedarian houses and that, at that time, there were still seven of them in existence:
six in the provinces and one in the Paris community. Perhaps the Master General was hoping that the king would help
Mercedarian religious to recover. However, the religious were unfortunately not in a position to undertake their own
resurgence. With the passing of time, the religious had not only decreased in number but they had also aged. A letter of
June 15, 1788, from the Toulouse superior, Father Decamps, reported that the religious of the province were between 48
and 50, with most of them in their eighties.
!Definitive Disappearance of the Mercedarians in France
! The definitive collapse of the Mercedarians in France was to occur during the Revolution. However, the causes
were already present in the situation created by the Commission of Regulars.
When the Revolution started, the revolutionaries did not intend to suppress religious institutes which were not
generally suffering from particular problems. On the contrary, after the reform realized by the Commission of Regulars, a
certain awakening and renewal was starting to take place in some institutes. However, events took a different turn and
with various laws, religious institutes were suppressed and their members were invited to be secularized. Government
inspectors went to convents and, after reading the provisions of the law, they asked each one to manifest his own will: if
they wanted to enjoy the benefits that the new régime was offering by returning to the world or if they wanted to remain
religious along with other religious in determined monasteries.
According to reports about the Mercedarian Paris community, most of the religious preferred to abandon religious
life and become secularized. As for the remaining religious of the former province, from the effects which followed, it
seems that they preferred to give up religious life. After they had been scattered in different monasteries, the few religious
who decided to remain faithful to their commitment were thrown out in 1792, and they had to hide or move.
Consequently, there was no other possibility of restoration for the Mercedarians in France.
!!
3. SITUATION AND SUPPRESSION IN SPAIN
!The Carlist Reform
! In 1769, with a population of 9,308,804, Spain had 55,453 men religious and 27,665 women religious —mostly
cloistered— in 3,034 convents. The Catholic king often thought he was authorized to intervene in religious life by
personally naming visitators of monasteries or frequently imposing religious superiors. Under the Bourbon rule, state
bodies assumed the right to correct abuses in convents in matters of observance. The provisions imposed by kings during
the final quarter of the eighteenth century should be placed in this perspective.
! !
92
Early in 1770, King Charles III determined to have visits to religious convents. A hidden intention of these visits
was to reduce the number of religious in Spain. When the monarch, Charles III, by a royal cedula of 1774, openly ordered
the reduction of religious, according to statistics contained in that very cedula, the Mercedarian Provinces appeared the
following way: Province of Aragon: 27 convents, 390 priests, 25 choristers, 122 brothers, total 537; Province of Castile:
20 convents, 420 priests, 30 choristers, 90 brothers, total 540; Province of Valencia: 15 convents, 272 priests, 18
choristers, 102 brothers, total 392; Province of Andalusia: 20 convents, 470 priests, 33 choristers, 149 brothers, total 643.
According to this order of reduction, the Province of Aragon was to have only 260 religious, the Province of
Castile, 301, the Province of Valencia, 182 and the Province of Andalusia, 289. The reduction was in relation with the
costs to support each religious since their number could not exceed the income which each convent had. This would be the
dominant criterion everywhere when deciding the suppression of a religious house. As a result, there was an alarming
decrease of religious during the following years.
The Spanish religious institutes were in need of reform. To carry it out, on September 10, 1802, Pope Pius VII
named Cardinal Luis de Borbón y Villabriga as the apostolic visitator of all religious of any type present in Spain. Among
the visitation’s goals, the cardinal had to verify if the troubles which were lamented came from the fact that bishops had
little authority over religious. In addition, the king wanted a greater reduction of the number of religious to alleviate the
miserable financial conditions of convents. To comply with the king’s desires, the pope gave the visitator power to verify
and to make decisions to reduce the number of mendicant religious. Quite a few convents were suppressed then. But the
visitator’s action was not always in keeping with the internal norms of the institutes. The visitator’s way of proceeding
was contested by Nuncio Pedro Gravina. Because of this tension and of other political events, Cardinal Luis de Borbón
was removed from office and replaced by Cardinal Gravina as the supreme moderator of religious life in Spain.
!Napoleonic Suppression and Constitutionalist Reform
! The really difficult times started with the French invasion of Spain. In a decree of December 4, 1808, Napoleon
ordered the reduction of convents by a third and he forbade admitting novices until this third had been further reduced.
His brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was set up as King of Spain. In a decree of August 18, 1809, he established the suppression
of all religious orders in Spain, ordering religious to return to their place of origin and priests to be employed in serving
parishes. In this situation, the assets of the religious were confiscated by the State. The convents were generally assigned
as soldiers’ quarters.
During this period, most Mercedarians opposed the French invasion and they joined those who were fighting for
the independence of their homeland. Father Antonio Temprano became a pro-independence political leader and, from the
pulpit, Father Ximénez de Azofra preached against the French and their ally, King Ferdinand VII. Mercedarians suffered
serious losses, both in material assets and in human lives. Among those who died during this period, Father Pedro Pascual
Rubert, the Provincial of Valencia, was the most outstanding. He had been named by the people to form part of the Junta
to defend the city against the French invaders. Because of that, he was taken prisoner and shot on January 18, 1812. The
Guadalajara and Salamanca convents were destroyed by Wellington’s troops at the service of Spain so that the French
would not use them as barracks. The Alcalá de Henares convent, used by French troops, was badly damaged.
In the meantime, an effort was underway to reestablish religious life in Spain. When religious returned to their
convents (1814), they found them in ruins and superiors had to appeal to people’s charity to be able to feed the friars.
Quite a few of them ended up by becoming secularized.
Father Manuel Martínez from the Province of Castile stands out in this adverse situation. He was a professor at
the University of Valencia. With his talent and his influence at the ecclesiastical and civil levels, especially with King
Ferdinand VII, Father Martínez was able to resolve many difficulties in the Order. Among other things, he was able to
obtain the liberation of the superior of Madrid.
However, new ordeals were awaiting religious in Spain during the so-called constitutional triennium (1820-1823).
The suppression of the remaining convents occurred during this period. According to authorities, all convents with fewer
than 12 religious had to be closed and there could not be more than 24 religious in one city when a particular institute had
several convents there. Therefore, Mercedarians were reformed according to these provisions and they lost the convents
with fewer than 12 religious. At the same time, admitting novices was forbidden and exclaustration was made easy for
those who asked for it.
!Liberal Suppression
!
!
93!
The period of history which Spain experienced after 1833, was one of the most disastrous ever recorded for
religious life. With the reign of Isabella II and the return of liberals to power during the government of Toreno and
Mendizábal, a legislation intentionally designed to destroy religious in Spain was systematically applied. At the time,
there were 30,906 religious.
As a first measure, on March 26, 1834, there was a decree to suppress all monasteries and convents which had
supported the Carlists during the war. Then the Society of Jesus was expelled from Spain on July 4, 1835. On July 25, all
convents with fewer than 12 professed religious were suppressed. The final blow was dealt by the Mendizábal decree of
March 18, 1836. According to it, all men’s convents that were not involved in teaching or hospital assistance were
suppressed and the sale of the assets belonging to suppressed religious orders was publicly authorized. A year later, the
suppression became even more general: with the decree of July 17, 1837, all monasteries, convents and houses of men and
women religious of the Peninsula were suppressed, except a few colleges of the Pious Schools [Piarists] or of hospital
assistance of the Brothers of Saint John of God.
The immediate consequence of these suppressions was that many religious were exclaustrated and in most cases,
they devoted themselves to pastoral work in the diocese. Since the State committed itself to give a pension to
exclaustrated religious, we know the exact situation created by suppressions by the number of concessions granted: in
1837 alone, 23,935 religious were exclaustrated and 16,031 of them were priests.
From statistics presented to the ecclesiastical Junta by the vicar general, Father Tomás Miquel, we know that in
the summer of 1834, there were 1,070 Mercedarian religious in Spain: 592 were priests, 54 ordained in sacris, 200
choristers, 213 lay brothers and 11 novices. These religious were spread in 80 houses of the four provinces. In 36 houses,
there were fewer than 12 religious.
The first criminal action against the Order took place during the night of July 17, 1834, when savage hordes of
people attacked the Madrid convent, murdering 8 religious, including the provincial, Father Manuel Esparza. They
stripped the convent of all it had and also stole 100,000 reales which belonged to the work of redemption. The summer of
1835 was a truly tragic season for the Order. On July 5, the Saragossa convent was burned down and 4 religious were
murdered. There were other attacks on the following days and religious had to flee from the convents to save their lives.
!!
!Situation of the Exclaustrated
! By several decrees issued in those years until 1836, all convents were closed and religious had to leave them,
more or less by force. They were not even allowed to take their most essential and personal things along.
Some religious opted for exile taking refuge in France, like the vicar general, Father Tomás Miquel, or in Italy.
Several religious were accepted in Rome, at Saint Adriano convent where, in 1835, there were 5 priests and 10 students
from the Province of Aragon. Pursued by liberals in Málaga, the former Master General, José García Palomo, had also
taken refuge in Rome in 1834. In November 1837, he went to Cagliari with 7 other Spanish religious. Their unexpected
presence made the Bonaria financial situation worse. On August 10, 1840, the vicar general of the Sardinia Congregation
informed the vicar general of the Order in Rome of Father José García Palomo’s death which occurred in Cagliari on July
31, 1840.
Life for exclaustrated religious was certainly not easy. They had to look for work and suffered anguish before
finding a tolerable position. The government had decided to pay them from 3 to 5 reales per day but this payment arrived
after many difficulties. Many religious worked in parishes as coadjutors or chaplains for nuns or in teaching.
Despite this situation of dispersion, religious continued to see themselves as assigned to a specific house and
under a superior with special faculties named by Rome. Conscious of their vow of poverty, a few priests who had
accumulated some money, would send it to the vicar general in Rome or they distributed it to their relatives and to their
benefactors after having asked special permission from the Holy See by way of the procurator of the Order. Such behavior
spoke favorably of exclaustrated religious and gave hope that they could resume religious life in common after the
circumstances, which had led them to live out of convents, were overcome. A law on associations approved by Parliament
in 1878, was going to bring some hope to religious life.
!!
4. SITUATION AND SUPPRESSION IN ITALY
!Situation of the Mercedarians in Italy
!
! !
94
At the start of the nineteenth century, Mercedarians in Italy were distributed into two religious entities: the
Province of Italy and the Community of Sardinia.
After the separation of the convents of discalced Mercedarians, the Province of Italy had eight convents at that
time: five in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and three located in the Pontifical State, one of them was Saint Adriano
convent in Rome. By a brief of Pius VI on August 2, 1785, this major house was separated from the Province of Italy and
it remained as the see of the Procurator General of the Order and as an international college.
On the basis of concrete financial means for the support of religious, these convents were subdivided into major
and minor houses. The major convents were Saint Adriano in Rome, Santa Ursula in Naples and Santa Anna in Palermo.
According to the Constitutions, the major convents of Naples and Palermo were entrusted to Spanish religious while
Spanish and Italian religious could reside in Saint Adriano. All other convents were called minor because they were poor
in resources and therefore they could not have many religious.
In the three years from 1774 to 1777, three convents were closed because they were poor: Traetto (Minturno),
Messina and Santa Agata in Palermo. It seems from these records that around 1780, there were about 65 religious in the
Italian Peninsula. By adding the 10 from Saint Adriano, the total number of religious was 75. The 65 religious of the
Province of Italy were reduced to 49 in 1804, with 28 priests, 4 clerics and 17 lay brothers distributed among the
remaining convents: Naples (Santa Ursula) with 13 priests and 6 lay brothers; Naples (San Arcangelo in Baiano) with 9
priests and 3 lay brothers; Palermo (Santa Anna) with 3 priests, 4 clerics and 6 lay brothers and Castelforte with 3 priests
and 2 lay brothers.
As for the Mercedarian community of Sardinia, it had four convents and approximately 50 religious, including
priests, students and brothers at the start of the nineteenth century.
!Suppression Resulting from the Napoleonic Wars
! Historical events had a pernicious effect, especially in the Kingdom of Naples where Mercedarian convents were
located. The arrival of the French with Napoleon during the days of the Neapolitan Republic and the reorganization of the
Bourbon régime created tensions and this caused great harm to religious. Mercedarians who had not suffered special
losses with the suppression of the late eighteenth century in Naples, were affected during the so-called French decade
(1806-1815), a period during which the two Naples convents were suppressed in 1808 and the Castelforte convent in
1809. Religious had to leave and to look for pastoral service or some other work in order to live.
The last chapter of the province was held in Naples in 1808. Father Lorenzo de Laurentis was elected. On June
27, 1815, he informed the procurator in writing that religious had not been paid for seven months by the government and
he was hoping matters would soon be resolved in order to recover Santa Ursula convent. However, the provincial’s hope
would not be realized soon, not until 1833, after Infante don Carlos Luis de Borbón, Duke of Lucca, had endowed Santa
Ursula with an income of 2,500 escudos. Of the 3 suppressed convents, only this one recovered.
Since French troops did not succeed in occupying Sicily, the Palermo convent was isolated and could neither
communicate with Naples, where the provincial resided, nor with Rome. That Mercedarian community elected its superior
with the authorization of the king and of the archdiocesan curia. In 1818, the community had 8 priests and 4 lay brothers.
In this state of isolation, there were two attempts to unite the Palermo and the Cagliari convents but the plan failed both
times.
At that time, it was customary for the novitiate to take place in all convents. But, on July 23, 1805, the vicar
general of Sardinia received a note from the Secretariat of State and War whereby the king ordered to stop having novices
wear habits in all convents existing in his kingdom without having obtained his consent. This measure practically
restricted the faculty of admitting candidates to the Order, a faculty which was at the king’s mercy. In fact, there were very
few admissions from that time on and the same was true of professions, the last one to be recorded was in 1847.
Meanwhile, in the Sardinia community, the Sassari convent was closed because of its poverty by a decree of Pope
Gregory XVI on January 27, 1836. Its assets were destined for the upkeep of the cemetery.
In this situation and with so many limitations, it was hard for religious life to keep going and the number of
religious kept decreasing. A report to the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars of April 21, 1842, provides data on
convents and the Mercedarians’ situation in Italy: Saint Adriano in Rome had 15 religious, Santa Ursula in Naples had 15
religious, Santa Anna in Palermo had 8 religious, Cagliari had 35 religious, Alghero had 12 religious and Villacidro had 7
religious.
!General Exclaustration
!
95!
!
The political events of the Italian Risorgimento, the iniquitous laws of suppression of religious institutes and of
the confiscation of their assets (laws of May 25, 1875 and of July 7, 1866), dealt the final blow to the presence of
Mercedarians in Italy with the suppression of the convents which were still open. The only exception was Saint Adriano
convent in Rome. It stayed as the only hope of reorganization after the storm had passed. Part of the Cagliari convent also
remained open to house three priests and two lay brothers who were in charge of the Bonaria sanctuary.
A painful period of some twenty years started. During that time, Italian Mercedarian religious generally took
refuge in the homes of their families or friends. Only a few stayed to take care of some convents and to maintain worship
in respective churches. A report to the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars of April 17, 1872, enables us to know the
situation of exclaustrated religious in Italy. Religious from Naples and Sardinia were devoted to priestly ministry in
various churches and towns and lived lives in keeping with their state as persons consecrated to God.
!!
5. SITUATION OF THE ORDER OF MERCY
IN AMERICA
!
The enlightenment movement strongly manifested itself in America. It had a specific ideological content which
expressed itself in a tendency toward a lay and secularized culture, in a rationalist attitude and in censuring traditional
institutions, especially the Church. Its influence penetrated into convents and it affected religious life.
Among the most dynamic and influential initiatives which promoted these new currents and where ideas were
expressed with the greatest freedom were literary, academic and artistic societies. Illustrious members of the secular and
religious clergy formed part of them.
This enlightenment movement also marked an important stage on the road of American people toward their own
autonomy. Mercedarians were present in promoting those cultural institutions. Let us mention among others: Jerónimo
Calatayud in Lima in the society “Lovers of the Country” and collaborator in the Mercurio Peruano; in Mexico, Melchor
Talamantes actively participated in literary gatherings and came to the post of censor of the Diario de México; in Santiago
(Chile), Ignacio Aguirre was a university professor and Pedro Albán was the librarian of the Quito’s public library.
!Situation of the American Provinces
! At the end of the eighteenth century, the Order of Mercy had eight provinces and numerous religious in America.
They were engaged in a fruitful and very diversified apostolate aimed especially at evangelizing, educating and promoting
culture.
We know the statistics of the Mercedarians and the convents they had in 1775 from a July 27, 1769 decree of
King Charles III by which he imposed religious reform in America. One of the decree’s goals was to reduce the number of
religious in each convent. In order to comply with that decree, the Mercedarian quota in America would be the following:
the Province of Mexico had 20 convents and 295 religious, 254 were to remain; the Province of Guatemala, 12 convents
and 161 religious, 140 to remain; the Province of Santo Domingo, 7 convents and 136 religious, 93 to remain; the
Province of Quito, 10 convents and 145 religious, 123 to remain and the Province of Lima had 15 convents and 271
religious, 154 were to remain. In 1772, this province had received the Chiloé convent which had previously belonged to
the Province of Chile. The Province of Cuzco had 12 convents and 299 religious, 144 were to remain; the Province of
Chile, 16 convents and 174 religious, 98 to remain and the Province of Tucumán had 12 convents and 181 religious, 44
were to remain.
In addition, there was the vice-province of Marañon in Brazil. It had about 100 religious in 5 convents.
Fortunately, these religious and their convents were not affected since they were on territories under Portugal.
!The Mercedarians and Pro-Independence Movements
! All Mercedarian religious did not behave the same way vis-à-vis the pro-independence movements which
emerged in the first quarter of the nineteenth century in America. Some were opposed to them, either because they were
Spaniards or they thought they should not participate because these movements were not in keeping with their state. On
the contrary, others—constituting a majority—were in favor and they did not hesitate as individuals or as communities to
offer a generous contribution of ideas, assets, persons and even their lives for the independence of those nations. Here is a
brief description of their participation in various places.
! !
96
From the start, the revolution for independence promoted in New Spain (Mexico) was guided by members of the
secular and regular clergy, some even at the head of the troops. In this movement in which so many members of the clergy
took part, Mercedarians also offered their contributions in various ways from the beginning. Father Melchor Talamantes,
who was born in Lima in 1765, was one of the first to be involved. He wrote works defending the ideas of independence
of the American viceroyalties: one was the Congreso Nacional de Nueva España where he maintained “the need of
independence for the American people” and that “the sovereignty of a nation is rooted in the people.” In his other work,
Representación nacional o discurso filosófico, he held that the freedom of nations “was authorized by God who made
them into nations free and independent of one another.” On September 16, 1808, Father Talamantes was imprisoned for
spreading these ideas and he was condemned to capital punishment. He died in the jail of the San Juan de Ulúa castle on
May 9, 1809. Several other Mexican Mercedarians participated in the movement for their homeland’s full autonomy like
Fathers José A. Panes, José María González, José Bustamante, José María Lozano and José Lima. Others who took part in
literary movements in various ways were arrested and judged or exiled.
Guatemala declared its independence on September 15, 1821. Father Benito Michelena from Nicaragua worked to
obtain it by organizing and participating in the 1813 historical conspiracy.
Mercedarians took part in the independence of Venezuela: on April 9, 1810, when the Supreme Council was
established, Father Bernardo Lanfranco was present with the bishop and other religious. Fathers Antonio Montero and
Tomás Llorente were arrested because they were chaplains of Simón Bolívar’s troops. There were many and regular
financial contributions to the new state. In 1814, on two occasions, a large amount of silver jewels and the Virgin’s gold
crown were given to be used for the cause of the homeland.
Mercedarians from Ecuador showed their support of the struggles for independence in various ways: as
representative of the regular clergy, Father Alvaro Guerrero was one of the signers of the Constitution of the Republic; in
1810, Father Antonio Albán gave a large sum of money for the already declared war of independence; Father Alvaro
Guerrero gave the redemption money in spite of Father José Arízaga’s protest and in Cuenca, Fathers Antonio Samaniego
and Francisco Cisneros were accused of sedition. On the other hand, there were also some royalist friars who tried to
oppose independence like Fathers José Arízaga. Andrés Nieto Polo, Cecilio Cifuentes, Manuel Rodríguez and Mateo
Ayala.
The most important contribution which the Mercedarians of Peru offered to independence was ideological. The
most learned friars were trained at the Saint Peter Nolasco College of Lima and they were always in contact with the Lima
intelligentsia. From their lecture halls came Fathers Jerónimo Calatayud, Higinio Durán Martel who became bishop of
Panama and who signed that nation’s act of independence in 1821; Melchor Talamantes, Melchor Aponte, Manuel Cavero,
Anselmo Tejero, Domingo de Oyeregui and others who played outstanding roles in the years before and after
independence. On July 28, 1821, the provincial, Father Anselmo Tejero, signed the act of proclamation of independence
and on July 29, all religious of the three convents of the capital pledged allegiance to independence. Two friars of Cuzco,
Guillermo Lezama and José Espinoza, took part in the 1814 uprising. The convents of both provinces offered substantial
financial contributions.
In Chile, Mercedarians were divided about the pro-independence movement: the visitator, Ignazio Aguirre,
declared himself in favor of the monarchy and the provincial, Joaquín Larraín, in favor of the new régime. He had to leave
the Order because of his political ideas. Mercedarians contributed to the establishment of the first Board of Government
on September 18, 1810. They included Fathers Joaquín Larraín, Joaquín de la Jaraquemada, Bartolomé Rivas, Miguel
Ovalle and Vicente Cantos. The National Congress named Father Joaquín de la Jaraquemada provincial of the
Mercedarians. Some three days after his appointment, he sent a patriotic circular in favor of independence to religious.
Mercedarians also contributed to emancipation by their material collaboration. For example, in 1818, when the Santiago
community did not have any other funds available, it agreed to give the money of the redemption of captives. During this
period, Chilean Mercedarians were conditioned by political events since many of them were involved in the process of
change.
In Argentina, Mercedarians gave their convents to house soldiers and religious helped them in their military
operations. In 1810, the following Mercedarians showed their great patriotism publicly: Provincial Hilario Torres who
requested public voting on May 24; Father Manuel Aparicio, the superior of the Buenos Aires convent, who spread the
ideas of independence and the 17 friars who signed the act of the independence of Argentina on May 25. After the military
operations of the new government were initiated, Mercedarians were the first military chaplains to attend to the spiritual
needs of the country’s soldiers. Fathers Miguel Medina, Pablo José Conget, Isidoro Mentasti, Antonio de la Cuesta and
Manuel Antonio Ascorra were outstanding in this ministry.
!
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Effects of the New Political Régime
!
In general, the liberal ideas which had encouraged independence put the republican governments in the situation
of having to confront the Church which they wanted to submit to their political plans. This also affected religious life
which had remarkably developed in America.
In 1822, the Spanish government issued decrees about the so-called Reform of Regulars in America. These
decrees were based on the following principles: no candidate under 25 could be given the religious habit; generals and
provincials of religious orders were suppressed and religious were subject to the authority of ordinaries and local
superiors. These provisions had tragic consequences for religious life, enclosure, the observance of the Rule and the
Constitutions and for the administration of goods. Thus the doors to secularization were also opened and it was almost
always requested without sufficient motives.
Although viceroyal authorities did not generally apply these decrees, they were applied in Cuzco causing serious
harm to religious. Since almost all the nations were already independent, the new republican governments considered
themselves heirs of the freedom of association and, based on that idea, they promulgated their first laws on the religious
state. They took over the assets of the religious to whom they assigned a pension not always sufficient for their support.
Religious had to take care of their own food and clothing which gave rise to their own peculium to the detriment of
poverty and community life. The climate of independence had also pervaded religious lifestyle to the detriment of
obedience. Yet, the worst effect came from the suppression of generals and provincials. Thus, the line of communication
with the Order’s central authorities were cut off. Religious were practically left at the mercy of civil power which
unscrupulously invaded a domain which did not pertain to it.
The consequences of political happenings were not the same everywhere due to the different attitudes of civil
governments but they always seriously impaired the religious state.
In Mexico, the consequences of the change in the political régime on the religious state were minor at first but
they worsened with time and produced great laxity in communal life. At the beginning of the second half of the century,
the governments’ anti-religious politics were disastrous for the Church, religious life and therefore, for Mexican
Mercedarians. Political events, the promulgation of the 1857 Constitution and markedly anticlerical liberal laws destined
to annihilate the Church caused an authentic religious persecution. In fact, the so-called law of reform of July 12, 1859,
not only decreed the suppression of all religious orders but also that of the confraternities and associations attached to
them. At the same time, all church assets were nationalized. To comply with these laws, compulsory secularization of
religious, closing of novitiates and of churches entrusted to them were decreed. Foreign clerics were expelled, priests were
deprived of juridical rights and they were considered as foreigners in their own country. The Mexican church was not to
obey the pope. In October 1861, the Mexico governor had ordered the closing of 25 churches which included the Mercy
church and convent which were sold and destroyed. The library was sacked, the archives burned and the cloister
transformed into barracks. The Mercedarian convents of Potosí, Zacatecas, Veracruz and Colima were destroyed and the
others were confiscated. To make matters worse, Father Juan Narváez was murdered in Paradilla where he was
ministering. Times could not have been worse in Mexico and this situation was going to last for a long time.
In Guatemala, the change of political régime did not improve the situation of religious institutions which were
constantly threatened by suppression by the State. In fact, a decree of September 1, 1826, forbade regular prelates to
communicate with their respective generals and, as had been done in other nations, the age for taking religious vows was
raised to 25. On July 29, 1829, all religious orders existing in the territory of Guatemala were suppressed and their assets
were declared state properties. Religious were allowed to stay but they were secularized. As a result, the illustrious
Mercedarian Province of Our Lady of the Presentation of Guatemala was practically destroyed. The government
reestablished the suppressed orders in 1839. Mercedarians attempted their restoration: the vicar general of the Order,
Tomás Miquel, had Father Tomás Suazo appointed as provincial of Guatemala. However, he was not able to respond to
the trust placed in him since he did not allow religious to return to conventual life nor did he restore community life.
Instead, he proposed giving the church and the Order’s assets to the Jesuits in 1852.
Political and international events had a decisive and negative influence on the very structure of the Province of
Santo Domingo. As a first result of the war, Spain had to yield part of Santo Domingo to the French and the four convents
which were established there disappeared. The province was reduced to only three convents, two in Cuba, in Puerto
Príncipe where the provincial see was transferred and in Havana and the Caracas convent. This new situation was
prejudicial to the government and to the administration of the province because the convents were far apart from one
another and communication was difficult. Circumstances were such that the Province of Santo Domingo was inexorably
heading for extinction due to a lack of new people and to the decrees of secularization of the religious. In 1848, the
province was reduced to the Puerto Príncipe convent with only 7 religious and it disappeared when they died.
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Peru declared its independence on July 18, 1821. During 1821-1824, two political régimes coexisted, one in the
territory under the viceroy’s government with the Province of Cuzco and the other, in independent territory, with the
Province of Lima. Consequently, the influence was also varied in the religious sphere.
The reform laws, dictated by the king of Spain, were applied in the Province of Cuzco. On July 13, 1822, the most
important convent, Cuzco, held its first chapter in accordance with the reform laws and elected Father Apolinar Guillén as
superior. The Arequipa and La Paz convents also held their respective chapters. Already affected by republican laws, the
other convents would disappear.
From 1825 to 1850, Peru passed many laws which would completely disrupt the structure of religious life in its
essence. The so-called Decree of Reform of Regulars was promulgated on September 26, 1826, and the following year,
regulations concerning the election of prelates and the inner government of convents. As a result, religious were to be
totally under the diocesan ordinary; provincials and generals were suppressed; candidates under 25 were prohibited from
entering the novitiate; every convent which did not have eight conventual priests in actual residence was suppressed and
its assets and income passed to the State and everything pertaining to religious life was absolutely regulated: prayer,
communal life, formation and, of course, the administration of goods.
The enforcement of these laws had fateful consequences for the province. The Lima convent which, at the time,
had 74 religious, 51 of them priests, was placed under the ordinary’s jurisdiction. A superior was elected and he was to be
called President Superior in compliance with a recent government decree. In addition, 30 religious had been secularized
not long before. The Lima convent held a chapter and elected Father Fabián Rivas as superior on November 19, 1828.
Other convents affected by the suppression decree would gradually disappear.
The apostolic delegate, Monsignor Giovanni Muzi, who was already in Chile and Ramón Freire’s government
decreed the confiscation of all the regulars’ assets. When this decree was implemented, it caused real confusion in the
communities of regulars. The government officials in charge appeared at the Santiago Mercedarian convent at 11 p.m.
They gathered the community, read the confiscation decrees, made an inventory of the goods, leases and chaplaincies and
took the money of the redemption of captives. Convents which did not have eight religious were suppressed, such as the
convents of La Serena, Copiapó and Concepción. Not even the convents in which schools had been established at the
government’s request were saved. Political events had a negative influence on religious life which had become very lax
because many friars had been secularized. The province was reduced to 66 religious and its five novitiates were
eliminated. In addition to the loss of convents, secularizations were the most serious consequence of the change of
political régime which the Province of Lima had to face.
The Tucumán Province of Argentina was negatively affected by the ecclesiastical reform promoted by Minister
Bernardino Rivadavia. On May 13, 1821, he promulgated a decree specifically directed against Mercedarians ordering
their houses to be under the direction of their presidents, namely, the local superiors, not subject to the provincial’s
authority but rather under government protection and under the ecclesiastical ordinary for spiritual matters. The law of
December 21, 1822, was truly disastrous for religious life and for secular clergy. It did not recognize the provincial’s
authority; no novice could take vows without the ordinary’s authorization or be under 25; a religious house could not have
more than 30 religious or fewer than 16. Houses with fewer religious were suppressed and their goods went to the State.
The worst consequence was the dispersion of friars and abandoning the religious state. When the Buenos Aires convent
was suppressed on February 15, 1824, it had 30 religious. 21 of them became secularized and 9 joined the convents of
Santa Fe and Corrientes. As of 1823, the Mendoza and San Juan convents were subject to the ordinaries and the remaining
convents slowly disappeared. The only one remaining until 1857 was the Mendoza convent from which the restoration of
the province would start.
!Reform of the Provinces of America
! After the deplorable measures which had disrupted the situation of the religious state in America in its
foundations, it needed new strength aimed at restoring regular discipline, reestablishing community life and it needed the
infusion of a more intense interior life. In order to attain this, religious needed to be aware of a lifestyle which had to
conform to the demands of the Rule and the Constitutions. This was not at all an easy task due to the ways and customs
which had penetrated the convents. On the other hand, one should not forget that religious life in Southern Europe had
also been relaxed. This is why Pope Pius IX and all superiors general endeavored to reform the religious state in the
Church as of the middle of the nineteenth century.
Although the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars had met in 1846 in the Province of Mexico, on May 30,
1852, the archbishop of the city —who was the apostolic visitator of the regulars— gave a positive report on the province
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in which, thanks to his zeal, regular discipline was restored, the provincial chapter was held and many abuses were
eliminated. On September 20, by approving the chapter which elected Father Eduardo Ruiz Esparza, the Holy See asked
the provincial and all other superiors to do their utmost to watch over regular discipline, particularly in terms of restoring
the vow of poverty, to eliminate abuses and diligently to promote the formation of novices and professed. In 1855, the
visitator named Father Manuel Burguichani as provincial, “taking into account the special circumstances which affected
the Province of Mexico” as the Holy See would do in January 1861, by assigning Father Maximiliano Michel to the same
position. In addition, “His Holiness exhorts the new provincial to strive to promote regular discipline, the proper
formation of novices and professed and the instruction of neo-religious.” The special circumstances which motivated the
previous act were undoubtedly compulsory secularizations which the government was enforcing by suppressing and
destroying convents. Times could not have been more adverse for religious in Mexico and yet, many of them remained
faithful to their state even though they were out of their convents. Illustrious Father Burguichani met with them
periodically. Religious continued to be dispersed until 1884, when there were 12 religious in Mexico City and 18 outside
of the city.
While Ecuador was going through a period of political disturbance and anarchy, the provincial chapter was held in
1834. It elected Father Manuel Pérez but the government denied him the approval required by law. Then the ordinary
named Father Juan Páez as provincial to complete the triennium. In the meantime, the pope has sent Monsignor Gaetano
Baluffi as Apostolic Internuncio. He arrived in Bogotá in March 1837. Having being informed of the situation of the
religious in Ecuador, he wisely named as apostolic visitator of the Mercedarians, Father Mariano Bravo de Borja of the
same Order. In March 1839, he started the convents’ visitation which he conducted with prudence and a religious spirit.
The Holy See approved the visitation and, upon Father Bravo’s recommendation, it granted Bishop Nicolás Joaquín Arteta
the faculty to name the provincial and other posts of the province outside of a chapter. In 1850, Father Bravo was elected
provincial and confirmed by the Holy See. By his own example, he guided religious to the observance of common life
which would later be definitively rooted in the Province of Quito during the government of Father Benjamín Rencoret
who ruled the province from 1870 to 1877.
After independence, in Peru more than in other nations, there arose situations, even in cloisters which led
religious life to a grave state of laxity. In this context, on November 28, 1832, Pope Gregory XVI appointed José
Sebastián de Goyeneche as bishop of Arequipa, apostolic delegate and visitator of regulars. After moving to Lima, he
published a decree on the Reform of Regulars. Despite the archbishop’s zeal, the results were mediocre because political
upheavals and the interference of civil power prevented the reform. The vicar general of the Order, José María Rodríguez,
named Father Magín Bertrán as visitator of the convents of Peru and Bolivia with the goal of restoring regular life. The
visitation lasted from 1873 until June 1877, without fully succeeding in restoring common life and observance. In order to
restore a life of religious observance in Peru, in April 1878, the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs
intervened requesting the collaboration of superiors general and of the Order of Mercy. The superiors responded in May,
offering their views on the causes of relaxation and solutions to eliminate it. This is when a young religious, the superior
of Arequipa, Father Bernardo Arispe, firmly undertook the reform by implementing it in his community. Then he sent
eight religious he had trained to Cuzco to be ordained as priests and later six more to La Paz. These three convents, united
by the “reform which brought about the restoration of the Mercedarian Province of Peru,” embraced common life and the
observance of the Order’s Constitutions.
The first sign of reestablishing the communication, interrupted for a long time between the Province of Chile and
the central government of the Order, came in letters which the vicar general, Father Tomás Miquel, received concerning
the Mercedarian situation. Moved by these letters, on December 23, 1846, Father Miquel asked the pope to delegate the
Santiago ordinary to examine the chapter at which Father Joaquín Ravest was elected. He was a partisan of Father Miguel
Ovalle who governed the province despotically from 1833 to 1846. At that time, religious life in Chile was at a low point
and on June 20, 1850, the Holy See appointed the archbishop of Santiago, Rafael Valentín Valdivieso, as visitator and
apostolic delegate of all regulars and granted him ample faculties. His work of reform prevailed in the Order thanks to the
collaboration of the provincial and subdelegate of the visitator, Father Francisco de Paula Solar. The vicar general
repeatedly appealed to the Holy See to ask for the suspension of chapters and to designate the provincial directly. The
Holy See granted this by naming Father José Donoso as provincial in 1857, and as of 1860, Father Benjamín Rencoret on
four occasions. Father Rencoret was zealous for observance and in those circumstances, he was the only person who could
carry out the reform. The provincial met strong resistance on the part of the religious since many of them were opposed to
a life of observance. This is why the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars designated the archbishop of Santiago as
apostolic visitator of the Mercedarians, a position which was confirmed in 1871. At the same time, he was given the
authority to name a provincial for five years. Valdivieso appointed Father Ramón Blaitt.
In spite of the long years of the visitation, the desired reform could not be established. Therefore, due to the
situation of the province, on July 28, 1876, the vicar general, who by then was Father José María Rodríguez, obtained
from the Holy See the appointment of a general commissioner for the Province of Chile. He was Father Lorenzo Morales,
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!
a religious with solid faith and experience in government. He was to carry out his function according to the instructions of
the Sacred Congregation and under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Santiago who was still serving as apostolic
visitator of the Mercedarians. With these guidelines, Father Lorenzo Morales was the one who actually implemented the
definitive reform in Chile as he reestablished common life and regular discipline to the complete satisfaction of Church
authorities and of the religious.
A model religious, Father Saturnino Villalón, was living at the Mendoza convent in Argentina. The then visitator
general of Argentina, Father Ignacio Alvarez, appointed Father Villalón superior of that convent with the faculties of vicar
provincial in 1853. In 1857, he was called to Córdoba where he went accompanied by Fathers Fermín Latorre and Manuel
Apolinar Vázquez, three choristers and one brother who were joined by Fathers Juan de la Rosa Fierro and Alejo Ruiz, the
only friars living in that house. On May 6, 1857, José Gregorio Baigorri, the vicar general for the bishopric, designated
Father Villalón as vicar provincial and superior of Córdoba. All welcomed the new superior with delight and submission.
After the Córdoba community was reestablished and religious observance restored, the superior devoted himself to
reorganizing the province and he had the three students he had brought from Mendoza ordained to the priesthood. Father
Villalón’s health was failing and on July 19, 1859, the apostolic delegate, Marino Marini, named Father Alejo Ruiz vicar
provincial, a post which Pope Pius IX confirmed at the request of the vicar general, Tomás Miquel. On a visit to Córdoba,
the new vicar provincial found that the community had 9 priests, 17 choristers, a few of whom were ordained de sacris
and 3 brothers. The reform was beginning to bear fruit. In January 1872, the vicar general, José María Rodríguez, asked
the pope to appoint Father Lorenzo Morales as provincial of the Province of Tucumán. He began his term by issuing a
ruling to implement the reform; he promoted the flourishing of community life in Argentina’s convents and he reorganized
studies. Father José León Torres, appointed vicar provincial when he was only 27, definitively implanted the reform in
Argentina as he himself was teaching religious life. He was interested in the preparation of formators; he established a
second house of formation in Mendoza because vocations were increasing; he helped fraternal life thrive among religious
and he was concerned about the expansion of the province. He himself was a mature fruit of the reform which he
successfully promoted by his intense and profound spirituality.
!!
6. GOVERNMENT OF THE ORDER
!The Masters General until 1834
! A General Chapter was held in El Puig in June 1794, during the French Revolution. On June 7, Diego López
Domínguez (1794-1801) was elected Master General and Father Juan Matabosch was elected procurator general in Rome.
It was during Father López Domínguez’ term that the first confiscation of goods belonging to the Church and to
religious institutes started in order to meet the financial needs of the State which had gone into debt to face the war against
the French. For that purpose, on September 25, 1798, the king ordered the confiscation of the Jesuits’ assets and the
alienation of hospitals, hospices and pious works. The effects of this decree also strongly affected the Order of Mercy.
The term of Father López Domínguez was concluding in 1800 but, because of the political situation, the chapter
was postponed until 1801. The General Chapter was held from October 17 to 21 of that year in Toledo under the
presidency of Father López Domínguez. Domingo Fabregat (1801-1812), named by the king of Spain, was elected Master
General and Manuel Antonio Dávila was named procurator general in Rome. Because of the war of independence from
the French invasion, Father Fabregat’s term had to be prolonged and it lasted until his death which occurred in Palma
(Majorca) on October 20, 1812.
At Father Fabregat’s death, the government of the Order was assumed by the Barcelona prior, Gabriel Miró.
Father Miró who had taken refuge in Villanueva and Geltrú gathered a few religious of his community and he was
acknowledged as constitutional vicar general. Although there were two attempts to hold a general chapter in 1815 and
1816, nothing specific was accomplished due to the special circumstances and the government of vicar Miró had to be
prolonged for a few years.
Finally, Father Miró called a general chapter to El Puig for May 24, 1817. In that chapter, presided by Father Miró
himself, José García Palomo (1817-1823) was elected Master General and Tomás Remón, procurator general in Rome.
Several years had gone by since the last general chapter and it was deemed necessary to make important decisions about
the religious’ lives and the poverty of the convents. Thus provisions, based on fulfilling the Constitutions, were made to
resume regular observance which had declined because of the war; the admission of novices to the Order was decreed; a
new plan of studies, prepared by Father Manuel Martínez, was set up and the number of participants in provincial chapters
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was reduced. These chapter provisions were presented to the Holy See, they were approved on February 28, 1819, and
published that same year.
Because of his prestige, Father Manuel Martínez was appointed secretary and member of the Royal Commission
of the Plan of Studies in Spain in 1824. The following year, he was named bishop of Málaga. As he had fervently wished,
he died in a house of the Order, in the Ecija convent on June 3, 1827.
The General Chapter was held in Málaga on October 16, 1823. Gabriel Miró (1823-1826) was elected Master
General and Buenaventura Cano y Torrente, procurator general in Rome. When Father Miró died prematurely on
September 5, 1826, the position of vicar general was assumed on September 15 by the Barcelona prior, Raimundo
Massaliés who convoked the religious to a new General Chapter in El Puig on June 2, 1827. The superior of Madrid, Juan
José Tejada Sáenz (1826-1832), was elected Master General and Buenaventura Cano continued as procurator.
Father Tejada’s government coincided with a decade of relative calm due to the restoration policy of Ferdinand
VII. The Master General was concerned about formation as a remedy for the previous evils. However, his term did not last
for the constitutional six years because he was named bishop of Solsona on July 2, 1832. He was consecrated on
September 16 and on November 10 of that year, he took over the diocese where he found that the church and the see had
been burned down by the French. As bishop, he had to witness the havoc of the persecution which started in 1834 and
received the sad news of the assassination of his former secretary, Father Manuel Esparza, who was stabbed to death in the
choir of the Madrid Mercedarian church on July 17, 1834. On June 13, 1835, Bishop Tejada ordained the future founder of
the Claretians, Anthony Mary Claret, as a priest and Jaime Balmes, who would be a famous philosopher, as a deacon.
Bishop Tejada died on June 15, 1838.
When Father Tejada was named bishop, the Barcelona prior, Augustín Serres, assumed the government of the
Order as vicar general on September 12, 1832. On October 18, he signed the convocation notice for the General Chapter
to be held in Huete on May 25, 1833. At that chapter, Juan Bautista Granell was elected Master General. He died
unexpectedly in Madrid on April 24, 1834. A very difficult period for religious life started during that unfortunate year.
The impossibility to hold other general chapters led to putting the government of the Order in the hands of vicars general
appointed by the Holy See. Vicars thus resided in Rome.
!The Vicars General from 1834 to 1880
! According to the Constitutions of the Order, at the death of Father Granell, the Barcelona prior, Tomás Miquel,
assumed the position of vicar general. On May 6, 1834, he called the elective general chapter to be held in Játiva on the
Saturday before the third Sunday of October.
Meanwhile in Rome, Father Buenaventura Cano continued in the office of procurator and vicar general of Italy.
He was one of the Chapter’s members and had been appointed titular bishop of Megida and consecrated in Saint Adriano
on February 16, 1834. With the date of the general chapter approaching and foreseeing it would be impossible to hold it
because of the deplorable situation in Spain, Father Cano, who was still procurator, did not want the vicar general of the
Order to be without constitutional faculties or the Order to be without a superior. Without Father Miquel’s knowledge,
Father Cano asked Pope Gregory XVI for the postponement of the general chapter and for the continuation in their
functions of the Barcelona prior as vicar general and of the other major and local superiors. The pope agreed and granted
everything which was requested and he let the procurator set up the date for the chapter. The latter sent the decree of the
rescript on September 18, 1834, calling for the chapter on the Saturday before the third Sunday of October 1835, and he
wrote to that effect to the vicar general. But, Father Miquel refused to accept that proposal and he ordered Bishop Cano
not to request anything from the pope without his consent until the next general chapter was held and, appealing to the
Nuncio in Spain, he assumed the responsibility to set it up. An extension for the chapter was granted three times because
religious institutes were having a very difficult time in Spain since all convents had been suppressed and their residents
had been dispersed.
!
Tomás Miquel and Buenaventura Cano (1834-1868). The religious from Spain had been exclaustrated and the
vicar general, Tomás Miquel, had taken refuge in Perpignan. As vice-procurator general of the Order in Rome and Saint
Adriano pastor, Father Juan Mosón addressed a report to the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. In it, he disclosed the
situation of the Order and—since no chapter had been planned—he begged the Supreme Pontiff to name Titular Bishop
Buenaventura Cano as Master General of the Order.
Pope Gregory XVI did not think it was opportune to name Bishop Cano as Master General and he only appointed
him as vicar general of the entire Order on December 11, 1835, until the Holy See decided otherwise. When Father
Miquel found out about the appointment, in a letter of January 4, 1838, written from France and addressed to the pope, he
deplored that Bishop Cano had clandestinely obtained the position in question and requested to be named vicar general, a
responsibility which should be his, according to the Constitutions when the Master General post was vacant. Pope
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!
Gregory XVI thought that the reasons alleged by Father Miquel were valid and, by a decree of April 22, 1838, he
appointed him vicar general of the Order ad nutum et beneplacitum Sanctae Sedis. Father Miquel left Perpignan and
arrived in Rome to settle at the Saint Adriano convent on June 2, 1838. Bishop Buenaventura Cano died in Rome on
August 4, 1839. He was 61 years old. He was buried in the crypt of Saint Adriano Church.
Father Miquel’s government lasted until his death in Rome on January 29, 1868. Throughout this long period, he
always resided in Rome except one year, 1848, when he went to Spain and had Father Juan Mosón serve as interim vicar
of the Order. In the 30 years of his government, Father Miquel was assisted by four procurators general who also acted
usually as associates, that is to say, as the vicar’s adviser, general secretary and as rector of Saint Adriano College in
Rome. On March 14, 1856, the Rome vicariate named Father Miquel as examiner of Spanish candidates who were in the
Eternal City and sought Holy Orders.
One of the first actions of Father Miquel’s government was to withdraw an edition of the Constitutions which had
many omissions and printing errors. Father Miquel governed under extremely difficult historical circumstances in Europe,
because of the suppressions and in America, because of the wars for independence. For all these reasons, he frequently
had to appeal to the Holy See to resolve the extraordinary problems which were emerging. Thus, on several occasions he
obtained these faculties: naming provincials and superiors without holding chapters; conferring degrees in the Order or
rectifying those conferred without filling due formalities; naming visitators, especially to the Provinces of America in
order to restore regular discipline and community life; disposing of the redemption funds to support religious; resolving
conflicts of individual religious, and also in aspects of poverty and of regular discipline which religious could not observe
because they were not living in convents. In the area of liturgy, Father Miquel obtained indulgences for Mercedarian
churches and permission for the faithful to gain them without having to visit the churches of the Order; he had the
mysteries of the Lord’s Passion and the feasts of Mary’s Motherhood and Virginity included in the Order’s calendar. He
also sought to admit postulants in Saint Adriano, the only house which had not been suppressed in Europe.
!
José Reig Estivil (1868-1869). Father Miquel was succeeded as vicar general by José Reig Estivil who was also
appointed ad nutum et beneplacitum Sanctae Sedis by Pope Pius IX in a decree of February 7, 1868. Because of his
cultural preparation, Father Reig was named Adviser of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide.
From Father Reig’s government, one should retain his concern to admit postulants in Saint Adriano. He had
Father Antonio Garí y Siumell from Spain come to Rome in December 1868, to attend to their formation. Named
secretary general and procurator, Father Garí y Siumell expressed his concern about the discalced Mercedarians of Sicily
to the Holy See. Father Reig tried to reestablish common life wherever it was possible; he was allowed to confer degrees
in the Order; he obtained indulgences for some Mercedarian churches, particularly a special papal blessing for the
centennial feasts of the Virgin of Bonaria in Cagliari. He also had to work hard to avoid the suppression of the Order by
the civil government of the time in Ecuador.
Father Reig only served a year and a half as vicar general. He died on September 20, 1869, and was spiritually
assisted by Monsignor Anthony Mary Claret, a guest at Saint Adriano at the time.
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José María Rodríguez y Bori (1869-1879). When Father Reig died, Procurator Garí y Siumell was in Spain. When
he learned of the vicar general’s death, he presented to the Holy See a list of three names from which to select the new
leader of the Order since it was impossible to convoke a general chapter. He especially recommended Father José María
Rodríguez y Bori. In fact, Father Rodríguez was also appointed ad nutum et beneplacitum Sanctae Sedis vicar general of
the Order by a decree of October 2, 1869. He always resided in Rome where he participated in the First Vatican Council.
During the first years of his government, Father Rodríguez was assisted by Procurator Garí y Siumell until
January 20, 1876, when the latter resigned to move to Barcelona. It took a year and a half to appoint a new procurator
general, Father Benjamín Rencoret. Until that time, vicars generals as well as procurators general had always been from
the Province of Aragon with the exception of Procurator Vicente Virgala who was from Castile. In the meantime, the
political and social situation of religious institutes in Spain had improved considerably and it was possible to think about
reorganizing communal life in convents. When Father Rodríguez died in Rome on January 11, 1879, the attempt to restore
the Order had already been started in 1878, with the constitution of a community at El Olivar convent.
Among the acts of Father Rodríguez’ government, one should note his concern to admit Spanish or Italian
postulants to religious life in Saint Adriano. He was also interested in having the necessary faculties to appoint superiors
in provinces or houses, with his assistants, as if it were a general definitorium. During his government, the reform
entrusted to the archbishop of Lima was accomplished in Peru and also the apostolic visitation in Chile by the archbishop
of Santiago who decided to appoint Father Lorenzo Morales as general commissioner. In the area of liturgy, Father
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Rodríguez obtained particular calendars for Saint Adriano Church and for the Province of Lima, the Mercedarian
martyrology and the extension of the Office of the Virgin of Bonaria to all Sardinia.
On the other hand, there had been efforts to have Cardinal Eduardo Enrique Howard named Protector of the Order
since after Cardinal Plácido Zurla’s death in 1835, the Order lacked a protector. However, Father Rodríguez did not
personally see the realization of this hope since the appointment of the Cardinal Protector took place on April 22, 1879,
and the Cardinal took possession of the title of Saint Adriano two days later, that is on April 24, 1879.
!Election of Master General Peter Armengol Valenzuela
! For 45 years, the Order had been governed by vicars general directly appointed by the Holy See. The motivations
repeated for each appointment were always the same: the circumstances which prevented holding a chapter were the
calamitous consequences of the French Revolution and of the exclaustration of 1835 in Spain and of the one of 1855-1866
in Italy.
When Father Rodríguez died, the Spanish fathers who were in Rome wrote to Father Benito Rubio, the provincial
of Aragon, so that in accordance with other provincials or commissioners of Spain, they would provide a successor.
Procurator General Benjamín Rencoret was opposed with the argument that the provincials or commissioners of America
should also participate in the election of the Master General of the Order. To that effect, on January 15, 1879, he wrote a
memorandum to the Holy Father on the situation of the Order. He particularly emphasized that, at that time, the American
Provinces were in a better position in terms of discipline, finances and the number of religious. He also stated that in
America, there were excellent candidates quite capable of serving as Master General. He mentioned, in particular, Father
Peter Armengol Valenzuela and if a chapter could not be held, electors could express their votes by letter.
The Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars was in favor of the procurator’s proposal and on February 18,
1878, it appointed a vicar general ad interim: Father Magín Bertrán, until the new Master General’s election which would
take place, according to forthcoming provisions. At first, Father Bertrán did not accept but his refusal was not accepted
and he assumed his responsibility as vicar on March 9, 1879.
A first deed consisted in identifying the general electors, 11 for this chapter. Only 2 of them were present in
Rome: Fathers Magín Bertrán, the interim vicar general and Benjamín Rencoret, the procurator general. The other nine
were the following fathers: Benito Rubio Alcaine, provincial commissary of Aragon, Antonio Noya, provincial
commissary of Castile, Antonio Juan Franco y Cuenca, provincial commissary of Andalusia, Vicente Belver, provincial
commissary of Valencia, Manuel Burguichani, provincial of Mexico, Lorenzo Morales, provincial commissary of Chile,
Aparicio del Castillo, vicar provincial of Quito, José León Torres, vicar provincial of Tucumán and Efisio Ferrara,
commissary of Sardinia.
The Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars immediately sent a letter on September 6, 1879, to the vicar
general and to the procurator general giving instructions on how to elect the Master General. After having warned that, for
this election and when possible, it was necessary to follow the Constitutions, the Sacred Congregation, and to take the
situation of the Order into account, the letter gave the following provisions: electors were dispensed from going to Rome;
the four electors from Spain, the four from America and Sardinia were to be contacted by letter and ordered to send, in a
sealed envelope and within four months, the name of a candidate worthy to be Master General to Rome; after the
envelopes arrived and under the presidency of the Cardinal Protector of the Order, a chapter was to be held with the
participation of the two electors present in Rome and the secretary; there the envelopes were to be opened and the votes
counted. Then the document added, if someone had obtained a majority of votes, he would be elected, pending
confirmation by the Holy See. If, on the contrary, no one obtained a majority of votes, the Holy See reserved the right to
appoint a vicar general from the three men with the most votes.
According to these instructions, Fathers Bertrán and Rencoret, in agreement with the Cardinal Protector, sent the
ballots to the electors who returned them within the established term of four months with the name of the candidate
indicated by each one.
On January 30, 1880, in Saint Adriano convent and under the presidency of the Cardinal Protector of the Order,
the following fathers met in general chapter: Magín Bertrán, Benjamín Rencoret and, as secretary general, Liborio
Senmartí y Salvans to proceed with the vote count. The result was the following: Father Peter Armengol Valenzuela, 8
votes; Father Francisco Sullis, 2 votes and Father Magín Bertrán, one vote. Having obtained an absolute majority of votes,
Father Valenzuela became the new Master General of the Order. After notifying the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and
Regulars of the result, on February 1, 1880, the Cardinal Protector informed Pope Leo XIII who confirmed the election. In
a February 19, 1880 decree to that effect, the elect was ordered to come to Rome as soon as possible and to reside there.
On the same day, the decree was communicated to Cardinal Howard who wrote to Father Valenzuela on February 29,
1880, recommending “not to delay his trip.” This election of the Master General marked the end of the period of apostolic
vicars general.
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7. APOSTOLIC ACTIVITY
!The Redemption of Captives
! Since the redemption of captives was the institutional mission of the Mercedarians, their principal concern was
naturally directed to this activity. This was why in the chapters of each province, they always appointed redeemers
designated to carry out redemptions. Then all worked to collect the money needed to realize the redemption and preached
about it in different places within their own jurisdiction.
According to a study on Mercedarian redemptions conducted by Father Antonio Garí y Siumell, we know that in
the last 25 years of the eighteenth century, Mercedarians realized two redemptions: one in 1776 by religious from Sardinia
and the other one in 1779 by religious from France.
In the redemption by religious from France, it should be noted that although their very existence was in crisis,
French Mercedarians continued to be concerned about their main obligation as religious dedicated to redemption. In the
1779 redemption by French religious, the redeemers were Father Domingo Pablo de Villa, provincial of the old Southern
Province and Father Claude de Chevillard, vicar general of the Paris congregation. These two religious went to Tunis
where they redeemed 54 captives and then to Algiers where they redeemed 24 more. There were 43 women and 7 children
among the redeemed. The redemption was achieved with the help of the regular canons of the Trinity.
We have ample and precise documentation concerning the redemption realized by religious of the Sardinia
congregation. This redemption occurred when Father Juan Bautista Sciacca was the congregation’s vicar general and it
was done in Tunis where 28 captives, including 8 women and several youths, were rescued. This redemption cost 5,500
escudos. The former vicar general of the congregation, Father José María Odella and Father Antonio Losta were the
redeemers. From the catalogue of this redemption, which was printed by the Sardinia religious, we know that to the
number mentioned above, King Amadeus III of Savoy added many Turkish slaves who were freed and handed over in
exchange for Christians, that after the redemption, there were still 45 captives who could not be redeemed and for whose
liberation religious “exercised the most anxious diligence; with the most touching expressions imploring the never denied
help of the Almighty; the usual generosity of our unconquered monarch and the charity, always recommended by the
Lord, of all the other faithful.”
The Mercedarians of Sardinia continued to take interest in the liberation of captives during the following years.
On September 3, 1798, at dawn, 500 Tunisian pirates carried out a surprise attack on Carloforte island. After
landing and overcoming the few soldiers of the garrison, the pirates invaded the streets of the citadel and the houses of
people who were still asleep and for two days, they sacked the whole island amid scenes of brutality, pain and despair
from the people. Many inhabitants managed to escape capture by hiding in the fields or even simulating death. But 933
islanders, about half the people, of all ages, especially women and children, were taken prisoners, piled up like animals on
the pirates’ boats and sent to Tunis which they reached after two days at sea. In Tunis, they were forced to march before
the local people and then sold in auction like merchandise. A very painful odyssey began for them on September 10, 1798.
The situation of these unfortunate people moved Sardinia’s civil authorities and especially Mercedarians who took the
initiative to obtain their liberation.
The sum of 300 sequins, asked for each captive, was considered enormous and absolutely beyond the possibilities
of the few people of Carloforte who escaped capture and of the Sardinian-Piedmontese State which the Napoleonic wars
had reduced to a very bad financial situation. Obtaining the needed funds to rescue these unfortunate people was a
difficult and lengthy undertaking. Many Christians organized themselves in Italy and also in Europe. Mercedarians were
particularly involved in traveling to all the towns of the island to collect funds for the redemption. They were helped by
the so-called syndic, workers or brothers of redemption, appointed in each town by the superior of the Mercedarian viceprovince of Sardinia.
In the meantime, years were passing by and some captives had died. By 1803, they were reduced to 783. Around
1800, there was a captive named Nicolás Morerro who was granted some degree of freedom by his master. On the
seashore, he saw an abandoned statue of the Immaculate Virgin which he recovered and which became the support of the
faith and the refuge and hope of the prisoners. Later on, the statue was called The Virgin of Slaves and it is still venerated
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today in the Carloforte church. Still 655,000 Sardinian lire, corresponding to several billions today, had to be paid to
liberate the surviving captives. The Mercedarian quota in order to reach that amount came to 76,000 lire, more or less
12% of the total.
The liberation was achieved in June 1804. On the 24th, all rescued captives were welcomed at the Bonaria
sanctuary of Cagliari from where they went to the cathedral to give thanks to the Lord. Around the end of July, after the
necessary steps of the quarantine, the liberated people of Carloforte returned to their island.
Times were changing and the activity in which Mercedarians had been involved in previous centuries was no
longer conceivable. On the contrary, in 1816, the condition of slavery as understood in the past was abolished, at least on
paper. However, there were still captives to whom Mercedarians could direct their attention. In fact, they continued to
collect alms for the redemption of captives.
In Spain, by a decree of May 7, 1815, King Ferdinand VII limited the faculty to collect alms for the redemption of
captives to the towns or places where Mercedarians had convents with the obligation of having the amount gathered not
just at the disposal of the collector of the redemption fund but also of the public treasury. Vicar General Gabriel Miró tried
in vain to have this measure revoked.
On the other hand, the religious of Sardinia did not stop appointing redemption assistants. In the year 1814 alone,
they sent 33 licenses of redemption workers and 14, in 1815. In the following years, there were not more than two per
year until 1820, when the last appointments were made. The last collection gathered by Vicente Lay de Perdas de Fogu,
recorded in 1822, in the Book of Redemption, amounts to 4.80 lire.
There are records of the convent expenses for the support of the redeemed and the aid provided for their
repatriation. In the Redemption Register of Cagliari, which goes from May 1813 to August 1840, various expenses are
recorded for captives. Some of them were certainly redeemed by other organizations and once they were liberated, they
needed to be attended to during the quarantine in the lazaretto, or for the thanksgiving procession or for their repatriation
journey. Some entries or bequests for redemption are indicated in this same Redemption Register for the period from May
1814 to March 1822.
In the following years, in all the provinces, the chapters continued to appoint the two redeemers who were
dedicated to preaching redemption and to collecting alms. However, the redemption of captives took on another nature
even in the way it was carried out. In addition, due to the scarcity of resources for the survival of religious, it was often
necessary to request the authorization of the Holy See to be able to use redemption funds to support religious. In that
regard, it is symptomatic that the vicar general and the superior of Bonaria requested permission to use the redemption
bequests to cover the expenses of the sacristy of the sanctuary which the convent could not do because of the additional
burden caused by the presence of 8 religious who had fled from Spain. On April 10, 1840, the Sacred Congregation of
Bishops and Regulars granted this request for three years.
Social Works
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At that time, religious of the Order were mostly dedicated to penance, preaching, instructing young people and
other practices useful to the faithful with the zeal which priestly ministry required. The specific redemptive activity of the
Mercedarians, in the diverse political and social conditions of the times, was assuming a different aspect to benefit the
needy and to foster faith. These new ways became concretized in charitable works and in teaching youth. On the other
hand, when redemption of captives was at its peak, in the traditional sense, very few Mercedarians were directly engaged
in it. Most religious took part indirectly by collecting alms and prayer or they were engaged in activities allowed by the
circumstances of the time. The early legislation of the Order has no particular norms on other ministries. This void was
filled in by the chapters’ decisions and the superiors’ rulings.
Concerning works of charity for the period we are dealing with, there is evidence that the Mercedarians were in
charge of taking bids to build the Cagliari Hospital. On that occasion, on February 18, 1845, the viceroy and captain
general of the kingdom of Sardinia, don Gabriel de Launay, published a Regulation for alms to be collected by
Mercedarian Fathers for the construction of the new civil hospital of Cagliari. To justify this initiative and before giving
the respective norms, the viceroy refers to the Mercedarians’ mission of charity with captives and this was precisely why
he had given that mission to them. In the spirit of their fourth vow, religious fulfilled this often difficult mission.
Another type of ministry began to appear toward the end of the nineteenth century: attending to people in jail. In
fact, there are several instances: such as that of Father Alelí of Barcelona who used to visit prisoners, speak with them to
bring them some consolation and to hear their confessions and that of Father Chávez who wanted to redeem those who
suffer the worst type of slavery, namely, destitution. In America, Father Manuel Burguichani, provincial of Mexico from
1853 to 1886, was named Jail Superintendent. Members of the community assisted him in that ministry. He used to visit
penal establishments and, in some circumstances, he would stay there day and night. He also spent a lot of time with
prisoners condemned to death. By 1874, he had accompanied 1,010 condemned to the gallows. When it was time to carry
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out capital punishment, he would preach to those in attendance. With these facts in mind, the 1895 Constitutions included
prison ministry among the ministries of charity of the Mercedarian Order.
These manifestations obviously proved that the Order’s charism of charity was assuming different connotations
for the sake of the suffering members of the Church by works of charity which had always been an essential part of the
!Teaching
! The charitable aspect, shared by all Mercedarian religious, was also concretized in supporting schools for the
poor.
By a decree of November 24, 1815, the king of Spain had entrusted elementary school education of poor children
to religious. The Order of Mercy accepted this mission and so, in the Statutes on religious formation, established by the
1817 General Chapter, there was a section dealing with Elementary Schools. The first norm on the subject states: “The
reverend fathers provincial will promote the building of schools for poor children, especially near convents located in
places not frequented by inhabitants.” The paragraph goes on to indicate norms according to which only trained religious
could dedicate themselves to this teaching. Religious teaching in said schools could then also graduate with the degrees
which were conferred to those who taught in schools of philosophy and theology. Thus, schools for the poor emerged in
Europe and especially in America. They involved religious in works which were particularly beneficial to the poor.
Not only because of the provisions of the 1817 General Chapter but especially at the time of independence and
after it, the interest of Mercedarians for youth education in America developed in all the countries where they were
present through the establishment of public schools, requested by the new governments, which could not function without
the contribution of the Church in that domain. Thus, in 1814, Chilean Mercedarian Father Diego de Larraín founded the
first public school in Jachal (Mendoza). Thanks to Father Rafael Cifuentes’ work, in 1817, the teaching activity of the
Mercedarians of Ecuador started again with the foundation of the first free school in Quito. In the following years,
education became one of the characteristic activities of Mercedarian presence and the one in which most religious were
engaged.
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FRUITS OF SANCTITY
Bartolomeo Poggio. Of Italian origin, he was born on September 21, 1768, in San Martino Stella (Savona). With
his parents, Tomás and Catalina Visca, he moved to Argentina when he was still a child. He joined the Order of Mercy and
was ordained a priest in Córdoba on May 26, 1799. The next year, he was destined as military chaplain to Patagonia, to
the border establishment Carmen de Patagones which had been under Mercedarian care ever since its foundation. For ten
years, Father Bartolomeo evangelized settlers there and in the nearby port of San José. Everyone admired and respected
him and he was an example of apostolic life and of poverty. In that region, Tehuelche natives periodically attacked the
towns taking food, cattle and, at times, even prisoners whom they later traded for food. On one of those raids on August 7,
1810, they assaulted the garrison and burned the chapel while Father Bartolomeo was celebrating Mass. Fifteen people
died and others who did not succeed in fleeing were detained and made captives. Father Bartolomeo was one of the dead.
Still wearing the sacred vestments, he surrendered to martyrdom. In the documents narrating this event, we can read the
following: “on his knees in front of the altar, with his arms extended to form a cross to be more like the Golgotha Martyr,
his eyes fixed on the crucifix before him, a prayer on his lips and the love of the saints in his heart, he died in sacrifice…”
Bartolomeo Poggio is considered as Patagonia’s protomartyr. A monolith recalls his martyrdom and he is represented on
one of the stained-glass windows of the San Carlos de Bariloche Cathedral.
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Manuel de la Peña del Rosario. We have no reliable information on the place and date of his birth. He was
definitely from Portugal and moved to Brazil. As a layman, he studied with the discalced Carmelites of Gran Pará and
after his ordination to the priesthood, he was put in charge of a parish. He received the Mercedarian habit and pursued his
studies before dedicating himself to preaching. In a letter to the Master General, Father Juan Feliz Cano, had this to say
about Father Peña: “Father Manuel de la Peña del Rosario had just arrived at this convent (San Luis del Marañon). A very
spiritual religious, renowned for his virtue, he came from rural areas of Brazil where he worked as a missionary for three
years, with such great spiritual results and credit to the faith that during the time of his missions, God worked many
wonders, healing many sick and introducing devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Holy Rosary.” The chapter, held
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on June 8, 1767, at the Gran Pará convent, confirmed this information. In a letter of June 20, 1780, addressed to the
Master General, Martín de Torres, Father Peña stated that he had resigned from the parish and renounced a substantial
patrimony out of love of the faith, that he wrote an apology with 104 theological questions which was not published
because he did not seek to be remembered but rather forgotten by the world; that he had rebuilt the Vigía residence where
he was a conventual and a teacher of elementary education and Latin grammar at the age of 70, having been a teacher for
35 years. He was appointed adviser of the Marañon convents at the 1786 chapter. He died shortly after that.
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Pedro Pascual Rubert. He was born on October 21, 1764, in Valencia where he spent his whole life. He received
the Mercedarian habit when he was 14. When he was ordained a priest, he was assigned to teaching which he alternated
with preaching. He was exemplary in his observance of the Rule and very humble. The whole city knew and admired his
virtuous life. Many of the faithful listened to his sermons which produced many conversions. He was appointed superior
of Valencia in 1805. But since the provincial chapter could not be held, he had to continue at the head of the community
until 1811. When the revolt against the French broke out on May 23, 1808, and many wanted to assassinate the authorities
accused of treason, Father Rubert had to use all his prestige to calm people down and to preserve many from certain death.
This difficult test increased his popularity and he did not hesitate to send his religious to provide spiritual help to the
wounded. At the chapter held in Sollana in 1811, he was elected provincial. At that time, all of Spain was fighting against
the French who also occupied Valencia. Father Rubert kept the citizens’ optimism alive by affirming that French
domination would be short-lived. On January 15, 1812, all the religious communities were gathered in the preachers’
convent where Father Rubert was arrested and condemned to death along with a Capuchin and three Dominicans. They
were executed on the morning of January 18, 1812. In 1813, his secretary, Father Jorge Común, published a booklet on the
exemplary and edifying life of this holy friar. The process for the recognition of his virtues was opened in 1814.
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Tomás Gascó. He was born in Foyos in 1711. He entered the Order in Valencia where he received a novice habit
as a brother on December 9, 1730, and he made his profession on December 10, 1732. He requested and obtained to go as
a redeemer for Valencia with Father Ramón José Rebullida to a redemption in Algiers in 1752. The two of them left
Barcelona on June 9. Although a plague was decimating the city of Algiers, they carried out the redemption liberating 240
captives. Upon their return to Barcelona, they were forced to be quarantined in Marseilles where redeemer Tomás showed
much patience and charity. To this brother’s zeal, we owe the renovation of the Valencia church and convent where he
restored the Confraternity of Mercy and founded the novenas of Mercy and of Saint Raymond. He looked after the chapel
of mercy where he had established the association of slaves.
A religious immersed in constant prayer, he showed great modesty, profound silence and burning charity. He
added fasting and corporal penances to these virtues. Five years before his death, he suffered a stroke which kept him
bedridden. He died in odor of sanctity on March 10, 1795.
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Luis García Guillén. He was born in Chiapas, Southern Mexico, on September 3, 1763. He entered the Order in
1783. After being ordained a priest, in 1790, he was put in charge of the treasury of redemption. In 1791, he was
appointed secretary provincial, novice master, member of financial society of Guatemala in 1798, and adviser of the
University in November 1808. He was the superior of Chiapas and provincial of Guatemala twice (1800 and 1802). He
built the Church of the Assumption in New Guatemala and he had to suffer through the difficult political situation which
led to the suppression of the province. Father Guillén was a prudent superior and an excellent preacher. His exemplary life
earned him everyone’s esteem.
On February 28, 1831, he was named bishop of Chiapas, his hometown, and he was consecrated on January 19,
1832. He took possession of his see in April of that year but he set up residence in the Mercy convent where he led a life
of religious observance in a setting of extreme poverty.
On September 17, 1833, he was exiled because he refused to submit to laws contrary to the Church. He died in
exile in Campeche on August 19, 1834. He was buried in the Church of Santa Ana of that city. Two years later, his mortal
remains were transferred to the Chiapas Cathedral.
The 1834 Martyrs. The criminal way in which the 1834 revolutionaries acted against the Church and institutes of
consecrated life demonstrates that religious were sacrificed out of hatred for religion. In some sectors, such an antireligious climate developed that any pretext was sufficient to unleash violence against convents and their residents. After
having attacked other convents, on July 17, 1834, the Mercedarian convent was also attacked and the following eight
religious were assassinated: Manuel Esparza who was stabbed to death in the choir and whose head was thrown in the
church, Francisco Somorrostro, José Melgar, Eugenio Castiñeiras, Baltasar Blanco, Lorenzo Temprano, Vicente Castaño
and Victoriano Magariños.
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Melchora de Jesús. She was born in Lima on January 6, 1705. She received a Christian education in her family
and as a child her feelings were oriented to God. She loved silence and retreat to devote herself to prayer. She mortified
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her body and made a vow never to eat meat in her life. When she reached adulthood, she ardently wished to join a
cloistered monastery but she lacked the necessary dowry. One of her uncles, Mercedarian Juan de la Peña, a professor at
the University of Lima, promised he would help her. Unfortunately, he died before she entered. In her tribulation, the
young woman went to the Lord and with courage, she asked to be dispensed from the dowry. The discalced Mercedarian
nuns who were solemnly inaugurating the monastery on August 10, 1734, were so enchanted by her virtues that they
admitted Melchora to religious life. As soon as she was in the sanctuary of the cloister and consecrated to Jesus by vows,
she started rigorous penances and gave herself to contemplative life. She spent many hours praying and also seeking union
with God. Despite her humility, in 1748, she was elected superior of the monastery where she reestablished discipline and
spiritual fervor. She was loving and affectionate with religious, especially with the sick, and she was adorned by every
virtue. She accepted her long and distressing illness with resignation and patience. She died in May 1781. On May 14, her
funeral was solemnly held and many people attended. Father Miguel de Azero y Lamadrid delivered the eulogy which was
later published. He emphasized the saintly life of this Mercedarian religious who wrote spiritual and liturgical works, as
well as biographies of exemplary nuns.
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María Josefa del Rosario. She was born in Ermúa (Biscay) in 1766. From her mother, who was very devoted to
the Blessed Sacrament, she learned adoration of the Eucharistic mystery. She grew in age and in virtue: pious, obedient,
modest and hardworking, she was an example to all who saw her. At 22, she entered the monastery of the discalced
Mercedarians of Santiago where she made her profession on November 8, 1789. There are extraordinary accounts of her
religious life, especially in reference to her devotion to the Eucharist. The Lord favored her with the impression of his
crown of thorns which caused her terrible pains and, in the course of an ecstasy, the Virgin of Mercy imposed on her the
black veil of choir nuns instead of the lay sisters’ white veil: she was a mystical soul. Knowing that her end was near,
filled with merits, she died on July 9, 1805. The entire town, starting with the archbishop, came to pay respect to her
mortal remains which are now in the monastery where the nuns continue to show their veneration to the nun called the
Mothers’ Saint by everyone. In 1812, Father Marcos Pecero published a biography—reprinted various times—of this
extraordinary religious.
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THE MERCEDARIAN FAMILY
The political and anti-religious events of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had delivered a devastating blow
to religious life in the Church giving the impression that it would not have the strength to reappear. Yet, in some aspects,
the losses were counterbalanced. In fact, although they were expelled from their convents, many religious remained
privately faithful to their ideal of religious life. They were secretly and effectively working for the spiritual restoration of
the Church and its institutes. Others were promoting different forms of religious life in accord with the demands of a new
historical time.
The Mercedarian charism also inspired new forms of expression especially in the works of God-loving people
who were at the origin of Mercedarian religious institutes for women. At a practical level, these institutes were devoted to
Christian instruction, taking care of the sick, missions, helping poor and lost youth, etc. Under the protection of the Virgin
of Mercy, there were also lay people who became organized in associations to reflect on their own salvation and to do
good for others.
In the nineteenth century, religious institutes for women emerged. They became full members of the Mercedarian
Family as they realized some aspect of the Mercedarian charism. A brief and quick description of these institutes follows.
!Missionary Mercedarians of Barcelona
! This religious institute was founded in Barcelona on November 21, 1860.
Young Lutgarda Mas y Mateu (1828-1862) and exclaustrated Mercedarian Father, Peter Nolasco Tenas y
Casanova (1803-1874), were the souls of this foundation. Lutgarda had contacted Father Tenas to carry out her fervent
desire to reestablish Mercedarian sisters in Barcelona. After his initial perplexity about this endeavor, Father Tenas
received encouragement from the vicar general of the Order, Father Tomás Miquel, and he became the enthusiastic
promoter of this work. After having taken all the necessary steps, on November 21, 1860, Father José María Rodríguez y
Bori, who was the interim president of the Barcelona convent, conferred the habit on five young girls of Barcelona and he
established young Mercedes Bartra Demetre as superior of the incipient community.
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In the same year, 1860, the institute was recognized as a diocesan institute and on September 19, 1864, it was
incorporated in the Order of Mercy by the vicar general, Father Tomás Miquel. The religious, incorporated in the Order as
regular tertiaries, took the name of Mercedarian Religious.
The Institute received the Decretum laudis from the Congregation of Religious on March 25, 1911. Initially, this
Institute was aimed at the formation of young people but soon it also became oriented to missions and other social works.
The revised 1983 Constitutions state the following: “The purpose of the Institute is to announce the kingdom and the
redemption of others by promoting Christian education through teaching, missions and social work.”
At present, the Institute has 430 religious in 66 houses spread throughout Spain, America and Africa.
!Mercedarian Sisters of Charity
! The Mercedarian Sisters of Charity were founded in Málaga (Spain) on March 16, 1878, by the canon and
visitator of the religious of that diocese, Monsignor Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí y Moreno (1813-1905). The Institute was
incorporated in the Mercedarian Order by a June 9, 1878 decree of the vicar general, Father José María Rodríguez. Leo
XIII granted the Decretum laudis on September 25, 1900, and the final approval of the Institute and of the Constitutions
was granted on April 24, 1901.
The specific goal of the Institute is the practice of charity through the practice of works of mercy. The 1977
Constitutions, revised after the Second Vatican Council, express the charism and the mission of the Institute in these
words: “The mission to which this Congregation is consecrated is the practice of charity by practicing all the works of
spiritual and corporal mercy for the poor, serving them in hospitals, hospices, schools and in all the works which may
overflow into benefits for all suffering, needy and forsaken humankind. Healing every wound, remedying all evil,
soothing every sorrow, banishing every need, wiping away every tear and, if possible, not allowing a single being to be
abandoned, afflicted, helpless, without religious education or without resources.”
The Congregation is now present in Spain, France, Italy, Latin America and Africa with 180 houses and 1,536
sisters.
!Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy
! They were founded in Nancy (France) on January 2, 1864, by Mother Teresa of Jesús (Elizabeth) Bacq
(1825-1896), with the support of the local bishop, then Cardinal Charles Martial A. Lavigerie.
Initially, the diocesan Institute took the name of Religious of Our Lady’s Assumption. The first Constitutions,
written by Mother Teresa, were approved on December 8, 1865. But Mother Teresa really wanted to be incorporated in an
Order where the Blessed Virgin was especially venerated and she worked insistently for that. On April 4, 1887, the
Institute was incorporated in the Order of Mercy by a decree of the Master General, Pedro de Armengol Valenzuela, and
from that day on, the religious took the name of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. On March 25, 1912, his Holiness Pius X
granted the Decretum laudis. On June 13, 1931, Pius XI gave the first approval as a Pontifical Institute and on May 6,
1941, Pius XII granted the definitive approval of the Constitutions.
The charism of the Institute is essentially characterized by its apostolic and Marian spirit through works of charity
and of mercy. “This religious family —as we read in the first Constitutions written by Mother Teresa— has been founded
to honor the life of Jesus in and through Mary in a special way.” The revised 1975 Constitutions specify the charism and
the spirituality of the Institute in these terms: “Such spirituality, founded on redemptive charity and on humility of which
Mother Teresa gave an unmistakable example, is formed by burning faith, intense charity, dedication without limits, a zeal
which rejects nothing that can be pleasing to God and strives for the salvation of souls.”
There are now 529 sisters in 57 houses in France, Italy, Belgium, Africa, Palestine, India, Chile, Ecuador and the
United States. They focus on education of children and youth in homes, in elementary and secondary schools, on
assistance to orphans in places of prevention and colonies, on taking care of the sick in hospitals and clinics, and of the
elderly in homes.
!Sisters of Mercy
! Other religious institutes also emerged during the nineteenth century. Even though they were not officially
incorporated in the Order of Mercy, they are still related to it. Among them, is the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy.
The Sisters of Mercy originated in Dublin on September 24, 1827, thanks to the work of a pious and noble
Catholic lady, Catherine McAuley (1787-1841) who opened a house which served, at the same time, as school, home,
lodging for abandoned girls, etc. From this was born the idea of founding a congregation of religious whose goal would be
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to perform works of charity or mercy in all their various forms. After the necessary preparations, Catherine and two
companions made their religious profession on December 12, 1831.
The Congregation had no relation with the Mercedarian Order in terms of its origin and development,
nevertheless, its Constitutions recommend having a special devotion to the Virgin of Mercy who is the Patroness of the
Congregation and to Saint Peter Nolasco, a model of charity toward others. In addition, the shield of the Order is used in
the Congregation.
These religious have increased in every continent and especially where English is spoken.
!Mercedarian Laity
! The indulgences which Supreme Pontiffs granted Mercedarian associations differed from one another. In 1833,
indulgences, characteristic of the Third Order’s, were granted to the Confraternity of Mercy established in a church
dedicated to the Virgin of the Poor in Rio de Janeiro. Also in Brazil, the existing confraternity of Ouro Prêto was
transformed into the Third Order of Mercy in 1845.
A particular type of confraternity developed in the nineteenth century especially in America. People who belonged
to it wanted to honor Mary of Mercy as their Queen by their charity and purity, virtues which were to adorn this Lady’s
throne. This confraternity was somewhat like the Marian Slaves. They were all governed by their own Statutes and
enriched with special indulgences.
There was also another type of confraternity reserved only to young girls before marriage. They were called
Daughters of Mary of Mercy. They had their own Statutes and indulgences.
During the nineteenth century, illustrious people were devoted to the Virgin of Mercy, whether or not they
belonged to confraternities. Some of these saintly men deserve to be remembered:
Saint Gaspare del Bufalo (1786-1837). His parents belonged to the Archconfraternity of Mercy established in
Saint Adriano’s Church in Rome. Gaspare, who attended that church with his parents, was taught to love the Virgin of
Mercy. Following his parents’ example, he wore the Mercedarian scapular and made his novitiate as a tertiary under
Father Juan Matabosch’s direction. Ordained a priest later on, Gaspare founded the Congregation of the Most Precious
Blood.
Vincent Pallotti (1795-1850), the holy founder of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, always wore the
Mercedarian scapular which he had received and he recommended that his children do the same.
Saint Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870) had a close relationship with the Order of Mercy. He was ordained to the
priesthood by Mercedarian Juan José Tejada. Founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, he was consecrated archbishop of Santiago (Cuba). When he came to Rome to participate in the First
Vatican Council, as a sign of his love for the Order, he stayed with the Mercedarians at Saint Adriano where he was as a
simple religious. He wrote a beautiful opuscule on the life of the Mercedarians’ Founder, with the significant title:
L’egoismo vinto. In it, Peter Nolasco is described as an eminent example of charity who overcame the self-centeredness
which separates people from one another.
To these devotees of Mercy, we also add another man in love with the Virgin: Saint Alphonsus Liguori
(1696-1787). On July 28, 1723, he placed the sword he had as a lay knight at the feet of the image ofOur Lady of Mercy
in the Church of Mercy of Porta Alba, Naples. He was, thus, getting rid of his ties with worldly life and he decided to
become a priest and was later the founder of the Redemptorists.
This pious desire of lay people to wear the scapular of Mary of Mercy out of devotion became for some faithful a
more serious commitment to Mary when they asked to wear the Mercedarian habit, something which occurred especially
with women. They formed part of the Third Order as non-cloistered beatas after completing the novitiate and profession.
This way of expressing their devotion to Our Lady of Mercy manifested itself especially in Argentina where it had been
impossible to establish a monastery of Mercedarian nuns.
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10. MERCEDARIAN MARIANISM AND CULT
TO THE VIRGIN OF MERCY
!
For Catholic doctrine, the nineteenth century represented the advent of a great religious event: the proclamation of
the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
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Bringing to an end the countless discussions and controversies of previous centuries, on December 8, 1854, Pius
IX pronounced the formula of the dogmatic definition of this truth of faith.
We should mention Father Juan Agustín Cabrera as the defender of the Immaculate Conception of Mary during
this period. Immediately before the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Pius IX had asked the
bishops’ opinions on whether this doctrine could be defined. The result was an almost unanimous consensus in favor of
the dogmatic definition (546 of 603 bishops). Among the bishops in favor of the definition was the archbishop of Santiago
who had formed a commission of theologians to examine the question in 1850. Father Cabrera was one of the five
members of that commission and he wrote Theological Report on the Dogmatic Declaration on the Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Mary and the Oportuneness to Affirm it. In this writing, Father Cabrera openly stated that he
was in favor of the declaration of the dogma. At the same time, another Chilean Mercedarian, Manuel Troncoso, erected a
chapel in honor of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It is now the renowned Sanctuary of the Purísima de Lo Vázquez
(Valparaiso).
Another event of Marianism prompted by Mercedarians was the grand festivity in honor of the Virgin of Bonaria
in Cagliari on the occasion of the fifth centennial of the arrival of the venerated image to the island of Sardinia. From
April 23 to April 30, 1870, there were ongoing religious and civil manifestations to honor the Blessed Virgin of Bonaria,
memorable events in the history of the sanctuary. On that occasion, on April 24, by decree of the Vatican Chapter, the
image was solemnly crowned with a gold crown and special liturgical faculties were granted for the festive days which
coincided with the Paschal time. In addition, Pope Pius IX granted a special apostolic blessing to the commission which
had organized the celebrations. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the event, in 1895, the newly restored church was
exultantly consecrated. Later, on September 13, 1907, in a pontifical brief, the Virgin of Bonaria was proclaimed the main
Patroness of Sardinia. These feasts were celebrated in April 1908.
Concerning what specifically refers to the devotion to the Virgin under the title of Mercy, in this century of
prevailing laicism, there were significant manifestations among the faithful in several parts of the world. Some much
venerated images of the Virgin also had the honor of being canonically crowned with gold crowns or the Virgin was
proclaimed Patroness of nations, cities, towns and corporations. The most venerable are:
The image of Mercy which is venerated in the Mercy Basilica of Barcelona where devotion to the Virgin under
that title started. In 1871, she was proclaimed Patroness of the diocese. In June of the same year, the people of Barcelona
offered a gold candle to their Patroness. On October 21, 1888, the image was canonically crowned.
In the nineteenth century, in the Americas, there were some particular manifestations of devotion to the Virgin of
Mercy. In a decree of April 4, 1851, the Constituent Assembly of Ecuador declared the Virgin of Mercy as Patroness and
special Protectress of the city of Quito against earthquakes. In Pasto, Colombia, there is a famous image of Mary of
Mercy. Since that period, she has been fervently invoked by the people against war, hunger, epidemics and earthquakes.
In the movements of liberation and independence from the Spanish rule, the American faithful invoked Mary as
the liberator from foreign power and as the Protectress of the nation’s armed forces was called the General, the guarantor
of the destiny of the homeland.
The first manifestation of this devotion came from the Argentine General, Manuel Belgrano. On September 24,
1812, he won an important victory in Tucumán after he had placed his army under the protection of the Virgin of Mercy
and asked that she be invoked for victory. In gratitude for this sound victory, on October 5, General Belgrano sent two
flags and two banners to the national government to have them placed in the Mercy Church of Buenos Aires and on
October 13, he arranged a novena and thanksgiving festivities for his victory. Finally, on October 27, a solemn act of
thanksgiving for the Tucumán victory was held and the Virgin of Mercy was named General of the Argentine Army and
given the staff of command.
On September 22, 1823, the first Constituent Assembly of Peru declared the Virgin of Mercy as Patroness of the
Armies of the Republic in appreciation for the special divine protection in the happy events which led Peru to obtain its
independence.
The winds of independence also came to Bolivia or Upper Peru. There, the Virgin of Mercy was acknowledged as
the Protectress of the homeland’s cause. In 1815, Governor Francisco Rivero decreed special celebrations for September
24 in the city of Cochabamba. At the same time, he proclaimed the Virgin of Mercy as the sworn Patroness of the
country’s armies.
In Ecuador, the Virgin of Mercy was also upheld as the Protectress of freedom. After the battle of Pichincha, May
22, 1822, the victory was attributed to the Virgin of Mercy’s protection. Marshall José Antonio de Sucre had a solemn
Mass of thanksgiving celebrated in the cathedral on May 29, 1822, with Mercedarian José Bravo as homilist. On that day,
considered as the day of emancipation, the People’s Junta of Quito ruled that this anniversary be celebrated each year with
the transfer of the image of Mercy to the cathedral and the celebration of a solemn Mass. In 1861, the Virgin was declared
Patroness and Protectress of the Republic and of the Armed Forces and September 24 was set up as a national feast.
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Thanks to all these manifestations, both at the ecclesiastical and civil levels, devotion to the Virgin of Mercy has
richly blossomed.
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!!
VI
FROM THE RESTORATION IN EUROPE
TO THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
!
(1880-1965)
!
NEW HORIZONS !
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1. RESTORATION OF THE ORDER IN EUROPE
!
!First Steps of the Restoration in Spain
! The vicar general of the Order, Father José María Rodríguez, wanted to restore the Order in Europe. For that, he
needed a Mercedarian convent and a few exclaustrated religious who were determined to return to the convent.
With Father Benito Rubio Alcaine’s cooperation and the help of benefactor Marquis of Lazán, with the
corresponding ecclesiastical and government permits, Father Rodríguez was able to inaugurate solemnly the restoration of
the Mercedarian Order at the convent of Santa María de El Olivar on August 10, 1878. The community had 13 religious,
the oldest was 72 and the youngest, 60. This happy event marked the start of the restoration of the Order of Mercy in the
Province of Aragon and in Spain.
!Generalate of Father Peter Armengol Valenzuela
! This distinguished Mercedarian religious was born on July 5, 1843, in Coipué, a small town of the Province of
Talca (Chile). His parents were José Ignacio Valenzuela and María de las Nieves Poblete. He was baptized under the name
of Laureano which, while he was in the convent, he changed to Peter Armengol. He attended elementary school in
Gualleco and secondary school in Talca. He entered the Order in Santiago where, in 1861, he received the Mercedarian
habit and started his novitiate. He made his first profession on November 14, 1862, and took his solemn vows on February
10, 1866. On March 28, 1868, he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Rafael Valentín Valdivieso. When his superiors
noticed his extraordinary capacity for studying, his prodigious memory, his love and unusual ease with languages, they
provided him with eminent philosophy, theology and foreign languages professors and then, they sent him to Rome to
pursue his theological and linguistic studies.
In 1871, as secretary, he accompanied Father Benjamín Rencoret who was going to Ecuador as apostolic visitator.
To deal with affairs of this province, Father Valenzuela went to Rome in 1876, and returned as vicar provincial. When he
refused to accept Ignacio Ventimilla’s impositions, he was expelled by the dictator and went back to Chile. On January 30,
1880, Father Peter Armengol Valenzuela was elected Master General of the Order. At the time of his election, he was 37
years old and he was the superior of the convent of Valparaiso (Chile). There he embarked for Europe on May 26,
accompanied by Father Clodomiro Henríquez. They arrived in Rome on July 28, 1880. With the community gathered on
July 31, Father Liborio Senmartí y Salvans read the decree of approval and confirmation of the election of Leo XIII.
Father Valenzuela took the constitutional oath kneeling before Father Magín Bertrán, the interim vicar general. Then they
went to the church to intone the Te Deum. The new Master General spoke of charity which was to rule among religious
and of his hopes for the future of the Order. Finally, he appointed Father Clodomiro Henríquez as secretary general.
The government of the Masters General of the Order from Rome started with Father Valenzuela whereas previous
masters had governed from Spain. The panorama of the Order in Europe was distressing since few and rather aging
religious were left in three convents, 9 in Saint Adriano, 5 in Cagliari and 12 in El Olivar. There was no novitiate, no
income or material resources. Besides, there were some exclaustrated religious in different places. America there were the
following Provinces: Quito-Ecuador with 7 convents, Peru with 4 convents, Chile with 11 convents and Argentina with 4
convents. All told, there were around three hundred religious.
Convinced that the fundamental task of his mandate was the restoration of the Order, Father Valenzuela devoted
all his energy, intelligence, experience and love to this mission. As the first step, he opened novitiates and study houses for
the formandi. With strategic insight, he established the Rome novitiate in Saint Adriano Convent, then one in El Olivar in
Aragon and first, one in Conxo and later another one in Poio in the Province of Castile. For the role of formators, he
sought the best religious of the Order. He had the following fathers come to Europe and especially to Spain: Clodomiro
Henríquez, Pedro José Ferrada, José Liñan de Ariza and Agustín Pérez from Chile; Miguel Tovar and Mariano Flores from
Peru; Bernardino Toledo from Argentina; Guillermo Bravo and Peter Armengol Castro from Ecuador. In addition, to
achieve a fundamental improvement in the formation of new generations of friars, it was necessary to renew the structure
of Mercedarian religious life by updating the 1692 Constitutions.
!Saint Adriano Convent and its Novitiate
! All of Father Valenzuela’s activity had the convent and the church of Saint Adriano, in the Roman Forum, as its
center. At first, procurators general were living in Santa Rufina convent in Rome. By a bull of April 8, 1589, Sixtus V
granted the use of the church, house and orchard of Saint Adriano to the Order in perpetuum. Then Procurator General
Francisco Torres and the other religious moved to the house of the Roman Forum which became the see of the procurators
general of the Order. Popes Sixtus V (1590) and Paul V (1603) ordered Masters General Francisco Salazar and Alonso
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Monroy, respectively, to have all provinces of the Order send money to repair Saint Adriano which had to be maintained
for the whole Order since it had been given to the Order. At the time, the Order included not only the four Spanish
Provinces but also the Province of France and the 8 Provinces of America. Paul V asked that the Roman convent be given
4,000 gold escudos assessed in the following way: Lima, 1,000 escudos; Cuzco, 1,200 escudos; New Spain, 500 escudos;
Chile and Tucumán, 300 escudos; Castile, 4,000 reales and Andalusia, 4000 reales. The Provinces of Aragon, Valencia and
France were dispensed because they were so poor.
The 1664 Granada General Chapter decreed that it would remit the fourth of the spolium of the Indies to help the
Rome convent. The 1723 Granada General Chapter established that the amount needed to provide for the needs of Saint
Adriano be shared among the four Provinces of Spain and those of Mexico, Guatemala, Lima, Cuzco, Quito, Chile,
Tucumán and their doctrinas. In 1770, the Calatayud Chapter decreed to stop said contribution on the part of Spain since
from that time on, few religious from the Spanish Provinces would go there.
From a juridical aspect, when Pope Clement VIII established the Province of Italy (1603), he separated the Italian
convents which belonged to the Province of Aragon and he left Saint Adriano Convent as the house of the Province of
Italy. This situation continued until the end of 1785 when, by a papal bull of August 3 of the same year, Saint Adriano was
declared the Generalate College and placed under the authority of the Master General. When on June 16, 1875, don
Aurelio Ibarra came to Saint Adriano to take it over to follow orders from Madrid, Father Rodríguez saved the convent by
stating to the official that the Spanish government had never contributed anything to said convent which was maintained
by the Mercedarian convents of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Argentina.
On December 20, 1883, Father Valenzuela obtained from the king of Italy that Saint Adriano convent be civilly
recognized as Hispano-American Convictorio.
The novitiate was inaugurated in Saint Adriano in December 1880. The first master was Father Clodomiro
Henríquez. In 1882, he was replaced by Father Francisco Sulis from the Sardinia congregation and called especially from
Cagliari to Rome for that post. In the course of 10 years, 37 religious made their profession in this Roman novitiate and 29
of them were Italian.
Continuation of the Restoration in Spain
!
In August 1880, soon after he assumed his post, Father Valenzuela wrote to the general commissary of the
Province of Aragon, Father Benito Rubio Alcaine, to reject the resignation that the latter intended to send: “Your
assignment has been given to you by Our Blessed Mother. We must think about opening a novitiate in El Olivar as soon as
possible because for us, each passing day means a delay of many years.” Then in the summer of 1881, he traveled to
Spain to negotiate the opening of Conxo and El Puig and went to El Olivar. He observed a good atmosphere. Father
Valenzuela named Father Antonio Lafuente superior and Father Fabián Lisbona, novice master. To set up the novitiate, he
left financial help with Father Benito Rubio whom he confirmed in his responsibility and he ordered the opening of the
novitiate. It was inaugurated on September 24, 1881, with six young men. Since there were seven priests and one brother
in El Olivar, he sent four religious who were at Saint Adriano to strengthen the community of the new novitiate. From the
convent of El Olivar, cradle of the restoration of the Order of Mercy in Spain, the Province of Aragon reappeared with the
recovery and opening of the former convents of Lérida (1886), San Ramón (1897), Palma de Majorca (1905), Santa María
de El Puig (1921) and with the foundation in Santa Marta church of Barcelona (1901).
After leaving El Olivar, Father Valenzuela went to Valencia to attend to the convents of El Puig and then, to
Madrid. He realized that the Spanish government was not going to give its authorization for the El Puig and Conxo
convents. Yet, he traveled to Santiago de Compostela to speak with the archbishop. Both agreed to set up a small
community without the government’s authorization, in Conxo. There they received the enthusiastic collaboration of
elderly Father Antonio Moya and with Fathers Magín Bertrán and Buenaventura Boneta, they would initiate the
restoration in Castile. The Master General sent the last two fathers to Conxo and opened the novitiate whose first novice,
lay brother Juan Vales, received the habit on May 21, 1882. Later, two secular priests and various youths would enter the
novitiate. Father Magín Bertrán, named vicar provincial of Castile and novice master, had invested a substantial sum of
money in repairs. Father Valenzuela sent him 10,000 duros [a duro = 5 pesetas], part of the expropriation of the orchard
(2,151 square feet) of Saint Adriano realized by Rome city hall.
The Master General returned to visit this house in 1882, when he gave norms for the El Olivar novitiate and again
in 1885 and 1888, always showing a special concern for formation. By 1888, the Conxo community had grown and it had
5 priests, 1 deacon, Fray Adolfo Londei, an Italian and a philosophy instructor, 9 professed students, 3 novices to the
priesthood, 2 lay brothers with solemn vows and 1 novice to the brotherhood. Mercedarian religious had to abandon their
own Conxo convent which had been converted into a sanatorium for mental patients for Galicia by the bishop of Santiago
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de Compostela. After various attempts to find a new house, they finally selected the monastery of Poio (Pontevedra) after
they succeeded in having the town council build their new site for which they had to pay 7,000 duros. Thus, the first floor
of the former Benedictine monastery became available on June 17, 1890. But, since it was also a parish, they had to wait
for the pastor’s death to be able to move in after restoring the part of the building which was in ruins. The Master General
who was determined to have the new community of Castile established in Poio, sent them 12,500 pesetas from Rome and
later, an additional 12,500 pesetas. This became the formation site of the new personnel of the Province of Castile. With
them, it became possible to open convents in Sarria, Herencia and Verín and later a residence in Madrid.
!!
!
2. CREATION OF PROVINCES AND VICE-PROVINCES
!!
Bolivia Congregation
! In 1887, the Master General, who was concerned about the formation of religious, instructed Father Félix de los
Ríos to open a novitiate in La Paz, a house which was part of the Province of Peru. At the 1893 General Congregation of
Rome, the congregation or commissariat of Bolivia, independent from Peru, was created on June 21. Father Manuel
Argüello was appointed general commissary. He was succeeded by Father Félix de los Ríos who was responsible for
establishing the Sorata College. Between 1910 and 1912, Father Policarpo Gazulla Galve was appointed. He was a writer
and a great polemicist who had the opportunity to defend the rights of Mercedarians publicly in the press. Nevertheless, in
1912, the Bolivian Congress approved the closing of the La Paz convent, the Sorata College and the expulsion of
Mercedarians from Bolivia. Politicians had their eyes set on the property which belonged to the Order: the La Paz convent
had a large estate near Lake Titicaca and the convent had to be suppressed for the government to take it over. The last
conventual vicar of the suppressed encomienda, Father Dionisio Russi, put on record that when the La Paz convent was
closed, it had 12 religious: 1 Spaniard, one Italian, 2 Chileans, 5 Bolivians, 2 Ecuadorans and 1 Argentine.
Years later, on April 11, 1939, Mercedarians returned to La Paz. In 1948, the provincial of Peru, Father Víctor
Barriga, obtained from the president of Bolivia a decree which guaranteed the legal existence of the Order in that republic.
In 1953, the La Paz convent was annexed to the Province of Castile. Lately, once again, it is part of the Province of Peru.
!!
!Vice-Province of Concepción, Chile
! Along with the congregation of Bolivia, the vice-province of Concepción was established (May 25, 1893) with
the former convents of Chillán and Concepción. Father Cayetano Mora was the first commissary. He opened a novitiate in
Chillán on December 8, 1895, with 8 youths receiving the habit. Since this vice-province did not have a large staff, the
Master General strengthened it by transferring religious from other provinces: three from Chile; Fathers Manuel Burgos
Castillo, from Bolivia; Julio Elizalde from Peru; A. Cabrera from Ecuador; Adolfo Rezza from Italy; Juan Iglesias from
Spain and Brother Pietro Menichini from Italy. Pietro was an exemplary and very congenial religious. He lived over 30
years in Cato near Chillán, a farming property of the Order, which he converted into a garden. He is buried in the
cemetery of the city. In 1911, the Holy See decreed the union of this vice-province with the Province of Chile. In 1920,
Father Inocencio López Santa María reorganized this vice-province with four convents and in 1922, he inaugurated the
novitiate in San Javier.
!Concern for Restoration in Mexico
! The 1857 Mexican Constitution seized all the assets of the Church and it even abolished ecclesiastical privileges.
The Order of Mercy, with its abundant personnel and its great convents of the previous century, had become a desolate
province reduced to six religious around 1900. Under Porfirio Díaz’ tolerant government, the Order recovered the houses
of Toluca, Merced de las Huertas and Lagos de Moreno.
In 1903, Father Valenzuela instructed Italian Father Antonio Giuliano, who happened to be in the United States, to
go to Mexico and to start the restoration of the province. Young Father Giuliano agreed with Vicar Provincial Gil Tenorio
to visit the archbishop to request the return of the church of Arcos de Belén. It was granted and Father Giuliano took care
of it for four years. In 1906, Father Antonio asked the Master General to send more religious to Mexico. Fathers Rafael
Annechiarico, Rosalino Prosperi and Brother Angelo Urbani arrived in October. Father Giuliano himself went to Italy and
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in 1908, he brought back Father Martino Compagno and Subdeacon Fray Alfredo Scotti. In 1911, Fathers Giacomo
Lassandro and Emilio de Matteo also came from Italy.
In 1907, religious from the Province of Castile began to arrive: Pascual Miguel, Jerónimo Alvarez, Agustín
Salcedo, Casiano Salcedo, Adolfo Rodríguez, Miguel Hortas, Antonio Félix Cadaveira, Manuel Tarrío, Enrique García,
José Martínez and Benigno González. Fathers José M. Gómez and Nicolás Paracuellos came from the Province of
Aragon. Ecuador was another province which was generous with Mexico. In 1910, it sent Fathers Domingo Cabezas, Juan
R. Roldán and José Tovar.
Liberalism, in vogue at the start of the century, persecuted the Church once again by expelling foreign and
especially European clergy. In 1915, Italian Mercedarians were expelled from Mexico and they took refuge in the United
States. Fifteen years went by (1930) before the Order made another attempt to restore the Province of Mexico. Father
Alfredo Scotti participated in this new effort. Years later, he would become Master General of the Order.
!Sicily Vice-Province and Sardinia Commissariat
! The discalced Mercedarians of Sicily also suffered from political attacks of the nineteenth century and from laws
suppressing religious in Italy. They totally disappeared from the vice-province of Rome. In the discalced Province of San
Ramón of Sicily, very few religious remained but they were not strong enough to rise again. In these conditions, Father
Michele Curto and nine brothers asked the Holy Father to allow them to be incorporated in the first Order, with the
condition that the Province of San Ramón of Sicily would stay (1900). Father Valenzuela gave his approval and the
Congregation of Bishops and Regulars granted the indult of union on September 27, 1900. On July 25, 1901, the Master
General named Father Curto vicar provincial of the vice-province of Sicily with the convents of San Cataldo and Módica.
Around 1903, the Master General began to send religious personnel to Sicily from Rome.
In Sardinia, it was necessary to reestablish communitarian Mercedarian life at the Cagliari convent where a few
exclaustrated, in charge of taking care of the sanctuary, were in residence. Father Valenzuela sent Father Adolfo Londei
who, after completing the canonical visit, reestablished communal life in this old convent of the Order (1902).
!Roman Province
! When Father Peter Armengol Valenzuela arrived in Rome, the Order only had two convents: Saint Adriano and
Cagliari with a few exclaustrated religious. On March 19, 1881, the Master General acquired Nemi, a former Franciscan
convent put up for auction. It cost 25,376 lire. Later, on August 22, 1889, for 49,000 lire, he bought the Orvieto Palace
from Countess Faustina Mazzochi There he set up the convent and novitiate. With the help of a few benefactors, in 1894,
he opened the convent of San Vito dei Normanni; the Ponzano Romani convent in 1897 and in 1901, he started the
foundation of Carpignano in Avellino. With these houses and quite a few young religious, who had been in formation in
the meantime, Father Valenzuela reconstituted the Province of Italy under the name of Roman Province in 1907.
When he reestablished the province, the Master General requested from the Holy See that the Saint Adriano
Convent be incorporated in the new entity while keeping its status of Generalate College.
!!
!The Province of Peru
! In the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century, there were four convents in the Province of Peru: Lima,
Cuzco, Arequipa and La Paz. This was all that was left from two prosperous provinces after convents had been suppressed
and property confiscated. The Master General obtained the consent of the apostolic delegate, Mariano Meceni, to
reestablish the Province of Peru with the existing convents in Peru and Bolivia. Father Aparicio del Castillo, a religious
with a lot of experience in government, was the first provincial (1881). Father Manuel Argüello was named provincial in
1884.
In 1891, Father Valenzuela designated to that post Father Nicanor Velásquez who presided over the first provincial
chapter (1892). Again, Father Valenzuela named Father Argüello who participated in the 1893 General Congregation in
Rome where he represented the Province of Peru. During Father Argüello’s absence, Father Miguel Tovar would govern
as vicar provincial until 1919. This religious restored to the Peruvian convents their traditional educational nature which
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had been an important apostolate of the Province of Peru. After a few years, in 1926, the province held an ordinary
chapter at which Father Alberto Escaler was elected provincial.
!Father Valenzuela Is Reelected
! The Protector of the Order, Cardinal E. Howard, who was well aware of the positive results of Father Valenzuela’s
work to restore the Order, presented to the Holy Father the desirability of prolonging the government of the Master
General on the basis of the bull Nuper pro parte. On May 1, 1885, Leo XIII accepted Cardinal Howard’s petition. The
decision was communicated to the Order in a decree from the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars on May 8, 1885. The
origin of the prolongation of the government of Father Peter Armengol Valenzuela is the following.
In 1891, in a circular for which he was responsible, the procurator general, Liborio Senmartí, proposed to the
provincials that the Order should humbly ask “the Roman Pontiff to deign to confirm, for another 12 years, the actual
Reverend Father Valenzuela so that he might successfully carry out the initiated restoration.” By August 26, the procurator
general had all the answers and all the provincials were in agreement. Within two days, the Sacred Congregation
implemented the Holy Father’s will and responded favorably to the Order with a decree in which we read the well-known
words: “regant qui regunt,” let those who are governing, govern.
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3. FATHER VALENUZELA’S CONSTITUTIONS (1895)
!!
General Congregation of 1893
! Once he had been confirmed in the post of Master General of the Order, Father Valenzuela convoked provincials
to the General Congregation in Rome. The provincial or a delegate, designated by the definitorium, was to attend.
On April 11, 1893, for the first time, provincials of the entire Order met in Rome, exactly sixty years after the last
Huete General Chapter. Those in attendance were: Master General Peter Armengol Valenzuela; Manuel Argüello,
provincial of Peru; Clodomiro Henríquez, provincial of Chile; José León Torres, provincial of Argentina; Daniel Reyes,
provincial of Quito-Ecuador; José Giantrapani, commissary general of Sardinia; Pascual Tómas, delegate of the Province
of Aragon; Buenaventura Boneto, delegate of the Province of Castile; Ramón Colongioli, delegate of the Province of Italy
and Liborio Senmarí, procurator general.
Father Valenzuela’s discourse to the Venerabiles Patres, written in elegant Latin, provided guidelines for the work
which was to be undertaken: an urgent need to give new Constitutions to the Order.
The Congregation lasted 48 days. It held 20 plenary sessions and 23 in committees. In that project, provincials
corrected various points, they suppressed some and added others. After lengthy discussions, especially in reference to the
purpose of the Order and the formulation of the fourth vow, the text was unanimously approved. Pope Leo XIII approved
the Constitutions on April 22, 1895. The corresponding decree was issued by the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars
on the following May 11. The new Constitutions would be called Roman.
!Contents of the Constitutions
! The Constitutiones coelestis, regalis ac militaris Ordinis Redemptorum B. M. V. de Mercede denuo ordinatae et a
SS. D. N. Leone XIII confirmatae include a foundation, ten distinctions or parts and an epilogue. In nine chapters, the
foundation establishes the principles or fundamental elements of Mercedarian religious life. Each distinction touches on
various aspects of the Institute: admission of candidates and their formation; instruction of the professed; vows and divine
worship; regular observance; humanities; ministries; chapters and elections of superiors; government of the Order;
temporal goods; sisters, tertiaries and participants; faults and penalties and separation from the Order. The Constitutions
conclude with an epilogue on the interpretation and dispensation from the laws.
It should be observed that, differently from the previous ones, these Constitutions do not include the section on
the redemption of captives, a theme which is only taken up in the third chapter of section VI dedicated to ministries. The
ministry of the missions and youth education are incorporated in the activities of the Order.
In these Constitutions, rather extensive considerations of a theological and spiritual nature accompany the norms.
The desire of consecrated people to approach God can be seen in these considerations.
The Constitutions insist on the need for the Order to become an organized community in which authority is strong
and centralized. The local superior must not exaggerate his authority and set himself up as an arbitrator or master a
convent’s goods independently from major superiors.
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!
Convents are the proper place for religious. They are to live there in community and without interference from lay
people. There Mercedarian friars must strive toward perfection by a life of austerity with strict observance of ecclesiastical
and constitutional laws. Above all, they are to live in authentic fraternal love.
On the other hand, the Constitutions are not a cold legislative code but they actually become an authentic manual
of Mercedarian spirituality. In them, we can find the spiritual richness of the Order which, from the time of its foundation,
has been preserved through previous legislative texts.
!Complementary Books
! They are works which sharpen the new image of the ideal Mercedarian whose life aim is outlined in the new
Constitutions. They are serious and doctrinal works, very useful for religious formation.
Rituale et Euchologium coelestis, regalis ac militaris Ordinis Redemptorum B. M. V. De Mercede, (1893). Aid to
foster the community’s prayer and devotion.
Caeremoniale coelestis, regalis ac militaris Ordinis Redemptorum
B. M. V. de Mercede, (1898). The Order really needed this work which is why compendiums were prepared in Spanish and
Italian.
Mercedarians Instructed in the Duties of their State (1899). A fundamental book for Mercedarian religious
formation. It is also used by many non-Mercedarian priests.
Mercedarian Hymns and Psalms with Original Songs Related to the Order (1883).
Rule and Constitutions of the Third Order Sisters of Our Blessed Mother of Mercy (1883). A work dedicated to the
Mercedarian Sisters of San Gervasio of Barcelona.
Rule and Constitutions of the Sacred, Royal and Military Order of Redeemers of the B. M. V. of Mercy, Adapted to
the Nuns of the Same Institute (1897).
De intemeratu Deiparae Conceptu in Ordine ipsi sub titulo de Mercede dicato (1904), a work with a Marian
content, useful to know what the Order has done in defense of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Father Valenzuela published all these works in Rome. In addition, he wrote important letters, sermons and poems.
!!
4. GOVERNMENT OF THE ORDER
!!
Father Valenzuela’s Last Years
! After governing for 31 years, Father Valenzuela undertook the return journey to Chile with the gratitude of the
entire Order for his work of Mercedarian restoration and an impressive list of honorable positions which the Church had
entrusted to him while he was in Rome: Consultant of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, member of the Pontifical
Commission for the Revision of the Provincial Synods, member of the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law,
member of the preparatory Commission for the Plenary Council of Latin America, Bishop of San Carlos de Ancud,
appointed on June 30, 1910 and consecrated on July 24 in the church of the Colegio Pio Latino Americano [South
American College] by Cardinal Antonio Agliardi, Chancellor of the Holy See.
The Vatican had Father Valenzuela, who was already a bishop, continue to govern the Order until October 1911,
when he passed on the position of Master General to his successor, Mariano Alcalá Pérez. A few days later, Father
Valenzuela said, “I set out for my homeland after an absence of thirty-one years and five months during which, by
heavenly will, I ruled the Order in Rome.” During his government, he saw the opening of 40 convents and the Order had a
thousand religious. Father Valenzuela took his secretary and esteemed collaborator, Father José Inglés Blasi from the
Province of Aragon, to the Ancud Diocese. Father José accompanied him until 1914, when they both traveled to the ad
limina visit. Upon returning to his insular diocese, he traveled with his new secretary, Mexican Mercedarian José María
Esparza, who accompanied him during the last years of his government in that diocese. Father Valenzuela governed his
flock as a bishop until December 22, 1916.
Appointed Titular Archbishop of Gangra by Benedict XV, Bishop Valenzuela withdrew to the Santiago convent
where he devoted himself to his youthful passion: languages. In 1918, the University of Chile published his Glosario
etimológico, a two-volume dictionary of Araucanian and of other widely used native American languages. He also wrote
an unpublished Essay of Comparative American Philology to Contribute to the Monogenesis of the Language and of the
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Human Race. He was working on the second part of this work when death took him by surprise on July 10, 1922. Fray
Francesco Cristofori accompanied him to the end. After seven years of faithful service, Fray Francesco went back to Italy.
Monsignor Valenzuela’s body lies in a prominent place in the Mercy Basilica of Santiago.
!!
!Masters General of this Period
! After examining the votes, sent in sealed envelopes, by the provincials and delegates, by a decree of August 3,
1911, the Congregation of Religious declared Mariano Alcalá Pérez Master General elect of the Order. He took office on
August 24, 1911. The same Sacred Congregation also appointed councilors who would form the new government of the
Order with the Master General. They were: Ramón Serratosa, Armando Bonifaz who renounced, Nicolás González, Peter
Armengol Reyes, Cándido Schirillo, procurator of the Order and Francisco Gargallo, secretary general.
Master Alcalá started to work and among his initiatives, we should recall the publication of the Official Bulletin of
the Order of Mercy whose first issue appeared in July, 1912. He had grave problems as superior of the Order. The
difficulties started in and through Saint Adriano College. The Roman Provincial Curia was operating there and the priests
who were assistants general forming the general council were also living there. Father Alcalá tried to separate the
Generalate College from the Roman Province but the province did not have another house in Rome. In the process, there
were feelings which led to unexpected results for everyone. In September 1912, the American assistants general and the
procurator general resigned before the Sacred Congregation. On November 5, 1912, the Sacred Congregation declared
that Saint Adriano did not validly belong to the Roman Province and that it was only the Generalate College, according to
a decree of August 2, 1785. On December 19, 1912, the Roman provincial government was dissolved by the Congregation
and a new one was named with other religious. At the request of the same Italian religious, on January 15, 1913, the
Sacred Congregation appointed an apostolic visitator for the Roman Province. He was French religious Jules Sabaut from
the Betharram Institute. By decree of July 29, 1913, this religious ceased in that office and Dom Mauro Etcheverry, O. S.
B. was named apostolic visitator for the whole Order. The apostolic visitator went to all the Italian houses and, finally, on
November 29, 1913, the Sacred Congregation appointed another provincial government. The apostolic visit was
continuing in Spain and by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of March 14, 1914, Father Mariano Alcalá was removed
from the general government along with the rest of the councilors who accompanied him.
On the same day, Father Inocencio López Santamaría was named vicar general ad nutum Sanctae Sedis while still
continuing in his position as apostolic visitator. In that same year, as apostolic visitator, Father Inocencio López
Santamaría started to visit the communities and Provinces of America. This lasted until September 1916. After the
apostolic visit ended and authorization was given to hold the 1919 General
Chapter, Father Inocencio López Santamaría was actually elected Master General of the Order until 1925.
The 1925 General Chapter elected Juan del Carmelo Garrido Blanco, from the Province of Argentina, as Master
General. In a circular, he presented the program of his government which would be vigilance in observance and in
carrying out the projects prepared by the chapter, projects which would be based on the Constitutions. He governed for
twelve years.
Father Garrido Blanco was followed by Father Alfredo Scotti, named by the Holy See in 1937, when it was
impossible to hold a general chapter due to the Spanish Civil War. Because of the Second World War, Father Scotti could
not hold a general chapter either until May 1950. This chapter was held in Rome, starting on May 5, with 21 members
present and the Cardinal Protector of the Order, Clemente Micara. Father Scotti presented a report on the situation of the
Order in Europe: in Spain, the Civil War had seriously affected the Provinces of Aragon and of Castile in which 27
religious died and various convents were destroyed. In addition to that, the Second World War had also dealt a blow to
Italy.
In their reports, provincials pointed out that the Order was improving in terms of observance as well as in the
religious’ preparation. In Spain, the houses destroyed by the Civil War had been repaired and religious were working
diligently in the new foundations of Puerto Rico and Brazil. The chapter became aware of the need to renew the
Constitutions and Father Scotti was reelected Master General.
In 1956, Father Scotti’s successor was Father Sante Gattuso who was living in Le Roy, New York. However,
because he was sick, he was unable to come to Rome and stayed in North America for two years. In his absence, Father
Eugenio Marianecci acted as vicar general. In a December 25, 1956 circular, the Master General presented the directions
of his government: growth of the Order, new Constitutions and a new see for the general curia. In the absence of authority,
in a decree of May 31,1958, the Sacred Congregation left Father Gattuso as Master General and it entrusted the
government of the Order to the general council ad nutum Sanctae Sedis. Then, the council elected the assistant general,
José Francisco Hinojosa, as vicar general. He governed until May 1959, when Master General Sante Gattuso assumed the
post. The work of Vicar General José Francisco Hinojosa with the general council can be summarized this way: naming a
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commission to write the project of the new Constitutions, acquisition of a house for the general curia in La Magliana
district of Rome, subsequently considered inadequate, and the foundation of the International College of Philosophy (CIF)
in Argentina. Father Hinojosa and his council made all these desires, expressed in general chapters, a reality.
When Father Gattuso reassumed his post, the Sacred Congregation canceled measures of a transitory nature.
Father Gattuso was especially interested in providing a new house for the general curia since in 1924, the historical Saint
Adriano convent had been expropriated by the Italian government due to excavations which were been realized in the
Roman Forum. With the money from this expropriation, a property was bought less than 10 miles from Rome, on Via
Torre Gaia. The new curia see was built on that estate and it was inaugurated on December 14, 1965. In 1986, Master
General Domingo Acquaro transferred the general house of the Order to Via Monte Carmelo in the Aurelian district.
At the end of Father Gattuso’s six-year term, the Chapter General started in Rome on April 26, 1962. During the
chapter, the new schema of the Constitutions, prepared under the direction of the general council, was approved after 31
study sessions.
At election time and after several votes, no candidate reached the constitutional majority, that is to say, half plus
one vote to be elected Master General. Under these circumstances, Cardinal Mícara received a communiqué from the
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious stating that the capitular fathers were to proceed to vote again and each
one was to write three names on the ballots. These were to be sent to the Congregation for Religious, which would have
provided the counting and after considering the results, it would have communicated the name of the Master General of
the Order. With the names proposed by the chapter, the Congregation not only communicated the Master General’s name
but it established the entire government of the Order with the following religious: Bernardo Navarro Allende, Master
General and the assistants general: Sante Gattuso, procurator general, Juan Parra, Luis Acquatías, Antonio Ibarrondo,
Agustín Vega, Antonio Rubino, secretary general. Fathers Parra and Ibarrondo did not accept the position. The Sacred
Congregation named two new assistants: Fathers Pablo Mateo Conde and Eleuterio Alarcón Bejarano. In addition, the
Sacred Congregation appointed Father Sante Gattuso as vicar general of the Order.
!Reform of the Constitutions
! At that time, one of the concerns of the general governments of the Order was the reform of the Constitutions.
After the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law (1917), the Roman Constitutions began to be questioned. This
crisis developed slowly and it was perceived in the major superiors’ opinions and in the general chapters after 1919. This
chapter, like the 1923 chapter, declared it wanted to preserve integrally the texts of the Roman Constitutions in all that was
not to be corrected or amended because of the provisions of the
Code and of the general chapters.
The 1931 General Chapter requested the preparation of a compendium of the Constitutions for novices and lay
brothers. Two years later, Father José León Pérez Castro translated them from Latin into Spanish. They were published in
1933, under the title of Compendio de las Constituciones de la Real y Militar Orden de los Redentores de la
Bienaventurada Virgen María de la Merced. In addition, the chapter gave the general curia power to name a commission
to adapt the Constitutions to the new Code of Canon Law and to make the corrections and opportune additions according
to the new ecclesiastical legislation. In 1948, Father Scotti asked Father Luis Acquatías to write a project of new
Constitutions. The 1950 General Chapter rejected the proposed project and asked for another one to be prepared. The new
general government prepared that text according to the indications of the chapter which sent the text to the provinces a
few months before the 1956 General Chapter. Since the provinces did not have time to examine it, the chapter entrusted
the task of reforming the Constitutions to the new general government by appointing a commission of three religious.
When he was Master General, in December 1956, Father Sante Gattuso sent a circular to the Order dealing with
the topic of the new Constitutions. He stated that a commission to examine the new text of the Constitutions should be
named and make the necessary modifications according to the provisions of the Holy See and the Code of Canon Law. On
June 25, 1958, Father José Hinojosa named the commission to write the new Constitutions and convoked it for September.
This commission was constituted by the following fathers: Ramón Iribarne, Fernando López and Carlos Oviedo Cavada.
Under curial direction, the commission started its task on October 3, 1958. It submitted its work on April 3, 1959. Upon
examination of the project, the 1962 General Chapter approved it asking for the revision of a few points.
Appointed Master General, on November 3, 1962, Father Bernardo Navarro assigned a commission made up of
Fathers Sante Gattuso, Eleuterio Alarcón and Antonio Rubino to revise the new Constitutions project. The commission’s
task was to revise and reorganize the text according to the chapter’s considerations. In a letter of December 23, 1966,
addressed to the Master General, the Sacred Congregation authorized the observance of these Constitutions “until the next
special chapter general.” The Constitutions were published in 1967, and they were valid ad tempus.
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!!
5. APOSTOLIC ACTIVITIES OF THE ORDER
!!
Redemptive Mission
! In the twentieth century, the Order has been concerned with exercising apostolic activities more in harmony with
its charism and also imparting it in parish ministry which had increased considerably .
In a circular, Vicar General Inocencio López Santamaría summarized what the Order was doing: “colleges with
abundant fruits, the poor and the uneducated are evangelized. Religious are working in jails and visiting prisoners.
Children are taught in catechesis everywhere. They look after abandoned children.”
At the 1950 General Chapter, a debate on the present significance of the fourth vow was initiated. The Master
General exhorted some religious to write about this important theme.
On May 6, 1951, Father Scotti sent a letter to the religious of the Order inviting them to an in-depth and serious
study of the vital problems of the Order and, in the first place, about the obligation, outreach and achievement of the
fourth vow at the present time. He added: “we dare to submit prison ministry to your study as the specific substance of the
exercise of the fourth vow in our own day.”
On August 31, 1960, in a letter to the whole Order, Father Sante Gattuso expressed some thoughts about the
fourth vow: “especially in view of the strange and certainly painful fact that it [the fourth vow] appears to some as a relic
which has no reason to exist in our time and should therefore be eliminated or have its activity reduced to determined
fields.” The Master General then added: “the fourth vow is not to be touched, our Father did not limit his redemptive
activity and that of his sons to the rescue of Christian captives. Instead, he extended it to all the activities closely related to
the fourth vow and necessary to a more accurate and complete observance of the same.”
Because of these concerns manifested by the Fathers General, the Order follows the redemptive instinct and it
strives to instill a Mercedarian focus to all its apostolic activities, seeking to fulfill its fourth vow in a way adapted to the
here and now.
On April 4, 1918, on the occasion of the Centennial of the foundation of the Order, Benedict XV addressed a letter
to Vicar General Inocencio López where in reference to Father Gilabert, he stated that “no work of charity was ever
foreign to the Order.” After recalling his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin of Mercy, he returned to captivity and stated:
“times have changed but today there is a worse type of captivity, servitus animarum, errors and sects which are invasive.”
In a letter from Secretary of State Domenico Tardini, on September 23, 1960, Pope John XXIII wrote: “The Order inherits
a vast and holy mission and it continues today in its task in good spirits and a generous involvement.” And quoting
Benedict XV, the pope reaffirmed: “today’s slavery is greater and worse than the slavery of seven centuries ago.”
In 1934, following Father Valenzuela’s approach, Father Manuel Sancho maintained that the goal of the fourth
vow was aimed at saving souls, its primordial purpose. The redemption of the body is only the means for the redemption
and salvation of souls. He compared the redemption of captives with the charitable work in which the Order is engaged
today. He summarized his thought saying: the essence of the vow remains and this is why the Order continues.
In the second half of the century, the Mercedarian fourth vow started to be viewed in a different light and
insightful investigations appeared on the subject.
In 1951, Father Juan B. Herrada Armijo published a study entitled El cuarto voto de redención en la Orden de la
Merced. The author intended “to give a broad sketch of the historical evolution of the fourth vow and to probe its nature in
order to see its theological outreach, the main points proposed and the juridical and moral conclusions which derive from
it.”
Others also contributed: Bienvenido Lahoz, El voto de sangre y el marianismo mercedario (1952); Carlos Oviedo,
Materia del voto de redención (1955); Mario Tallei, Puntos de vista sobre nuestro cuarto voto de redención (1956);
Jerónimo López, En torno al cuarto voto mercedario (1956); Denise Aimé-Azam, Le quatrième voeu: Notre Dame de la
Merci et les captifs (Paris-Geneva, 1958); Antonio Rubino, L’Ordine della Mercede e il voto di redenzione (1961);
Joaquín Millán, El voto mercedario de dar la vida por los cristianos cautivos (1975); Eleuterio Alarcón Bejarano, La
profesión religiosa en la Orden de la Merced. Estudio histórico-jurídico sobre la profesión y el fin particular de la Merced
(1975); Pio Pablo Donnelly, Cautivos cristianos para la Orden de la Merced (1978).
In search of how to fulfill the fourth vow of redemption in their contemporary praxis, Mercedarians have come up
with a series of initiatives oriented to doing works to benefit others.
In intimate communion with the spirit of the fourth vow, in 1947, Father Eugenio Marianecci of the Roman
Province founded The Pious Union of Prayers to the Blessed Virgin of Mercy for Those Who Suffer because of their faith
under communist régimes. After the encyclical of Pius XII, Ingruentium malorum of 1951, this initiative was canonically
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approved by the Rome Vicariate and blessed by the Holy Father. Father Alfredo Scotti expanded this work to the entire
Order in a letter of November 13, 1952.
In 1963, Father Pío Pablo Donnelly started a movement in Rome for the Church of Silence arousing great
enthusiasm in the Order which he visited with that purpose in mind. This movement was the origin of the institution of the
International Crusade of Mercedarian Charity in 1964, by Master General Bernardo Navarro.
These two experiences about the redemptive mission have the following in common: they emerge from the signs
of the times which coincide with the concern of the religious to channel the vital forces of the Order; both have as their
primary goal praying for Christian captives imprisoned in situations contrary to the Gospel. The Order responded
enthusiastically to these initiatives.
On the other hand, all provinces manifested their concern to determine and to do some social work of human
promotion which would better express the redemptive charism of the Order in harmony with the needs of the places where
religious are ministering.
Teaching Ministry
The teaching ministry, in which the Order had been engaged for a long time, was one of the values incorporated in
the Roman Constitutions.
The 1919 General Chapter contained two resolutions which, in time, were going to give fruits in some provinces.
One states: “The chapter wants our students, who are inclined to teaching, to study theoretical and practical pedagogy for
at least one year.” The other demands that “schools to educate the poor be opened in every convent.” This preoccupation
springs from the duty to live the redemptive spirit.
!Missions
! The Roman Constitutions showed special concern for missionary activity which the Order exercised effectively,
especially in America. Subsequent general chapters insisted on developing this apostolate more intensely.
In 1920, Father Inocencio López Santamaría accepted for the Order the Prelature de Bom Jesus de Piauí and he
proposed Father Pascual Miguel, the provincial of Mexico, to the Holy See. This religious was a great apostle and a selfsacrificing pastor of his diocese. He knew how to face poverty, climatic adversities and the great shortage of priests for
Piauí which was also poor spiritually.
Master General Juan del Carmelo Garrido proposed Father Ramón Garrido as prelate of Piauí. Appointed titular
bishop of Podalia, he took over the prelature on October 2, 1927. However, the climate affected his health and he had to
resign in 1928.
The diocese was without a bishop for almost three years. Pius XI designated the former Master General of the
Order, Inocencio López Santamaría, as titular and prelate of Bom Jesus del Piauí. He was consecrated bishop on August
31, 1930, in the church of the Poio convent. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro on January 5, 1931, and he got to his destination
four months later. The new prelate worked hard and in a spirit of sacrifice: pastorally, he was concerned about forming
priests and he collaborated in the foundation of the Mercedarian Missionary Sisters of Brazil. In 1950, he asked the
chapter, gathered in Rome, “for the mission to be given in perpetuum to a province.” The chapter decided to entrust it to
the Province of Castile.
On December 17, 1961, the Holy Father, John XXIII, divided the mission and created the Prelature Mission of
San Ramón, South East of Piauí. Mercedarian Amadeo González Ferreiros became its first bishop.
In the twentieth century, interior missions were carried out by the provinces. Thus, they were fulfilling the precept
of the Constitutions. By the year 1923, the Province of Quito had initiated the missions of Manabí, an area which at the
time had about 1,500 square miles and 70,000 people. In this vast territory, Mercedarians founded missionary parishes in:
Manabí, Jipijapa, Sucre, Paján and Puerto López. They were served by Ecuadoran missionaries and they had a good social
projection toward the community.
!Prison Ministry
! In the course of the century, some religious developed a prison ministry especially, in the Provinces of America.
They were chaplains who provided religious assistance in terms of Sunday Masses and missions every once in a while.
The Third Order collaborated generously in this apostolate inside and outside penal enclosures.
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Through the commission of the apostolate, the 1950 General Chapter recommended that the main work of our
religious should be: “Evangelizing the poor, bringing consolation to people overwhelmed by spiritual problems, visiting
those in prison, assisting the poor living in the cities’ outskirts because Our Lord came to seek sinners and the needy.”
In the Province of Aragon, Father Bienvenido Lahoz was the charismatic initiator of prison ministry as a
redemptive service to the marginalized, in harmony with the spirit of the Order of Mercy. For 20 years, from 1939 to
1959, he served the prisoners of the model jail of Barcelona as a first-rate chaplain. In 1941, in Barcelona, he founded the
Pía Unión Redemptive Work of Our Lady of Mercy for Prisoners and in 1945, he created the magazine Mercedarian Work,
a publication of the Pía Unión and at the time, the only journal in Spain dedicated to prison ministry. Following Father
Lahoz’ footsteps and example, from 1939 to 1965, the following fathers were prison chaplains: Angel Millán and
Francisco Reñé in Barcelona; Manuel Gargallo and Ignacio Ibarlucea in Venezuela. In Palma de Majorca, the Province of
Aragon founded the Pía Unión Redemptive Work of Our Lady of Mercy for Prisoners.
In Italy since 1934, the Rehabilitation Center for Former Prisoners was operating in Naples. It lasted until the
end of the Second World War when a bomb destroyed it. After the war, in that province, Father Ovidio Serafini promoted
a movement of opinion and social action for the needy with the support of Provincial Domenico Maldarizzi. In 1950, the
Roman Province initiated assistance for prisoners’ children in San Felice Circeo. In Florence, as of 1956, he also took over
the direction of the Rehabilitation Center for people released from jail, called O.A.S.I., (Opera Asistenza Scarcerati
Italiani). From Florence, it expanded to Padua. Over the years, this type of social work spread to other parts of Italy.
In 1952, Father Ramón Coo Baeza was working as chaplain in the Santiago (Chile) Penitentiary with the help of
the Third Order. In 1953, he founded the Saint Peter Armengol Home dedicated to rehabilitate former delinquent youths.
In 1958, Father Coo, Chaplain General of Chilean Jails, organized the first Latin American Congress of Penitentiary
Studies. The Congress took place in Santiago. Mercedarian delegates from Argentina, Venezuela and Chile attended. In
1958, Father Coo also founded the Latin American Penitentiary Movement.
In 1962, the Mercedarians of the Province of Aragon held their First General Assembly of Chaplains of
Venezuelan Prisons in Caracas. Father Guillermo Ripoll, Chaplain General of Venezuelan Jails organized the assembly.
The movement to help prisoners continued to develop in the Order. The Province of Aragon even made helping prisoners
its prioritized option and “primordial apostolate,” according to its Statutes.
!!
6. RELIGIOUS FORMATION AND
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
!!
Religious Formation
! Formation was carried out by following the mandates given in the Constitutions for the stages of postulancy,
novitiate and study years. It included all that might contribute to the formation of religious in various aspects of their
human, spiritual and intellectual life.
Superiors have always had a special concern about matters dealing with ecclesiastical studies. In addition to
courses in philosophy, theology, Church history, canon law, Sacred Scripture and liturgy, the 1931 General Chapter
required students to take a complete course in Mariology and, for at least a year, a course on the history of the Order. The
same chapter expressed the need to build an international college for the formation of students in piety and humanities.
From then on, interest for the better formation of young religious gained greater momentum among provincials
who saw the urgency to provide the infrastructure needed, with adequate pedagogical elements. Thus, all the provinces
constructed modern buildings with facilities like lecture halls, a chapel, a library which had to have all the books
necessary for a complete cultural formation. At first, the whole program of priestly formation was taking place in these
centers. However, it soon became evident that students at the philosophy and theology stages should attend Pontifical
Universities.
Through its study Commission, the 1950 Chapter recommended to: “a) adopt official programs in elementary and
secondary education; b) add studying the classics prior to philosophy; c) attend Pontifical Universities from time to time
and d) send young priests to public universities.”
Ever since Saint Adriano College came to an end, the Order always aspired to have an international college where
students could go for their religious and intellectual formation.
To satisfy these aspirations, in part, on December 15, 1958, together with his council, the vicar general of the
Order, José Francisco Hinojosa, decided to establish the International College of Philosophy at the Leo XIII College
which served as the formation house of the Province of Argentina in Córdoba. For the time, students from the Provinces of
Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina were to attend. There were great hopes for this first experience in a common
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!
and shared endeavor. But, unfortunately, the new general government deemed it advisable to suppress the college.
Students had to return to their respective countries.
Another new and valuable instrument for the formation of religious of the Order was the Ratio institutionis et
studiorum. The apostolic constitution, Sedes sapientiae, of May 31, 1956, was an extremely valuable element which Pope
Pius XII, in his wisdom, handed over to religious families. It served the Order of Mercy basically to orient the elaboration
of its norms in which principles for the formation and study regimen of religious in formation are indicated.
The Ratio is an authentic legislation in matters of formation and studies. At the same time, it serves as an
instrument of interior renewal. It encompasses all the formation stages from postulancy to the third probation and all
religious, clerical and apostolic study plans. The first five years in the priesthood end with a second novitiate which has
been conceived as a short and intensive seminar lasting at least three months.
On May 24, 1960, the Sacred Congregation of Religious approved the Ratio cum laude, ad experimentum.
!!
!!
Cultural Development
! In keeping with a constant tradition, the Order has always been interested in promoting the specialization of its
religious already ordained to the priesthood in various branches of knowledge and, in particular, in sacred sciences. This is
why religious have attended universities or church or civil research institutes in their own country or abroad.
These religious, who have been especially trained, have mostly dedicated themselves to teaching in universities
where they occupy various chairs. There they have distinguished themselves and they have shown a path in promoting
culture. Although it goes back a long way, it should be emphasized that from the second third of this century on, there
have been many Mercedarian professors at the University of Salamanca where they have held prominent positions.
Distinguished professors have made its lecture halls famous and they continue to do so to this day.
Many of these educators and other religious devoted themselves to research and reflection and their works have
been published. We only mention a few of them, Martín Ortúzar, a Salamanca professor, expounded his thinking,
following Saint Thomas, in several publications: El ser y la acción en la dimensión humana (Madrid, 1961), Prenotandos
del conocimiento natural de Dios (Madrid, 1962) and countless articles, mostly published in the journal Estudios.
Bienvenido Lahoz cultivated theology and philosophy in depth and, among other things, he authored: Hacia un nuevo
orden racional (Madrid, 1951-1952), La actividad divina ad intra (Madrid, 1952-1953) and El destino humano y el
realismo introspectivo (Madrid, 1963). Vicente Muñoz, a Salamanca educator, with further training at European and
American universities, consecrated himself mostly to the study of logic for which he gained well-deserved international
prestige. He wrote Lógica matemática y lógica filosófica (Madrid, 1961), De la axiomática a los sistemas formales
(Madrid, 1961), La lógica nominalista en Salamanca (Madrid, 1964). We should note his care in promoting Mercedarian
theological and philosophical thinking as in the study of their cultural institutions in many historical works: Obra
teológica del Padre Jerónimo Pérez (Madrid, 1962) and La obra lógica de Pedro de la Serna (Madrid, 1966).
Other professors taught at public universities: Victor M. Barriga taught Latin and paleography at the Arequipa
National University; Manuel Orellano taught philosophy at the Córdoba University; Eleuterio Alarcón taught law and
Antonio Neira taught sociology at the Santa María University of Arequipa. Monsignor Carlos Oviedo Cavana, Dean of the
Theology School and law professor and Monsignor Juan B. Herrada Armijo, theology professor had chairs at the Catholic
University of Chile where they were formed. Brother Serapio Flaminio Ruiz, a professor at the Saint Peter Nolasco
College of Santiago, was an eminent entomologist who published the fruit of his investigations in various national and
foreign scientific journals.
Mercedarians have made important contributions in the cultural development of the Order, especially in the field
of theology. Many of them expertly participated in Mariological Congresses held in Rome in 1950 and 1954 in honor of
the Immaculate Conception. There they explained their thinking about the privileges of the Virgin Mary in erudite works
which constitute volume VII of Alma socia Christi and the two volumes of La Inmaculada y la Merced.
Recently, the Mercedarians of Castile have organized a Congress in which Spanish religious have presented works
on the Mercedarian presence in America. In Santiago (Chile), from November 6 to November 9, the Historical Institute of
the Order held the First Mercedarian International Congress on The Mercedarians in America. In addition to the members
of the Institute and religious, several prestigious intellectuals and lay researchers from Latin American universities also
participated.
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Since the end of the last century, the Order has worked to promote several periodical publications. The bestknown are the following: Revista mercedaria and Dios y Patria in Argentina; Los hijos de María (1904) and Senderos in
Chile; Alborada mercedaria (1918) in Arequipa and Lumen in Lima; La Merced in Ecuador and Vida terciaria in Mexico.
In Italy, L’Eco di Bonaria has been published since 1908 and Redenzione started in 1947. This journal dealt with
religious themes related to the defense the faith for 10 years and La Mercede began to be published in 1954. In Spain,
Obra mercedaria and San Ramón y su santuario, edited by the Province of Aragon, were started. The Province of Castile
published La Merced and since 1945, Estudios, a journal devoted to contemporary culture themes.
!Historical Studies
! The Order always had religious dedicated to history. They are the ones who preserved and transmitted to new
generations the vast Mercedarian documentary heritage which is today a reliable source of the most recent studies of the
Order’s history. Perhaps official motivation and organization were lacking since each historian was prompted by his
vocation and love for the Order.
In this century, there has been growing interest to know Mercedarian history. Motivated by the celebrations of the
seventh centennial of the foundation of the Order, and starting from it, there emerged a group of scholars and investigators
involved in searching, analyzing and publishing sources for the Order’s history.
The origins of the Order had to be studied in their original and authentic sources. Father Faustino Gazulla was a
distinguished researcher who, after lengthy investigations, published La Orden de nuestra Señora de la Merced. Estudios
histórico-críticos (1934), La redención de cautivos en Africa (1934), Refutación de un libro titulado “San Raimundo
Peñafort fundador de la Orden de la Merced” (1920). The Manual de historia de la Orden de nuestra Señora de la
Merced, by Father Guillermo Vázquez Núñez, (1931) was very important. Unfortunately, the second volume was almost
integrally lost on the presses during the Spanish Civil War. This author also wrote several historical monographs on people
or events in the Order.
Here we should also mention Father Ramón Serratosa Queralt (+1961) as promoter of contemporary critical
historiography in the Provinces of Aragon and Castile. Fathers Gazulla and Vázquez received guidelines and help from his
works, some published and others unpublished.
Concerning Mercedarian history in America, especially at first, Father Peter Nolasco Pérez Rodríguez’ work is
outstanding. As a result of his research in the Archive of the Indies, he published Religiosos de la Orden de la Merced que
pasaron a América (1924) and Historia de las misiones mercedarias en América (1966) besides other Mercedarian
historical works. Father Policarpo Gazulla Galve edited Los primeros mercedarios en Chile in 1918. On the other hand,
Father Víctor M. Barriga, a distinguished researcher, published Los mercedarios en el Perú en el siglo XVI (1931-1954) in
five volumes and Mercedarios ilustres en el Perú (1943-1949) in two volumes as well as many other historical works.
Father Joel Leónidas Monroy also published El convento de la Merced de Quito (1935-1943) in three volumes and other
works on Mercedarian history in Ecuador. In Argentina, Father Bernardino Toledo published the Historia de la provincia
de Santa Bárbara de Tucumán, 1594-1918 (1919-1921) in three volumes. Eudoxio Palacio and José Brunet were diligent
researchers and promoters of Argentine Mercedarian history.
In every province, the celebration of the seventh Centennial of the foundation of the Order was the occasion to
publish commemorative books, monographs and all kinds of articles dealing with Mercedarian history, spirituality and
hagiography. The publications on the occasion of the canonical crowning of the images of the Virgin of Mercy in different
countries were of a similar nature.
Also worthy of mention is the Bibliografía mercedaria (1963-1968) in three volumes which Father Gumersindo
Placer submitted for printing. In this text, we find works written by Mercedarians or works written by other authors on the
Order.
The Bulario Mercedario del siglo XIX is another valuable help for the history of the Order. It was published in
Santiago (Chile) in 1974 by Mercedarian Archbishop, Carlos Oviedo Cavada, now Cardinal of the Church.
The liturgical-hagiographical theme has been the object of studies in diverse publications. Illustrious writers have
shown constant interest in the lives of Mercedarian saints. On the devotional theme, the most representative authors are
Fathers Francisco Sulis, Serapio González Gallego, Pedro Liñan de Ariza, Serapio María Niubó Puig, Heraclio Pérez
Mujica, Carlos Reyes, Emilio Silva Castro, José María Romo, Miguel Luis Ríos Meza and Víctor Barrios Hidalgo.
Father Amerio Sancho Blanco wrote the Menologium Ordinis Beatae Mariae Virginis de Mercede redemptionis
captivorum (1925) where, as an example for future generations, he recorded the memory of holy men and women who
were outstanding by their faith and sanctity.
!!
7.
!
EXPANSION OF THE ORDER AND NEW TRIALS
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!
!New Foundations and Situation of the Order
! The Tucumán Province of Argentina expanded the Order to Uruguay: on January 19, 1896, it established a
convent, a church and later on a college in Montevideo.
The Province of Castile expanded in Brazil in 1920, and it set up eight houses on that vast territory. In 1927, the
Province of Aragon established a Mercedarian presence in Puerto Rico. In 1929, this foundation went to the Province of
Castile which expanded on the island with seven houses.
After an attempt to become established in Canada, with religious who left Mexico, in 1921, the Roman Province
founded the first North American Mercedarian residence in Youngstown (Ohio) and then religious went to Cleveland in
the United States where they now have five houses.
After eighty years of Mercedarian absence on Venezuela, in 1955, the Province of Aragon came back again and
there are now five houses.
In 1962, after 133 years of forced absence, the same province went back to Guatemala. From the beginning,
religious took care of the Guatemala Central Penitentiary.
The postwar years witnessed an increase in personnel in the Order and provinces founded several houses in their
respective nations.
The vice-province of Our Lady of Buenos Aires was formed in Argentina with the convents of Mendoza, Maipú
and Buenos Aires in 1931, under Father Garrido’s government.
In 1953, at the request of the procurator general of the Order, Jaime Monzón, the Sacred Congregation of
Religious eliminated all the vice-provinces by incorporating them in the respective provinces.
According to a report published in the Bulletin of the Order, in 1954, there were eight provinces: 604 postulants,
61 novices, 184 professed of simple vows, 82 professed of solemn vows, 16 lay novices, 37 lay professed of simple vows,
82 lay professed of solemn vows, 440 priests, 45 parishes, 15 secondary schools and 45 schools.
At the end of the Council in 1965, the Order was established in 16 nations with 113 houses. Its religious personnel
was as follows: 653 postulants, 65 novices, 223 professed of simple vows, 132 lay professed of solemn vows and 596
priests.
!!
Religious Persecution in Mexico
! From 1911 until 1932, there was no peace and religious life became impossible in Mexico. The Mexican
revolution stood out by its implacable and bloodthirsty nature, its looting and death. At the time, there were clerics who, if
not expelled, were hanged, shot or ‘disappeared.’ Even thousands of Mexican people were assassinated: it was an
authentic situation of martyrdom in Mexico.
By 1920, the houses of Lagos de Morelia, Celaya and Querétaro had already been lost. Convents were sacked and
transformed into schools, barracks and stables and archives were set on fire. Many other convents also disappeared in the
same way. Given the situation of insecurity and threat, Father Alfredo Scotti had to hide and he even changed his name to
Antonio Sánchez.
Because of the situation in the country, in 1921, the Master General asked Father Scotti to leave Mexico for
Toronto. But Father Scotti chose to stay in Mexico and he was appointed vicar provincial.
There were missions and bishops were grateful to the Mercedarians for these services. Catechesis was interesting.
In fact, in Belén of Mexico City alone, under Father Scotti’s leadership, more than 1,000 children were attending. In 1921,
the government began distributing textbooks in schools. Prepared by the Public Education Secretariat, these books were
intended to stir up hatred of religion among children at a very early age.
Faced with the lack of religious, in April 1923, as provincial, Father Scotti asked Rome for the opening of a Texas
novitiate. At the same time, he made it known that the Province of Mexico was ready to pay formators who would be sent
there. In 1933, there were 13 students, most of whom had already studied at other seminaries. Among them were Fathers
Fernando L. Díaz, Leopoldo Armengol, Agustín Gómez and Félix Téllez. Their leaders were: Fathers Alfredo Scotti,
Adolfo Rodríguez, Nicolás Paracuellos, José Gómez, Miguel Hortas, José Esparza, Ruperto Luna and Enrique García.
When it became possible to live more at peace and there was more respect for the people, a religious longing to
experience the need to be close to God started to be felt: “the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” Vocations started
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to flourish almost spontaneously in Christian families. Before this vital urgency, the province opened a novitiate in Puebla
in 1931, when Father Scotti was provincial.
In 1937, Father Adolfo Rodríguez was named provincial and he governed until 1949. He admitted a large group of
young men to the novitiate. In 1942, with the cooperation of Fathers Fernando L. Díaz and Leopoldo Armengol Aburto, he
opened a center for postulants in Toluca.
Father Fernando L. Díaz was the last provincial appointed from Rome. He governed from 1949 until 1965.
!The Spanish Civil War
! A period of instability started in Spain in 1930. Civil war was brewing due to a series of mistakes which polarized
the most important political forces into two antagonistic factions. The 1931 electoral triumph of the republicans
inaugurated the republic in Spain, thereby eliminating the former Spanish régime. A collusion of liberals, socialists,
Marxists and masons imposed the 1931 Constitution which was nothing less than a frontal attack against the Church and
religious orders.
The General Chapter was held in Rome in May of that year. The provincials of Spain, Fathers Tomás Tajadura,
Alberto Barros and Martín Ortúzar attended. They reported about the grave situation, the difficulties
they were experiencing and their intention to keep going in spite of the dangers which were looming. The whole chapter
expressed fraternal solidarity for Spanish religious. At the same time, in moving words, they offered their broadest,
generous and possible cooperation and, if it should be necessary, the convents of the entire Order.
Unfortunately, adversity did not stop there. In 1936, civil war broke out and the Church paid an enormous tribute
to these unleashed forces of evil. Church institutions, temples, convents and colleges were suppressed and other properties
were expropriated, plundered and destroyed. Yet, the greatest sacrifice of the Spanish church was the violent deaths of
hundreds of faithful, seminarians, religious and priests.
The Mercedarian Order had its share of religious killed in odium fidei. In the Province of Castile, 18 friars, wellknown for their virtues, culture and governing skills, gave their lives out of fidelity to God, the Church and the Order.
With 19 religious, equally virtuous and learned, who were assassinated during this persecution, the Province of Aragon
reopened the pages of its old and dense martyrology in this century.
!!
8.
!
FRUITS OF SANCTITY
Venerable José León Torres. He was born on March 19, 1849, in Lubaya, a town of the Province of Córdoba in
Argentina. His parents were Gregorio Torres and Margarita Rivero, a modest and virtuous Christian family. He entered the
Order of Mercy in 1863, at the convent of the city of Córdoba. He received the habit on October 30 and began his
novitiate. He took his temporary vows on November 1, 1868, and his solemn vows on June 8, 1871. He was ordained a
priest on April 27, 1875. When he was still very young, he started to hold responsible positions in his province: novice
master, vicar provincial, provincial, vicar general and visitator general. Aware of his excellent qualities, Master General
Peter Armengol Valenzuela appointed him provincial, a post he held for four terms. During his government, he was
always concerned about expanding the Order; he recovered the former convent of Santiago del Estero and worked very
hard to reopen the Tucumán convent; he set up new foundations in Buenos Aires and Montevideo; he promoted communal
life by his steadfast example; he developed cultural life by starting the publication of the Revista Mercedaria in Córdoba;
he visited convents always providing wise norms for religious life and saintly advice.
Father Torres distinguished himself by his spirit of observance, humility, a gift for organization, love for the
Order, devotion to the Eucharist and to Mary of Mercy. In 1887, he founded the Congregation of the Mercedarian Sisters
of the Child Jesus in Córdoba. He gave them Constitutions which he himself had written and he always had special
spiritual attention for the sisters. In 1893, he went to Rome to participate in the General Congregation which approved the
Constitutions of the Order. He took advantage of his trip to Europe to go to venerate the Holy Land. Recognizing his
culture and his profound knowledge, in 1889, the Master General honored him with the academic titles of assistant
professor in philosophy and theology and master in theology. He died piously in his city on December 15, 1930.
His mortal remains, requested by his spiritual daughters, are in the church of the motherhouse of the Mercedarian
Sisters of the Child Jesus in upper Córdoba. The diocesan beatification process was initiated in 1957, and it concluded in
1959. His cause was taken to Rome where the apostolic process began in 1973 and concluded on March 26, 1994 with the
declaration of heroic virtues.
!
Antonino Pisano. He was born on March 19, 1907, in Cagliari, Sardinia. He entered the Order as a postulant in
1920. But he had to leave the convent due to an illness. He was tenacious and persevering and as soon as his health
improved, he rejoined the monastery and started his novitiate on March 5, 1922. He made his profession of simple vows
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!
on December 8, 1923. He applied himself diligently and seriously to priestly studies but he devoted himself even more to
acquiring religious virtues, showing genuine love for God and for others by heroically offering his young life, at age 19, in
reparation for the sins of humankind and for the conversions of all unbelievers, heretics and sinners. The Lord accepted
Fray Antonino’s oblation: his way of the cross started in May 1926. Although there were justified hopes of healing, a
pulmonary illness ended his life on August 6, 1927. He is buried in the Bonaria sanctuary of the Sardinian capital and
many people affirm they have received graces from the Lord through the intercession of Fray Antonino. After the first
diocesan stage, the process of this servant of God was initiated in Rome.
!
Felice Migliore. This saintly religious was born in Serra di Falco (Caltanissetta, Sicily) on November 26, 1819.
He entered the discalced Mercedarian convent of San Cataldo when he was 17. He was ordained a priest in 1845. Devoted
to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Virgin of Mercy and charitable with the poor, he was esteemed and admired by the
faithful whom he served with exemplary diligence. Wherever he went to exercise his ministry, his renown as an observant
and pious religious was growing, especially when people attributed blessings and miracles to him. Because of this, he was
called to Rome and forbidden to return to Messina. He lived in the convents of Saint Adriano and Nemi and his fame as a
saint grew as he obtained extraordinary graces from the Lord. Renowned as a saint, he died in Rome on August 7, 1886.
In the book of the deceased of Saint Adriano Convent, we can read: “This father was an extraordinary man and he aroused
so much enthusiasm in Sicily that it is impossible to have an idea of the great esteem in which he was held, not only by
people but also by eminent members of the Church… He lived peacefully and always happy in our midst and he died with
the same calm, peace and serenity.”
!
Teresa de Jesús Bacq. Elizabeth Bacq was born in Paris on September 16, 1825. She was born and raised as a
Lutheran. When she was 14, she converted to Catholicism and was baptized on May 31, 1839. On that day, she entrusted
her purity in a vow to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Notre Dame. She wanted to become a religious. She tried in three
different congregations. Not satisfied, she went to the bishop of Nancy, Charles Martial A. Lavigerie, who was her
spiritual guide and who encouraged her to found a religious institute. With the name of Ladies of Mary, she formed a
community in Nancy. A year later, on December 8, 1865, it became the Sisters of the Assumption of Our Lady. After
several years of hard work and great suffering, upon Cardinal Lavigerie’s advice, Teresa opted for the Order of Mercy
which she found similar by its spirit of charity and devotion to Mary. She requested incorporation in the Order and Father
Valenzuela admitted the sisters on April 4, 1887, under the name of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Teresa died in Paris
where she had gone to seek help for her institute. She died alone in a poor hospital room and far from her daughters on
June 2, 1896. Her life, filled with her love for God, Mary and the poor, was marked by setbacks, a lack of understanding,
suffering and great hardship. In all of that, Teresa saw God’s will. Living in union with God, she loved the cross and
always accepted sacrifices. Her indomitable hope and her desire to save souls sustained her. The diocesan beatification
process, begun in Rome, was concluded on June 30, 1994.
!
Venerable Margarita María López de Maturana. She was born in Bilbao on June 25, 1884. She was educated at
the Mercedarian college of Berriz where her religious vocation was born. On July 25, 1903, she entered the Mercedarian
monastery to consecrate herself entirely to God as a cloistered nun. She received the habit on August 10 of that year and
changed her baptismal name, Pilar. She made her profession on the feast of the Assumption of the following year. During
her first years of religious life, she was actively involved in the college of her community as a teacher and study prefect.
Father Manuel Sancho Aguilar was her spiritual director and he guided her to the missions. Happy and open by nature, her
pedagogical work was the means God chose to plant the seed of a missionary vocation in her spirit. Under Mother
Margarita’s direction, initiative and indefatigable work, the Berriz college became a bustling missionary center. The
association of former students Missionary Mercedarian Youth was born on March 19, 1920. The missionary enthusiasm
quickly crossed the threshold of the monastery to expand throughout the country with Mother Margarita continuing to be
the soul of this new life.
From then on, events happened with miraculous speed. Father Inocencio López Santamaría, the Master General of
the Order, visited Berriz. Mother Margarita took advantage of that opportunity to present her desire to serve the Church as
an active missionary. Assuming this longing made in the name of all the sisters, the Master General in Rome became
interested in the project and Pope Pius XI blessed this wish. The old Mercedarian monastery became a very active
missionary center and the head of a new institute. In 1926, the first expedition of missionary sisters left for Wuhu, China.
Mother Margarita was elected superior in 1927. There were other foundations on the Caroline and Marshall Islands and in
Japan. On May 23, 1930, Rome approved the new religious institute of the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz. Margarita
was the first superior general. She traveled a great deal on two occasions, especially in the Orient, with the sole desire to
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extend Christ’s Reign to the ends of the earth. She went to Rome to speak of the missions personally with the pope. Then
she started her final journey on July 23, 1934. Her canonization process has been in Rome since 1961. Her heroic virtues
were recognized by the decree of March 16, 1987.
!
Luisa de la Torre Rojas. She was born on June 21, 1819, in San Pedro de Humay in the Province of Pisco (Peru).
She was a Mercedarian tertiary. She was renowned for her inexhaustible charity: she fed all the poor who came to her.
From a little pot, she used to draw food which miraculously never ran out. She is affectionately known as the beatita de
Humay for her virtues. She died renowned as a saint, on November 21, 1869. Since 1946, her beatification process
follows its course in Rome.
!
Spanish Martyrs. As Pope Pius XI said in September 1936, all those who were assassinated during the Spanish
Civil War “suffered real martyrdom in all the sacred and glorious sense of the term, to the sacrifice of innocent lives, of
esteemed elderly and of young people in the very prime of their lives.” During the first days of the war, especially when
religious persecution was at its worst, thirty-seven Mercedarian religious gave their lives for Christ. Nineteen of them
belonged to the Province of Aragon and eighteen to the Province of Castile.
Heading the list of Aragonese martyrs was Father Mariano Alcalá Pérez. Born on May 11, 1867, he was shot to
death on September 15, 1936.
The other eighteen religious who faced violent death are the following:
Tomás Carbonel Miquel, Mariano Pina Turón, Francisco Gargallo Gascón, José Reñé Prenafeta, Manuel Sancho
Aguilar, Tomás Campo Marín, Francisco Llagostera Bonet, Serapio Sanz Iranzo, Enrique Morante Chic, Jesús Eduardo
Massanet Flaquer, Amancio Marín Mínguez, Lorenzo Moreno Nicolás, Pedro Esteban Hernández, Antonio Lahoz Gan,
José Trallero Lou, Jaime Codina Casellas, Antonio González Penín and Francisco Mitjá Mitjá.
An ecclesiastical diocesan tribunal was formed on May 31, 1957, in Lérida, to establish the martyrdom of these
religious. After this stage, the process went to the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome on November 25, 1962,
requesting the opening of the process. The cause is now following its course in Rome.
Of the eighteen religious from the Province of Castile who were assassinated during the persecution, nine
belonged to the Buena Dicha community (Madrid), three to the one of San Pedro (Madrid) and one to San Sebastián’s.
Here are their names:
Manuel Cereijo Muiños, José Cereijo Muiños, Serafín Solaegui Dunabeitía, Guillermo Vázquez Núñez, Enrique
Saco Pradera, Luis Barros Fernández, Agustín Salgueiro Rodríguez, Gonzalo Pérez González, Tomás Tajadura Tajadura
from the Province of Aragon, Leandro Hermida González, Serapio Paz Muras, Patricio Peláez Castaño, Eliseo Pérez
González, Luis Arias López, Jesús Tizón Boleira, Ramón Lago Parrado, Olimpio Escudero González and Ricardo
Vázquez Rodríguez.
The recognition of the martyrdom of these religious, shot in Castile, has not been introduced. They have only
been remembered and the mortal remains of some of them have been taken to the Mercedarian monastery of Poio on May
5, 1940, and to the Herencia convent on June 14, 1942.
!!
9. THE MERCEDARIAN FAMILY
!!
Mercedarian Tertiaries of the Child Jesus
! They were founded on October 1, 1887, in Córdoba (Argentina) and incorporated as regular tertiaries of the Order
of Mercy on December 20, 1887. Venerable José León Torres was their founder and director for 42 years. At his holy
death on December 15, 1930, he left a very strong foundation which had expanded to several cities of Argentina and
Uruguay.
The bishop of Córdoba approved the sisters’ own Constitutions which had been written by their founder. The
institute was diocesan until January 12, 1931, when it obtained approval ad experimentum from the Holy See and
pontifical approval on April 3, 1940.
According to the Constitutions approved in 1983, the Congregation “fulfills its mission by exercising the teaching
apostolate through which it makes Jesus Christ the Redeemer present as a brother and a friend among Christians who are
oppressed because of anti-evangelical cultures.”
The Mercedarian Sisters are engaged in teaching in schools and colleges, artistic improvement and in empowering
young people to work, assistance to orphans, children and the abandoned elderly, catechism in slums and help in parish
work. Thus, by their service for the faith, the sisters are promoting the integral freedom of God’s children.
!Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
!
132
!
!
They were founded in Mexico City on March 25, 1910. When Mother María del Refugio asked the diocesan curia
for a religious as director and guide of the Institute, Father Alfredo Scotti, provincial of Mexico, was suggested to her.
Father Scotti became very interested in the well-being of the community and he dedicated himself to revise the
Constitutions in agreement with Mother María del Refugio and with the help of Mother Consuelo Olivares.
On July 11, 1925, the sisters were spiritually incorporated in the Order of Mercy. They obtained pontifical
approval on July 22, 1948.
The purpose of the Institute is expressed in these terms in the Constitutions approved in 1989: “To work eagerly
to extend the reign of Jesus in the Eucharist and filial love for our Blessed Mother of Mercy.” This apostolate is expressed
through the education of children and youth and their formation in Eucharistic worship and piety.
The Congregation has schools and colleges and it takes special care in preparing children for first communion.
At the present time, the sisters are in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, the United States, El Salvador, Italy and Spain.
!Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz
They started from a monastery of cloistered nuns, founded in 1540. In 1869, the religious inaugurated La Vera
Cruz College which was to become renowned. When Mother Margarita María Maturana joined the monastery in 1903, she
gave it a vitality which brought it fame.
In 1920, she founded the association Missionary Mercedarian Youth. This brought the college and the monastery
to the forefront of the missionary movement. The cause of this awakening was the great Mercedarian spirit which was
experienced in this monastery. In 1926, the pope authorized sending a group of Mercedarian missionaries to Wuhu
(China).
On May 23, 1930, thanks to the work of Mother Margarita María Maturana, then the superior of the monastery, by
decree of the Holy See, the monastery was transformed into a missionary institute which continued to belong to the Order
of Mercy.
The sisters held a General Chapter in 1931, with Mother Maturana attending. She prepared the Constitutions
which were definitively approved on January 3, 1939. The sisters continued to take a reformulated fourth Mercedarian
vow. The postconciliar Constitutions approved in 1981, express the Congregation’s evangelizing mission in these words:
“We commit ourselves to work preferentially with young churches and in poor and oppressed countries in the particular
way which our fourth redemptive vow expresses and seals: to persevere in the mission if the good of others should so
require even when there is danger of losing our lives.”
The sisters have expanded mostly in Asia: China, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Caroline Islands, etc.
!Mercedarian Missionaries of Brazil
! They were founded on August 10, 1938, by Lucía Etchepare with the support and collaboration of Mercedarian
bishop, Monsignor Inocencio López Santamaría, prelate of Bom Jesús de Gurgueia (Piauí-Brazil). At the request of their
superior general, Mother Lucía Etchepare and her council, the institute was incorporated in the Order on October 3, 1938,
by the Master General’s decree.
In a June 24, 1954 report to the Master General of the Order of Mercy, Father Inocencio says: “With the necessary
permissions and the rescript from the Sacred Congregation of Religious, this foundation of the Mercedarian Missionaries
of Brazil is established under the protection of Saint Raymond Nonnatus and Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.”
The goal of the institute is expressed in the Constitutions, approved in 1990: “The sisters are committed to
continue Jesus Christ’s redemptive mission by their apostolic work, especially in rural areas and in places where
assistance is lacking, striving to be a liberating, contemplative and compassionate presence, especially among the poor,
the marginalized and the oppressed.”
!Federation of Sisters of the Order of Mercy
! This group of Mercedarians continues the lifestyle sanctioned by Tridentine tradition. Always affirming their
apostolic vocation, they assumed—and continue to assume—initiatives or liberating gestures which are compatible with
their enclosure or conventual life. Most of the communities united in a federation to ensure a more authentic and effective
life and work. On August 5, 1955, the Sacred Congregation of Religious established the Federation of Mercedarian
Sisters.
!
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The Constitutions of the Mercedarian Sisters were approved in 1988. They state that the Order of Mercy intends
to follow and imitate Christ by making him present as a friend, redeemer and liberator among captive, oppressed or
persecuted Christians to whom, according to the Word of Jesus, it wants to offer the messianic hope proclaimed by the
Gospel. After that, the Constitutions state: “Today we, the Mercedarian Sisters, also intend to announce and to bear
witness to that messianic hope through our consecrated lives.”
!Mercedarian Slaves of the Blessed Sacrament
! This institute was founded in Marchena (Seville) by discalced Mercedarian Emilio Ferrero and Carmen Ternero
on May 12, 1940. On June 26, 1950, the Commissary General of the discalced Mercedarians, Father Emilio himself added
the institute to the discalced Mercedarian Order.
!Mercedarians of the Divine Master
! This institute does not belong juridically to the Mercedarian Family. It started in Buenos Aires, Argentina, under
the name of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy of the Divine Master in 1887. Its founders were Father Antonio Rasore and
Sofía Bunge. The first postulants were admitted on January 31, 1889. The goal of this Institute of Pontifical right is
Christian education of girls and works of mercy.
!Mercedarian Laity
! The Code of Canon Law was promulgated in 1917. In reference to the laity, the Order adapted the rules of the
Third Order, Confraternity and other Mercedarian associations of lay people to the new legislation. Sometimes, the Third
Order calls its Statutes constitutions.
Although the constitutions of these lay groups include and express general concepts about Mercedarian lifestyle,
their apostolate involves an activity oriented to the spiritual welfare of others. In practice this translates into praying three
Our Fathers and three Hail Marys, praying for the souls of purgatory and offering part of the rosary for the conversion of
sinners and heretics. We should also mention their many works with the needy, the sick and those in prison which
constitute the social apostolate in the line of redemptive service.
According to their constitutions or statutes, frequently revised and updated when circumstances demand it, their
members’ lives and activities have adapted to the demands of a changing society. Therefore, they must live poverty with
restraint, avoid luxury, keep chastity according to their state. As to the redemption vow and its actualization in the lives of
committed lay people, they will fulfill “the vow by working against enslavement of the soul and of the body. They will,
therefore, devote themselves to the works of mercy, teaching catechism to children and to the uneducated, helping with
the missions among believers and unbelievers through prayers and alms and promoting Catholic books and newspapers.”
A spiritual life centered on Christ demands prayer, receiving the sacraments, devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to
the Founder, Saint Peter Nolasco, and the fervent preparation of their feasts.
!Confraternities
! The figure of Blessed Mary moved many hearts who have fervently venerated her throughout the centuries. Thus,
within a Marian atmosphere, other Mercedarian institutions emerged. They differ from the Third Order and they fervently
venerate Mary of Mercy. These are: Court of Mercies, Servants of the Virgin, Sabbatina Sisters and Marian Fraternities.
The spirituality of these associations springs from the Order’s charism. With the development of Catholic Action, these
lay institutions have lost some of their strength.
!Knights of Our Lady of Mercy
! Everyone knows that, at first, the Order of Mercy had, at the same time, religious and military characteristics and
that the first Masters General were lay knights.
With the passing of time, the knightly and military aspects lost the importance that they had, especially in the first
century of the Order. However, in the course of history and particularly in Spain, there were investitures and groups of lay
knights, never contested by the Holy See or any civil or ecclesiastical authority.
In 1926, the Order’s Master General, Juan del Carmelo Garrido, reformed the Statutes of the association and
established new norms for secular knights whom he divided into five classes or ranks: Great Cross, Commander with
badge and title, Honorary Commander, Knights and Donates, setting up emblems for each category, uniforms, honors and
precedence.
!
134
!
Two years later, the king of Spain, Alfonso XIII, Great Commander of Our Lady of Mercy, issued a decree
placing the Order of Mercy on the same level as other Spanish Orders of Knights and authorizing the use of badges and
titles.
According to the Knights’ Statutes, their main objective was the profession and practice of the Catholic faith,
practicing Christian virtues, charitable works for missions and antislavery propaganda.
In his 1931 report to the General Chapter, the Master General confirmed that, at that time, there were 300 knights.
Later on, in 1936, due to complaints from other military orders whose emblems were eclipsed by the beauty,
historical and heraldic transcendence of the Mercedarians’, though it recognized in practice the Order’s right to confer
these emblems, the Holy See asked the Order to refrain from conferring them. Although the king of Spain offered to
intervene, in obedience to the Church’s voice, the Order never granted them again. On the same occasion, Pius XI
removed from the Mercedarian title the appellatives of Royal and Military which the Order had since its origin.
!!
!!
10.
!
CULT TO THE VIRGIN OF MERCY
The devotion, cult and external manifestations of love for Mary of Mercy became especially relevant for the
Order. They have their roots in the past like a living reality within the ecclesial community. This value was incorporated in
the culture in a special way in Latin American countries.
!Spiritual Graces
! The Order was always solicitous about obtaining graces and privileges from the Holy See on the occasion of the
feasts of the Virgin Mary even in local invocations and devotions: in 1911, the Order obtained the Proper Office and Mass
in honor of Our Lady of Mercy, invoked as Virgin of the Earthquake for the Province of Quito-Ecuador. In 1912, it
obtained the transfer of the feasts of Santa María de El Puig and of the Apparition in the Barcelona choir for the Province
of Aragon.
With the motive of the celebration of fifty years after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the Holy Father, Pius X, granted the Order the privilege of the Toties quoties for
September 24 and also a plenary indulgence for the faithful who attended the novena of the Virgin of Mercy (1905).
In order to foster the ancient devotion of the Seven Saturdays, the Order asked the Holy See to grant indulgences
for the faithful practicing it. The Sacred Congregation of Rites granted the Order’s petition to continue to implore Mary
under the invocation Redemptrix captivorum.
On April 7, 1909, the Holy See granted the faculty to give a papal blessing twice a year to the faithful gathered in
Mercedarian churches on the occasion of Mary’s feasts.
Pope Benedict XV, a known brother of Mercy, popularized the beautiful ejaculation, Most Compassionate Mother
of Mercy, granting a 300-day indulgence to anyone invoking Mary in this very short prayer.
!Crowned Images of Our Lady of Mercy
! Several invocations of the Blessed Virgin in the Church have been given this distinction. To concede this
privilege, the Holy See took some fundamental requirements under consideration: the age of the image, popular devotion
and uninterrupted cult. All the images crowned by a pontifical bull are ancient, most of them over a hundred years old.
God has granted wonders and graces to people who have addressed Mary with devotion in these images. MarianMercedarian devotion has many wondrous events, verified in civil and ecclesiastical history, indeed the fruit of the faith of
people who implored Mary. Through the years, this cult to Mary has been preserved constantly and without change,
thanks to the friars and religious of the Order, the Third Order, the Confraternities and devout people.
There are images of our Lady, canonically crowned in Spain: one in Barcelona, famous in the history of the Order,
was crowned on October 21, 1888, by the bishop of the diocese, don Jaime Catalá. It is the oldest crowned image. The
Jerez de la Frontera’s image was crowned on October 27, 1954, and the image of Bollullos del Condado (Huelva) was
crowned on July 2, 1948.
!
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Throughout Latin America, we find the following images of Mary of Mercy that have been canonically crowned:
the city of Pasto in Colombia consecrated itself to the Virgin of Mercy on February 9, 1899, upon the initiative of the
bishop, Monsignor Exequiel Moreno Díaz. He declared Mary of Mercy Patroness and Queen of the people of Pasto. The
canonical crowning took place on December 8, 1941.
In Cali, Colombia, the image of Mary of Mercy was canonically crowned by Pope John Paul II in 1986.
In Ecuador, the image of the Virgin of Mercy of Quito was canonically crowned by a decree of Benedict XV on
December 15, 1918; that of Guayaquil in 1947, that of Latacunga in 1967 and that of Ibarra in 1968.
Three images of the Virgin of Mercy have been canonically crowned in Peru: that of Lima on September 24, 1921
in the metropolitan cathedral by Archbishop Emilio Lisson. The Cuzco image was crowned in the cathedral on October 1,
1961. The Paita (Piura) image was canonically crowned on August 29, 1960, during the National Eucharistic Congress.
There are also three crowned images in Argentina: that of Tucumán, General of the Patriotic Forces, crowned on
September 24, 1912, that of Maipú (Mendoza), crowned on December 17, 1961 and that of Corrientes, crowned on
September 24, 1957.
In Santiago (Chile), the image of the Virgin of Mercy presiding in the basilica since 1548, was canonically
crowned in the cathedral church on September 22, 1918, by Monsignor Peter Armengol Valenzuela who was the titular
archbishop of Gangra at the time.
!Mercedarian Basilicas
! In the twentieth century, the Holy See granted several Mercedarian churches the privilege of being consecrated as
basilicas. For a church to be declared a basilica, it has to be notable because of its age, extension or magnificence. In
addition to these characteristics, the Mercedarian churches which have been declared basilicas were authentic Marian
sanctuaries.
In Barcelona, the Mercedarian church is a basilica since 1889. In Jerez de la Frontera, the church-sanctuary
became a basilica by a brief of November 11, 1949.
In Italy, Mercedarians are in charge of the Bonaria Basilica in Cagliari. It was declared as such on April 25, 1926.
In Rome, the beautiful Mercy Church pertains to a cardinal.
In Quito, Ecuador, the Mercy Church was elevated to the rank of a basilica on September 21, 1921, by a decree of
Pope Benedict XV; in Guayaquil, the Mercedarian Church was declared a basilica by a decree of Pope Paul VI and it was
consecrated on September 16, 1966, and in Ibarra, the church was made a basilica by the same pope on March 26, 1965.
In Peru, by pontifical letters of December 12, 1924, Pope Pius XI raised the Mercedarian church of Lima to the
rank of a basilica and on December 2, 1946, Pope Pius XII granted the same privileges to the Mercy Church of Cuzco.
Argentina has two basilicas dedicated to the Virgin of Mercy: in Buenos Aires, the church adjacent to the convent
of the Order and the Mercy Basilica of Córdoba which has had this prerogative since 1926. In addition, in the Argentine
capital, the Mercedarians have built and serve the church dedicated to Our Lady of Buenos Aires which was declared a
basilica by Pope Pius XI on February 10, 1936.
Chile has the Santiago church which was given the rank of a basilica by a bull of Benedict XV on July 23, 1923.
When the Church grants these privileges to Mercedarian churches, it corroborates that they are places of a pious
and secular cult to the Virgin and it recognizes the fervent devotion which the faithful profess to the Mother of God under
the title of Mercy.
On the other hand, by official decrees, civil governments have declared many Mercedarian churches and convents
as national monuments because they are artistic buildings.
Devotion to the Virgin of Mercy has spread to many parts of the world, even to places where Mercedarians were
never present. There are dioceses, countless parishes and also cities, towns and places bearing this name in many nations.
!
!
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!
!!
VII
FROM THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
TO THE PRESENT
!
(1966-1992)
!
RENEWAL OF THE CHARISM !
137
1. RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE COUNCIL AND ITS
REPERCUSSION IN THE ORDER
!
After intensive preparation and consultation with ecclesiastical and religious bodies at every level, the Catholic
Church held the Second Vatican Council convoked in Rome by Pope John XXIII. The Second Vatican Council was also
an extraordinary historical and salvific event whose attention was focused on the mystery of Christ and of his Church.
It is difficult to make a brief mention of the contents of the vast domain perused by the Council. On the other
hand, it is not the theme of this synthesis. What is of interest, however, is to see what was the Council’s attitude regarding
religious life.
In this Council, the Magisterium of the Church stated theological principles about religious life which are
contained in the dogmatic document Lumen gentium and the Perfectae caritatis decree established the criteria for an
authentic renewal of religious life.
In the period immediately following the Council, the Church was concerned about publishing other documents for
the correct application of the principles set up by the conciliar assembly regarding religious life. In his apostolic letter of
August 6, 1966, Ecclesiae Sanctae, Paul VI established norms for the application of some conciliar decrees. In the
apostolic exhortation of June 29, 1971, Evangelica testificatio, the Pope put at the disposal of religious a document which
can be considered among the best of the postconciliar period concerning the appropriate renewal of religious life.
In the reflection on consecrated life in the years after the Council, very important themes were presented. From
the actualization of the Constitutions and the structures which, at first, seemed to be the institutes’ strength, we moved to
interior renewal with the discovery of religious life as a charism in the Church and as a prophecy of superior realities.
Hence, the need for each institute to return to the sources of its own charism and of its own mission in the Church. The
authentic renewal which the Council sought for each institute could only occur under certain conditions, namely:
discovering the charism of one’s own founder, foundation of the diversity of the institutes themselves and fidelity to it at
this time; insertion of the institute in the local church where it finds its concrete realization according to the institutional
physiognomy of each; the firm conviction on the part of religious that these objectives are attained by an adequate initial
and permanent formation; the contemplative dimension of the lives of religious dedicated to the apostolate and suitable
relationships with the laity.
All of this has meant intensive activity in religious institutes and all religious of the Mercedarian Order have been
involved in this activity. Here we are only indicating a few moments when the Order has been engaged in the task of
renewal determined by the Council.
!!
2.
!!
SPECIAL GENERAL CHAPTER OF 1968-1969
The apostolic letter, Ecclesiae Sanctae, gave precise indications on the fundamental and irreplaceable function of
institutes in the renewal and adaptation of religious life, especially through general chapters whose jurisdiction was not
limited to promulgating laws but it also had to encompass the promotion of spiritual and apostolic life. This document
prescribed holding a “special ordinary or extraordinary general chapter” to promote appropriate renewal within two or, at
most, three years. The Order of Mercy also held this special chapter which coincided with the ordinary general chapter
corresponding to the end of the six-year period 1962-1968.
!!
Celebration of the Chapter
! The chapter was convoked by a letter from the Master General on October 29, 1967, and it was to be held in
Rome. Prior to this convocation—in order to involve, to the degree it was possible, all members of the Order in the
renewal prescribed by the Council—on December 30, 1966, the general curia had sent a long and detailed questionnaire
encompassing the entire life of the Order, consisting in the spiritual, charismatic, disciplinary, formative and government
aspects. Each religious was asked to express freely what he believed useful to the progress of the Order, in fidelity to the
ideal which inspired Saint Peter Nolasco to found the Order and with respect for the activities zealously practiced by
Mercedarians. There were numerous responses. Almost all the religious made their opinions known. In fact, 706 religious
participated in this poll as they contributed their ideas either individually or by endorsing agreements made in community.
The general council summarized these answers for the chapter in a 105-page volume which served as the study basis of
the capitulars in order to know the thinking of the Order.
!
138
!
The chapter started on May 4, 1968, and it concluded on July 18. During the chapter, in addition to fulfilling the
normal formalities of every general chapter, Bernardo Navarro Allende was elected Master General. The chapter devoted
itself mostly to study the Order’s renewal. Subdivided into five commissions, the capitulars worked very hard and
prepared an outline of the Constitutions which was followed by another and better one. In spite of this, the chapter sensed
the need for in-depth reflection and took advantage of the possibility to divide the capitular tasks into two periods as the
apostolic letter Ecclesiae Sanctae allowed. Meanwhile, a commission, elected by the chapter, was to work on the
constitutional project. Fathers Antonio Vázquez, Ramón Iribarne and Elías Gómez made up the commission. The general
council thought it was opportune to expand that commission by adding Fathers Manuel Orellano, Antonio Primavera, José
M. Vallejo and Secretary General Ernesto González Castro.
The capitulars believed it was fitting to address a Message to the entire Order to report on the work being done
and to ask Mercedarians to assimilate the principles on religious institutes indicated by the Second Vatican Council.
In speaking of the redemptive spirit of the Order whose characteristic was identified in redemptive charity at the
service of faith and practiced through an extraordinary Marian mediation, the capitulars said: “We feel the need to define
ourselves, to gain a more profound awareness of our being as Mercedarian religious, to delve more deeply into the
meditation and study of our rich and multisecular spiritual patrimony, of the charismatic treasure left by our holy Founder
and enriched by our best religious in the course of seven hundred and fifty years of our history which is part of the history
of Christ’s Church.”
Then the capitulars invited religious to the interior and spiritual renewal which had to be concretized at the
personal, communitarian, ecclesial and ecumenical levels.
Later, by a December 20, 1968 decree of the Master General, norms of a juridical nature were promulgated. The
chapter had established them to become effective immediately.
Meanwhile, the commission worked very hard and at the end of 1968, it was prepared to offer a first draft of the
Constitutions which was sent to the whole Order in January 1969. Religious, communities and provincial commissions
were invited to send their own observations, corrections and suggestions to the commission. The responses were
numerous. Combined, they formed a thick volume. The commission put the finishing touches to the second draft written
in Spanish and Latin. Father Vincenzo Lodise was entrusted with its translation into Latin.
!!
Constitutions and Norms ad experimentum of Father Bernardo Navarro (1970)
! The second part of the chapter started on October 4 and concluded on December 6, 1969. The capitular task
unfolded with the five commissions which had been at work in the first part, introducing corrections to the constitutional
draft. The chapter examined and voted the text, sentence by sentence or number by number, depending on the case.
The problem of the fourth vow, characteristic of the Order, presented itself in the chapter. Some wanted to
eliminate it but most of the capitulars were in favor of keeping it even though they accepted a new redaction to be
included in the formula of profession and which was subsequently approved by the Sacred Congregation of Religious.
After concluding the redaction of the Spanish text approved in chapter and after the Latin translation was declared
authentic by the general council, by decree of August 10, 1970, Master General Bernardo Navarro promulgated these
Constitutions and Norms which, in accordance with the provisions of Ecclesiae Sanctae, did not need the formal approval
of the Holy See because they were ad experimentum. They became effective on December 8, 1970. Later on, the text was
sent to the Sacred Congregation of Religious for its consideration and, in a letter of February 6, 1974, addressed to the
Master General and signed by Cardinal Prefect Arturo Tabera, the Congregation expressed a highly favorable opinion of
the new Mercedarian legislation.
These Constitutions and Norms, in their formal aspect as the title itself suggests, were divided into Constitutions
—that is to say, general principles not easily modifiable—and Norms—namely, more practical dispositions which could
be adapted to circumstances.
In terms of content and to limit our analysis to the charismatic aspect, the Constitutions appear innovative with
regard to the past and more suited to present demands. But, at the same time, they are traditional since they assume what
is fundamental to the nature of the Order. Perfectae Caritatis had established that, on one hand, it was necessary to
maintain sound traditions and, on the other, obsolete elements were to be abandoned. Putting these principles into practice
in the Order implied the danger of abandoning essential tradition and of falling into an updating which did not correspond
to the Founder’s original intention. The proposed text avoided this danger because it kept what was essential to the nature
of the Order. In this way, Mercedarians assumed their history and they actualized it: “The Order during the early centuries
!
139
of its existence, driven by charity, dedicated itself to the redemption of the Christians held captive under the power of the
Saracens and therefore exposed to the danger of denying their faith. When this kind of slavery was abolished, ‘there rose
in the human society new forms of captivity of social, political and psychological order, ultimately deriving from sin,’
which are more harmful to Christian faith than the institutionalized servitude and captivity of former times. Mercedarian
religious…, faithful to the ideals and the spirit of their Founder and ‘out of integrity of faith, love for God and others, by
the cross and their hope of future glory,’ through appropriate works of mercy, dedicate themselves to the salvation and
redemption of Christians from new forms of captivity which put them in danger of neglecting the practice of Christian life
and even of denying their faith. To this end and by virtue of their religious profession, the Mercedarians are prepared to
give their own lives, if necessary, after the example of Christ the Redeemer.”
These texts of the Constitutions and Norms which will be assumed in their contents by postconciliar
Constitutions, express the specific charism of the Order, in which former captivity appears as a risk to faith, a risk which
also occurs with new forms of captivity which overwhelm humanity today. To liberate people from these new forms of
captivity, Mercedarians will be engaged in appropriate works of mercy and they will be prepared to sacrifice their own
lives as they have done in the past.
After recalling that, “the redemptive spirit of the Order should animate the entire apostolic activity of the
religious, so that it may be nourished and harmonized by it,” the Constitutions and Norms list the ministries in which
religious are engaged and view them from a Mercedarian perspective: parishes, missions, education, apostolate of prisons,
help to the persecuted Church, specifying especially for the last two ministries, the characteristic aspect of the apostolic
activity of the Order.
!!
3. DEEPENING OF THE CHARISM AND
SPIRITUALITY OF THE ORDER
!
In the period following the publication of these Constitutions, the Order committed itself not only to experiment
with the laws which had been given but also to reflect on its charismatic identity looking deeply into the figure of the
Founder and his message and outlining the notes and the importance of spirituality which emerge from that identity for the
interior renewal of every Mercedarian.
!Appreciation of the Figure of the Founder
! The 1983 extraordinary General Chapter established that the year 1985, the 750th anniversary of the Confirmation
of the Order, be declared the Year of Saint Peter Nolasco. This celebration, encouraged by the general curia, gave rise to
numerous publications and manifestations in all the Order which led to a greater appreciation of the Order’s Founder and
to a better knowledge of the Order. The five special books published by the general curia on that occasion from 1984 to
1986 record the countless initiatives which accompanied the celebration.
The publication Analecta mercedaria dedicated the 1985 volume as a tribute to Saint Peter Nolasco. Likewise, the
journal Estudios dedicated an issue of 1985 to him. A short biography entitled Saint Peter Nolasco - Life and Charism,
written by Father Xabier Pikaza, was published by the general curia. Other Mercedarian authors wrote about Saint Peter
Nolasco and there were publications about the life and the charism of the Founder of the Order of Mercy in all the
provinces. But one work really made the figure of Peter Nolasco stand out as the man who has known how to incarnate
the Gospel in an admirable way. It is the life written by renowned author Alejandro Pronzato at the request of Master
General Domingo Acquaro and published in 1986, under the very expressive title: Un mercante di libertà. It was later
translated into Spanish.
On that occasion, Pope John Paul II addressed a letter to the Master General on May 28, 1985. Among other
things, the Holy Father said: “In the first place, we are pleased to note that in a prudent way, while times and conditions of
Christian life have been changing, the Mercedarian Order has been able to adapt properly and successfully the Founder’s
project of liberating Christians from the shameful captivity of the body, and other types of human liberation from other
forms of captivity which still oppress people today: we are referring to injustice and to the lack of respect for human
dignity and we are referring to sin and to ignorance of the Gospel.”
Peter Nolasco emerges from all these manifestations as a man of his time who knew how to imitate Jesus Christ,
to love Mary, to practice charity in a heroic way, to liberate captives even at the cost of life and to proclaim freedom to the
oppressed.
Likewise, there was an emphasis on Peter Nolasco’s message and his charism. They are concretely actualized
today in a world filled with degrading forms of captivity which oppress human dignity and endanger the life of faith of
Christians.
Elements of the Charism and Spirituality of the Order
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!
!
The message of the 1968 General Chapter had already alluded to some characteristics of the Order’s redemptive
spirit. But taking up those ideas and addressing religious in its message, the 1974 General Chapter defined and better
specified the essence of the spirituality and of the spirit of the Order in an official and complete way.
The message showed that, with the three common vows and the specific fourth vow to give one’s life for captives,
the Mercedarian profession is a total consecration and configuration with Christ the Redeemer who, by his supreme act of
love, bestowed the gift of faith to human beings as the foundation and root of sanctity by redeeming them from slavery to
sin which is the source of all the “forms of social, political or psychological slavery.”
This configuration with Christ the Redeemer was the foundation of the life of the first Mercedarian, Saint Peter
Nolasco, who, prompted by the Holy Spirit, established as his apostolic vocation the work “of mercy of the redemption of
Christian captives.” His action was liberating in the most profound sense: it was a type of social help which penetrated the
deepest values of captives. But even though it was directly a matter a liberation from a contemptible social situation, Saint
Peter Nolasco’s primordial objective was to save Christians by taking them out of external circumstances endangering
their faith.
Following the apostolic line of the saintly Founder, we see that the specific purpose of the Order of Mercy is the
liberation of Christians trapped in a social situation of captivity through the heroic practice of charity at the service of
faith.
The characteristic notes of captivity from a Mercedarian viewpoint are the following: it must be an oppressive and
degrading social situation for the human person; deriving from principles opposed to the Gospel; gravely dangerous to
faith; there must be a possibility of helping and actually liberating people in danger of losing their faith. In those
situations, there can be cases of people in extreme danger of losing their faith. When this happens, it is urgent to apply the
spirit of the fourth vow by which Mercedarian religious promise “to give up our lives, as Christ gave his life for us, if it
should be necessary” after having exhausted all other recourses suggested by charity. In addition, there is no doubt that the
fourth vow demands that, in union with Christ the Redeemer, all Mercedarians offer themselves to the Father for the
liberation of those who find themselves in danger of losing their faith in any situation of captivity.
The capitular message also defined the spirit of the Order. “By the spirit of Mercy, we understand the totality of
theoretical principles and practical attitudes which characterized the Institute since its foundation and were the constants
of its activity… In fact, from the beginning, the Order: a) accepted the supreme principle of the redemption carried out by
Christ and it adopted the practice of imitating the Redeemer faithfully; b) it accepted the Marian principles of divine
motherhood, Mary’s association with her Son’s redemptive work, Mary’s intervention in its foundation and it adopted the
practice of calling itself Order of Saint Mary, to disclose and to defend the graces, privileges of mysteries of the heavenly
Lady and to serve and honor her always; c) it accepted the principle of the primacy of charity over the other virtues and it
adopted the attitude of practicing that virtue in a heroic way; d) it accepted the principle that what is ultimately important
to human beings is salvation whose foundation is faith and it adopted the practice of putting itself at the service of faith; e)
it accepted the principle that the situation of captivity is really pernicious for faith and it adopted the practice of redeeming
Christian captives.”
!!
!!
Manual of Mercedarian Spirituality
! The 1974 General Chapter approved the publication of a text on the spirituality of the Order as a manual and
method of religious formation. To realize this ambition, in 1976, the general council designated a commission formed by
Fathers Juan Devesa Blanco, Antonio Rubino and Ernesto González who were to work under the leadership of Father Saúl
Peredo, responsible for the general Secretariat for spirituality. After formulating a schema and distributing the work
among the commission members, a text was written and sent to the provinces in 1981. This work was published in 1986,
under the title The Order of Mercy -Spirit and Life. It was the first volume of the newly created Mercedarian Library.
This publication offered the Mercedarian Family an important contribution for its specifically Mercedarian
religious formation. The absence of such a text was particularly deplored.
It should be pointed out that, prior to that date, there had been other works dealing with this theme: San Pedro
Nolasco en la espiritualidad Mercedaria which Father Elías Gómez published in Estudios in 1956; in 1960, Father Carlos
Oviedo Cavada wrote the opuscule La Orden de la Merced y su espíritu; a 1970 issue of Estudios, entirely dedicated to the
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Order of Mercy, contains several articles on this theme; in 1975, Father Antonio Rubino published Lineamenti di
spiritualità mercedaria, as an outline of a manual of Mercedarian spirituality.
In January 1978, the assembly of provincials and delegates had met in Córdoba (Argentina) under the presidency
of Master General Domingo Acquaro. The final document of the assembly created a great deal of interest in the Order. In
1979, along with this document and under the title, Carisma y espiritualidad de la Orden de la Merced, the general curia
also published the three lectures which had served as its basis. The themes respectively covered by Fathers Xabier Pikaza,
Antonio Rubino and Mercedarian Bishop Juan Bautista Herrera were: Charism and Spirituality in Itself, Charism and
Spirituality in Our Consecrated Lives and Charism and Spirituality in Our Apostolic Lives.
These publications have helped us to understand the great value of a specifically Mercedarian spirituality in
religious life, not only in terms of inspiring action but also as an inner force of renewal in the lives of religious.
!!
4. THE UPDATED CONSTITUTIONS OF
FATHER DOMENICO ACQUARO (1986)
!!
Experimentation Period
! In the midst of the experimentation period, the 1980 General Chapter was held. Father Domingo Acquaro was
reelected Master General. At the chapter, some norms concerning the life of the Order were approved and plans were
made to encourage its renewal. It was decided to hold an extraordinary general chapter to approve the Constitutions and
the new general government was told to appoint a special commission “to revise our Constitutions and Norms gathering
what religious of the Order had already presented and are still presenting and to prepare a text to be studied, examined and
definitively approved at the extraordinary general chapter.”
In fact, on June 2, 1981, the general council appointed a special commission formed by Fathers Antonio Vázquez,
president, Saúl Peredo, secretary, Antonio Rubino and Xabier Pikaza. The commission was given ample powers to carry
out its work of revising the constitutional text and to guide and coordinate the work of the provincial commissions.
As a whole, the text of the Constitutions and Norms appeared rather good and it was even appreciated by
competent people outside of the Order. However, many points had to be improved: it had to include the values referring to
the charism and the spirit of the Order that had been acquired during the experimentation period, the changes introduced
by the general chapters of 1974 and 1980. At the same time, it had to take into account the new guidelines contained in the
Code of Canon Law of 1983.
With the insight of these contributions and the religious’ observations, the commission prepared a final schema of
the Constitutions. In December 1982, it was sent to all religious for their final observations before the extraordinary
general chapter. The commission indicated the criteria which had guided the writing, indicating, in particular, that the text
had been unified by eliminating the distinction between Constitutions and Norms, with many of the Norms moved to
particular Statutes; that the doctrinal contribution of the Lima and Córdoba meetings had been extremely important with
regard to the charism and spirituality and that the suggestions of formators, commissions and religious had appreciably
contributed to the final redaction. Therefore, it could truly be said that the final compilation of the Constitutions was the
fruit of the full and free collaboration of the entire Order.
!Extraordinary General Chapter
! Master General Domingo Acquaro convoked the extraordinary general chapter. Its principal goal was to approve
the Constitutions in their final form after almost fifteen years of experimentation.
The sessions were inaugurated at the general curia in Rome on August 27, 1983. The assembly, formed by 27
capitulars, approved, one by one, the numbers and paragraphs which divided up the Constitutions, eliminating some,
correcting others and adding a few concepts to the text prepared by the central commission.
Regarding the approval of the Constitutions, in his November 23, 1983 letter addressed to the Order, the Master
General stated: “As all of you already know, the chapter has accomplished the purpose for which it was convened:
approving the definitive text of the Constitutions which will guide us in the future in a relatively definitive way. I am
pleased to point out that the capitular assembly has been conducted in an ambiance of true fellowship, interest and active
participation of all present… with most numbers being unanimously approved. Very few have had problems in approving
them. At present, the text is being submitted to the Congregation of Religious and to secular Institutes for their
examination. We are awaiting the ratification of the Holy See in order to proceed to their promulgation.”
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!
The definitive approval of the Constitutions came in a decree of May 13, 1985, on the feast of Saint Peter
Nolasco. The Master General promulgated them on January 17, 1986, on the 761st anniversary of the pontifical
confirmation of the Order.
!Contents of the Constitutions
! In comparing the 1986 constitutional text with the previous one promulgated in 1970, and on which it is based, we
find significant differences.
In the formal aspect, —in addition to unifying Constitutions and Norms into a single body which facilitates
consultation— after the early 1272 Constitutions written in Catalan, this was the first time in the secular history of the
Order that the official text was not written in Latin but rather in Spanish, the language spoken by most religious of the
Order. Because of that, the translations of the Constitutions into other languages, had to be declared in conformity with the
official text by the Master General.
With reference to the contents, in the charismatic aspect, these Constitutions have assumed the notes indicated in
the Message of the 1974 Chapter as constitutive of captivity in the Mercedarian sense, that is to say, all that oppresses and
degrades the human person and endangers faith. In addition—always with regard to the charismatic aspect—the
Constitutions did not want to indicate any of the ministries which appeared in the Constitutions and Norms. However,
they sought to underscore the redemptive mission of the Order which has to be carried out by virtue of the fourth vow.
The ministries, assumed by the Order to meet the needs of the Church, have to refer to this redemptive mission because
the entire apostolic action of religious must be prompted by the redemptive spirit. In this respect and to clarify and
facilitate this aspect, the 1986 planning has classified the apostolic action of the Mercedarians in redemptive mission,
ministries of liberating action and apostolic ministries. To recall the Order’s original goal, the Prologue of the Amerian
Constitutions of 1272 has been included at the beginning of the text and, throughout the present Constitutions, the figure
of Saint Peter Nolasco, model of the true Mercedarian according to the example of Christ the Redeemer, has been
highlighted in a special way.
The vows have also been seen from a Mercedarian perspective and considered in their aspects of consecration to
Christ the Redeemer, fraternal communion and redemptive mission without neglecting a particular reference to Mary,
Mother of the redeemers and of the redeemed.
The postconciliar Constitutions presuppose a path of reflection and commitment to be traveled by Mercedarian
religious in fidelity to the rich traditional patrimony of the Order. Father Emilio Aguirre Herrera, elected Master General
of the Order at the 1986 chapter and reelected at the 1992 chapter, has made this theme of reflection and commitment one
of the highlights of his government: every occasion serves to make present some aspect of the Constitutions and to show
the road which must be traveled to be a Mercedarian in the true sense of the word at the present time.
!
5.
!
LITURGICAL RENEWAL
One of the aspects of the renewal of the Order in the postconciliar period refers to the liturgy, according to the
reforms the Church established at the universal level.
It is appropriate to recall that the liturgical reform started in the Order after the promulgation of the apostolic letter
Rubricarum instructum of July 25, 1960. This led first to the revision of the Mercedarian calendar, approved by the Sacred
Congregation of Rites on May 18, 1962, and then to the publication of the Order’s own offices in 1966. It was not
possible to publish the masses because we had to wait for the liturgical reform of the universal Church to be completed.
On June 24, 1970, the Congregation for Divine Worship published the Instruction on the revision of particular calendars,
the propers of offices and masses, in which the new general criteria of reform were indicated. This marked the start of the
new phase of liturgical renewal which involved various fields.
!Rite of Religious Profession
! The conciliar constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosantum Concilium, ordered the preparation of a rite for religious
profession and the renewal of vows to provide greater unity and restraint. That rite had to be used—except in special cases
—by those who made their religious profession or renewed their vows during Mass. Including a rite of profession for all
religious in the Roman Ritual was something totally new in the area of liturgy.
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On February 2, 1970, the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship published this new Rite of Profession. It could
be used as it was although it was strongly recommended that each institute vitally adapt it to its own charism.
The Order of Mercy adopted the rite but it felt the need to adapt it to its own spirituality. A first step was to
request the approval of the Order’s formula of profession which had been renewed according to the changes decided by
the special general chapter and written according to the indications of the Ordo Professionis Religiosae. The Sacred
Congregation for Religious approved it by a document of September 21, 1970. The approved formula of profession was
included in the text of the Constitutions and Norms.
In anticipation of the adaptation of the entire rite of profession, the general curia introduced some elements,
actually very few, sufficient to qualify it as specific to the Order. Once the schema was prepared, it was sent to the
provinces for their eventual observations. The Congregation for Divine Worship approved the Latin text on May 30, 1973.
!Mercedarian Liturgical Calendar
! In the apostolic letter of Paul VI, February 14, 1968, the new Revised Liturgical Calendar of the Universal
Church was made public and it was to go into effect on January 1, 1970. With the publication of this pontifical document,
the Order of Mercy had the unpleasant surprise to see the suppression of the three Mercedarian feasts present in the
previous universal calendar: Our Lady of Mercy, the Founder, Saint Peter Nolasco and Saint Raymond Nonnatus.
This caused a great deal of perplexity in the Order. Ever since then, general chapters, Masters General and those
responsible for the Order have attempted to reverse this suppression on several occasions, petitions to the Holy Father and
to the Congregation for Divine Worship, in the name of the Order and of the whole Mercedarian Family, for the inclusion
of some Mercedarian feastday in the universal calendar of the Church emphasizing the theological significance and the
message of freedom contained in the title of the Order of Mercy and in the person of our saintly Founder. To this date, the
results have been negative. But the Order is keeping this desire alive and hopes that it can be fulfilled one day.
Nevertheless, we have to say that with reference to the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Mercy, its memory has been
recovered worldwide by the publication of new formularies of the Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, done by the
Congregation for Divine Worship in 1986. The Episcopal Conferences of Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina, for their
part, have kept the feast of Saint Mary of Mercy in the liturgical calendars of their respective nations.
In accordance with the dispositions of the Congregation for Divine Worship, on the need to revise particular
liturgical calendars, a historical commission was set up to revise the Mercedarian liturgical calendar. This commission
realized an interesting work on the basis of which a sketch of a calendar was prepared and sent to all members of the
Mercedarian Family.
With regard to the 1962 calendar, the greatest innovations consisted in transferring some feasts of the Order to the
day more in harmony with historical data and in leaving others to the provinces.
On May 24, the Proper Calendar of the Order was presented to the Congregation for Divine Worship which
approved it by a decree of June 6, 1973.
!Mercedarian Masses
! While the calendar was being prepared, some members of the general curia, in particular, Fathers Antonio Rubino,
Bernardo Arrieta and Ernesto González were working on the first draft of Mercedarian masses. In April 1972, this first
draft was sent to the Order for observations and suggestions concerning the texts which were to be used indicating the
criteria which had been followed in this work which only claimed to be a guide for the final text. The observations
received from the provinces of the Order and from other Mercedarian institutes were helpful to proceed with the work.
Among them, it was suggested to have the official text in Latin from which translations would be made into the language
of each nation and also to keep the sequences of certain masses. Interested provinces presented the text of proper of the
masses for the feasts of each region.
The subsequent work was done very meticulous and careful to match the texts with the new liturgical manner of
thinking, even in its expressions. Various drafts were prepared to be later revised and corrected.
Finally, on February 25, 1976, the Latin text of the propers of the masses was presented to the Congregation for
Divine Worship which approved it by a decree of July 1, 1976. The general curia published the text under the title
Proprium Missarum Ordinis B. Mariae V. De Mercede.
On the same date, the Spanish, Italian, English and Portuguese versions of the propers of the masses were
presented to the Congregation and they were approved by decree on August 31, 1976. Master General Domingo Acquaro
authorized their publication on September 24, 1976.
!Liturgy of the Hours
!
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!
At the same time as the texts of the masses were being prepared, the same fathers of the general curia had also
faced the revision of the Liturgy of the Hours which seemed more complex because of the need to revise the historical
aspect of the feasts. At a result, it was necessary to revise the hymns, to find a second reading suited to each feast, to
compose the prayers and the petitions, the antiphons, etc.
On November 18, 1974, the Master General sent a draft to members of the Mercedarian Family to request their
observations and cooperation for the final redaction.
The collaboration of the Order was enthusiastic and intensive, for the Liturgy of the Hours for each province and
for the whole Order, especially in terms of suggesting texts taken from the Order’s cultural patrimony for the second
reading. The commission, constituted by the councilors since 1974, had only one difficulty, namely, what to select. At last,
on June 26, 1976, the Latin text of the Liturgy of the Hours for the Order of Mercy was presented to the Congregation for
Divine Worship which approved it by a decree of October 28, 1976. The Spanish and Italian versions were later approved
on January 10, 1977.
Meanwhile, by a decree of May 13, 1977, on the solemnity of Saint Peter Nolasco, the Master General arranged
for the publication of the Liturgy of the Hours in Spanish and Italian, insisting on the special spirituality of each
celebration. The English and Portuguese versions were published a few years later.
!!
Ritual of the Order
! The 1980 General Chapter dealt with the Ritual of the Order and committed the general government to prepare
and publish it within three years. But the preoccupation with the final writing and approval of the Constitutions relegated
this task to second place.
Initially, the Master General entrusted the compilation to Father Juan Laka Kortabitarte who prepared a project. At
the instruction of the 1983 extraordinary General Chapter, this project was revised by a commission of religious who
made several observations which were taken into account in redacting the text.
Finally, the text of the Ritual of the Order was presented to the Congregation for Divine Worship which approved
it on May 11, 1989. A decree of Master General Emilio Aguirre Herrera authorized its publication on May 13, 1989.
!!
!!
6. DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
! The publication of the Constitutions was the most important event dealing with the Order’s legislation. It contains
some innovations of a juridical order which were necessary and other aspects of renewal which are indicated briefly.
!New Style of Chapters
! In the government of a religious institute, it is very important to hold chapters which, according to the Council’s
instructions, must express the participation and the solicitude of all members for the good of the community and fulfill the
task of fostering the ongoing renewal of religious life. The Order of Mercy felt it was advisable for these bodies to be
revised as to their term and operation.
Concerning the frequency, the six-year plan was confirmed for general chapters and three years, for provincial
chapters.
There was a significant innovation as to operation by distinguishing two phases: preparation and meeting, each
phase including four steps.
The first phase includes: the announcement, one year before the gathering; the preparation itself with the selection
of topics to be dealt with, presented by religious and organized by a preparatory commission; the make-up of the chapter,
namely, the participants whose number was opportunely increased and the convocation of all who are entitled to
participate.
The meeting includes: an informative phase on the life of the community or of the sector represented; a scrutiny
of the evolution of the life of the community, province or of the Order; an agenda including the selection of the objectives
considered most urgent to give vitality to the respective community and an indication of the means or initiatives to attain
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them; the election of the Master General and of his council at the general chapters and of the provincial and his council in
provincial chapters.
Regarding the election system, two new concepts appeared: the first one refers to the presentation of candidates to
various posts, a presentation previously made by religious of the Order or the province and formalized in a specific list of
names to which the capitulars must adhere in their votes; the second one alludes to the electoral procedure which has been
modified and adapted to avoid difficulties in the ballots.
In this context of dialogue and participation of all religious and of decentralization, the Order has done its best to
achieve ongoing and appropriate renewal in fidelity with its spirit and its history and always seeking God’s will to fulfill
its own mission.
!The Council of Provincials
! The 1980 General Chapter approved a proposition which brought to the Order something absolutely new which
never existed before, at least in terms of legislation: “Our legislation is setting up the Council of Provincials whose
organization, jurisdiction and operation will be established in the Norms and the corresponding Directory.” On the basis of
this disposition and in view of the regulation of this new body, for the first time, Master General Domingo Acquaro
convoked the Council of Provincials which met in Caracas from March 1 to March 8, 1981, on the occasion of the
celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Mercedarians’ return to Venezuela after an absence of a hundred years.
The purpose of the encounter of provincials was to revise capitular planning and to think about promoting it. On
the other hand, it was to study the Regulations of the council of provincials to establish its objective and periodicity. On
that occasion, the provincials said that the new entity is an extraordinary consultative body whose task is to advise the
Master General and which meets twice during the six-year term or all the times, he deems it opportune. The council’s
purpose is to study the problems proposed by the Master General, to contribute to achieve a greater integration among the
provinces in what pertains to the common good, to evaluate the decisions of the general chapters and to propose to the
Master General matters concerning the entire Order or some provinces.
When the Constitutions were approved, this definition and the directives became part of the general legislation of
the Order. On this same occasion, the provincials sent the Order their message of encouragement along the line of renewal
desired by the Council.
!Provincial Statutes
! The text of the Constitutions and Norms had anticipated the provincial Statutes to which certain aspects referred
which did not apply to the entire Order or which referred to themes that could easily change. In order to have normative
force, the provincial Statutes had to be redacted by each province in conformity with the legislation of the constitutional
text and they needed the approval of the Master General and of his council to become effective.
In the letter of December 8, 1969, the Master General gave instructions to all the provinces for the elaboration of
the provincial Statutes. In particular, he stated that they were not to contain dispositions already included in the text of the
Constitutions and Norms; that, before redaction by a provincial commission, there had to be an extensive consultation of
the religious of the province and they had to be approved by the provincial chapter or the provincial and his council. The
time suggested to realize this work was one year from the time the Constitutions and Norms ad experimentum became
effective.
The provinces started to work immediately to comply which this mandate and they all completed their work.
The provincial Statutes were approved by the Master General and his council ad experimentum, as with the
Constitutions and Norms, in the following chronological order: April 11, 1971, for the Statutes of the Province of
Argentina; January 6, 1972, for the Province of Mexico; July 31, 1972, for the Province of Castile; August 26, 1972, for
the Province of Chile; October 14, 1972, for the Province of Aragon and the Roman Province; November 7, 1972 for the
Province of Quito-Ecuador and on August 30, 1973 for the Statutes of the Province of Peru. When the 1986 Constitutions
became effective, all the provinces adapted their own Statutes to the new legislation.
!Provincial Vicariates
! The 1986 Constitutions contain another innovation: provincial vicariates, that is to say, houses that are grouped
together and as a whole, very distant from the provincial residence, especially if they are in another nation. In the former
legislation, these houses were constituted into vice-provinces which had juridical autonomy independent from any
province and they had their own government similar to that of the provinces. Experience had shown that in viceprovinces, there was not always that vitality making it possible to promote them to provinces. Therefore, it was thought
that it was more in keeping with the reality of the Order’s situation to change the juridical status of these houses, still
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!
leaving them dependent on a province but also giving them a degree of autonomy with a vicar of the provincial, named
according to the provincial Statutes and with the perspective of being erected as provinces when the corresponding
conditions are fulfilled.
To form a vicariate, there had to be at least four houses with a minimum of twelve religious and with the prospect
of new local vocations. The Master General with his council establishes a vicariate at the request of the corresponding
provincial and his council.
Five vicariates have been constituted to this date. With the eight houses founded in Brazil and the seven founded
in Puerto Rico by the Province of Castile, the vicariates of Brazil and Puerto Rico were constituted on February 22, 1988.
With the five houses founded by the Roman Province in the United States, the vicariate of the United States was
constituted on May 29, 1988. With the four houses now existing in Venezuela founded by the Province of Aragon, the
vicariate of Venezuela was constituted on May 29, 1988. With the three houses of Guatemala and the two of Panama, the
vicariate of Guatemala-Panama, belonging to the Province of Aragon, was constituted on October 12, 1992.
!Interprovincial Meetings at Various Levels
! Given the juridical independence which the provinces of the Order had, it was felt that a lack of mutual
knowledge and assistance could occur among them in examining a common problem and in adopting corresponding
solutions. Master General Domingo Acquaro observed this and he tried to foster the new mentality which was beginning
to appear in the postconciliar period.
After having consulted and obtained the approval of those concerned, the Master General convoked a meeting in
Lima, from February 9 to February 14, 1977, with the intention of encouraging communitarian search for greater union
which was already manifesting itself in the Order. In addition to the Master General and the provincials of America,
delegates from European provinces with religious working in Latin America also participated in this encounter. On the
basis of a previously formulated questionnaire, at this meeting, participants reflected on the renewal of the Order of Mercy
in Latin America. They dealt with themes of religious life, the charism of the Order, the cooperation and interrelationships
of the Order in Latin America, vocational promotion and formation, parishes in Latin America and in general, with
Mercedarian pastoral ministry.
The experience was very positive and because of that, American provincials manifested the desire to have other
meetings of this type. European provincials, in turn, felt prompted to hold similar meetings. But in view of the important
Córdoba (Argentine) assembly which was to deal with the theme of the charism of the Order with the participation of all
the provincials, the idea of the encounter of European provincials was dropped. The assembly of the Order’s provincials
and delegates was held in Córdoba in January 1978, almost as a prolongation of the Lima meeting.
We have already mentioned the meetings of provincials with the Master General in the structure of the council of
provincials. As to the provincials, they have practically institutionalized two yearly joint meetings. In October 1992, the
provincial government of the Roman Province was also added.
Another type of interprovincial meetings is the one concerning formation with encounters of European and
American formators to deal with topics inherent to this important aspect of religious life. The first step toward this type of
meetings was taken at the conclusion of the Córdoba assembly when European provincials agreed to meet with formators
of the different provinces. The first meeting took place in El Puig December 27-30, 1978. On that occasion, 22 religious
participated and their reflections were communicated to the other brothers. After that, the encounter was institutionalized
and it was decided to hold it every three years in a different province. There have been six meetings so far, two in each
one of the European provinces.
The experience of these European formators meetings also expanded to Latin American formators. The first
formators meeting occurred in Mexico City from June 29 to July 11, 1981. From then on, American formators have met
five additional times in different parts of the continent.
In addition, starting with the 1992 General Chapter, there were other types of meetings of provincial secretaries
with the religious responsible of the corresponding general secretariat especially to deal with themes inherent to the
specific Mercedarian apostolate.
Since the 1980 General Chapter, it was deemed beneficial to establish for the entire Order a facilitators team made
of religious whose task would be to promote the development of a project of activities established by the general
government for different circumstances.
The general Statutes, approved by the 1992 General Chapter, established that the Master General was to appoint a
Mercedarian reflection team with the purpose of offering a particular service to the Order in the study and discernment of
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the redemptive mission. Consequently, in a circular letter of October 12, 1992, Master General Emilio Aguirre announced
to all Mercedarian religious the constitution of a Mercedarian reflection team. This reflection team meets for its own
purpose under the presidency of the Master General and the team proposes specific actions for the Order.
!!
!
7.
!!
FORMATION AND STUDIES
Religious formation and studies is another aspect of concern to the Order in this postconciliar period.
In the decree Optatam totius, the Church had already given specific indications about priests’ formation and,
concerning religious, in Perfectae caritatis, it had stated that “the proper renewal of religious institutes depends
fundamentally on the formation of their members.”
!!
General Plan of Vocations, Formation and Studies
! The Order immediately felt the need to engage in this fundamental aspect. The Constitutions and Norms ad
experimentum stated that the goal of formation consists in gradually leading candidates to live their religious lives fully
according the spirit and mission of the Order in the Church and that formation had to be organized according to the
general and provincial Ratio institutionis et studiorum. In addition, the Constitutions envisioned the organization of
secretariats of formation and studies at the general and provincial levels. They indicated that formators had to set up a
team to examine their task and the evolution of the formandi and continually to actualize pedagogical and didactic
methods in studies and in life.
The Message of the 1974 General Chapter recommended that this union of formators become a reality whose
purpose was to avoid having formation fall back on each individual formator.
That same Message indicated that it would be beneficial to formulate a plan of provincial formation for each
formation stage. The provinces tried immediately to implement this idea within the limits of their own possibilities. No
initiative was taken regarding this at the level of the Order. Therefore, the 1980 General Chapter approved a proposal
committing the next general government to write and publish a general plan of formation or Ratio Generalis. However,
the preoccupation for the approval of the Constitutions prevented this aspiration from being concretized. Serious work
toward that goal only started during the following six years. Finally, the General Plan of Vocations, Formation and
Studies was published in 1988.
This plan includes a description of Mercedarian identity, of the vocational pastoral ministry, of the development of
the various formative stages, of studies and it concludes with two appendixes: human and Christian formation based on
religious formation and a bibliography which can help formators and formandi.
Formation does not only include the formation period, strictly speaking, prior to definitive incorporation in the
institute but it continues with what is called permanent formation. This imperative was made clear in the 1974 General
Chapter Message. The provinces have tried to make this desire a reality and they have organized encounters for priests
and for all religious. For its part, the General Formation Plan describes the ambit in which permanent formation must be
implemented.
!Historical Institute
! The creation of the Order’s Historical Institute and its accomplishments deserve a special mention in the area of
permanent formation.
At Father Saúl Peredo Meza’s suggestion, the 1980 General Chapter approved two motions. The first was to
create “a Historical Institute to research our history and spirituality, to study the original lineaments of the Order, the
sanctity and the teaching of our Fathers, etc.” The second one reestablished the position of the “General Chronicler of the
Order who will be Director of the Historical Institute.” This new entity was incorporated in the legislative body of the
Constitutions.
The Historical Institute started to operate a year after its creation. In fact, in its January 5, 1981 session, the
general council designated Father Saúl Peredo Meza as General Chronicler. Father Peredo sought to organize this new
institute and he presented a project of Statutes of the Historical Institute to the 1983 extraordinary General Chapter. The
Statutes were subsequently approved by the general council and published on October 1, 1983.
In keeping with the Statutes, the chroniclers of each province are members of the Historical Institute. To that
effect, on May 24, 1984, the director sent a letter to provincials inviting them to designate their own chronicler. The first
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!
members of this new institute were the following religious: Saúl Peredo Meza, Director; Juan Devesa Blanco, Chronicler
of the Province of Aragon; Luis Vázquez Fernández, Chronicler of the Province of Castile; Eleuterio Alarcón Bejarano,
Chronicler of the Province of Peru; Alfonso Morales Ramírez, Chronicler of the Province of Chile; José Brunet,
Chronicler of the Province of Argentina; Antonio Rubino, Chronicler of the Roman Province; Luis Octavio Proaño
Andramuño, Chronicler of the Province of Quito-Ecuador and Arcadio Partida Pérez, Chronicler of the Province of
Mexico.
The first meeting of the Historical Institute took place in Rome, May 11-20, 1987. During the meeting, members
examined their respective assignments and organized their work. The second meeting was in Santiago (Chile) on the
occasion of the First International Congress on Mercedarians in America, November 11-13, 1991. At that meeting, the
Institute revised and updated its own Statutes which were subsequently approved by the Master General and his council
on November 25, 1992. In addition, the Institute formally assumed the commitment to publish a manual of the Order’s
history.
Among the various responsibilities undertaken by the Order’s Historical Institute, we should mention the annual
review of research on history and spirituality, Analecta mercedaria. Its first volume with different types of studies on a
Mercedarian theme was published in 1982. Another collection called Biblioteca mercedaria was also started. Five
volumes have already been published. The Institute is also in charge of publishing other documents or supplements to help
to know the Order, its history and spirituality.
!!
8.
!
INITIATIVES OF A CHARISMATIC NATURE
The International Crusade of Mercedarian Charity generated a lot of enthusiasm in the Order. Some thought that
this would be, if not the only one, at least the main activity to which the Order should dedicate itself. It was indeed a
strong stimulus for the renewal of the Order and of its mission in today’s Church.
To give to this initiative the development it needed, three years after the creation of the Crusade, on January 6,
1967, Master General Bernardo Navarro designated a central commission for the Crusade to work for the persecuted
Church in collaboration with Father Werenfried van Straaten’s work which was called Assistance to the Church in Need.
This collaboration manifested itself in a special way in Spain, in the help of the Province of Castile in this work.
The Crusade called “Redemptive Work,” since December 1971, collected funds and other donations which served
to help Christians in the Church of Silence and to print and to send religious books or Gospels to those oppressed and
captives by forces opposed to the Christian faith with the objective of helping them to remain steadfast in their faith. In
this context of cooperation with those suffering because of their faith, the Redemptive Work of the Mercedarian Order
promoted the printing of 100,000 copies of the Gospel in Polish to be sent to Polish bishops for distribution to the faithful.
In 1984, the Redemptive Work printed 20,000 copies of the New Testament in Ukrainian and gave them to the Primate of
Ukraine, Cardinal Joseph Slipyi.
In 1991, Master General Emilio Aguirre proposed to the Order a campaign to help captive Christians in China and
he submitted its to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Josef Tombo. Besides, the
entire Order organized campaigns of prayers, sacrifices and offerings for Mercedarian missions: Rwanda and Angola in
Africa; in southernmost India, the Christian community of Poothurai, a very poor town in need of a place of worship
suited to its own needs and where people can manifest their endangered faith in the midst of people of other beliefs.
For its part, with a substantial offering to the Primate of Ukraine, Cardinal Myroslaw Ivan Lubachivsky, the
Roman Province had 50,000 copies of the New Testament printed in Ukrainian to be distributed among Christians who
have suffered so much under communist rule and whose faith needs to be strengthened by reading the Word of God.
At Father Pío Pablo Donnelly’s initiative, the Province of Argentina continues its action for the sake of Christians,
especially captive bishops and priests in China, by sending help which can encourage hope for better days ahead.
In light of the Constitutions which have prompted the Order’s redemptive mission, in their Statutes, all provinces
give guidelines to implement the mission by indicating the fields which form the specific setting for a Mercedarian
redemptive action, in every country where Mercedarian religious are present.
In the pastoral care of parishes existing in all the provinces, Mercedarian religious work in a redemptive spirit and
they actualize their charism of liberation for the most lowly, the poorest and the marginalized through the practice of
works of mercy and initiatives in defense of the faith.
On the other hand, each province carries out the types of charity which are most beneficial to the local situations
to actualize the common redemptive mission in today’s world: prison ministry in jail chaplaincies; helping prisoners’
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families; return to society of former prisoners in rehabilitation homes; care of young people at risk in shelters and welfare
centers; education in the faith, ethics and human promotion of youth; specific action to help refugees, street children, drug
addicts, immigrants and the marginalized.
!!
9. THE ORDER’S RESPONSE TO THE CHURCH’S
MISSIONARY CALL
!
In December 1982, twenty years after the start of the Council, the Order was present in 16 nations, with 156
houses, 513 priests, 107 professed clerics, 83 professed laymen, 32 novices, 241 candidates and 10 religious had been
appointed bishops to work at the service of the Church in various dioceses. Ten years later, at the 1992 General Chapter in
Mexico City for the fifth centennial of the beginning of evangelization in the Americas in which the Order played such an
important role, we had a more complete perspective. The number of bishops remained unchanged; there were 152 houses
in 16 countries, 494 priests, 140 professed clerics, 66 professed laymen and 40 novices. These people were engaged in
pastoral ministry in 130 parishes, 44 colleges, 56 jail chaplaincies, 3 missions and 41 works of social assistance.
In fact, in recent years and especially under the encouraging impetus of Master General Emilio Aguirre, besides
actualizing its redemptive mission for human liberation, the Order is also moving to assume new commitments in
harmony with the Church’s missionary mandate, as the Holy Father directly indicated to us and to the entire Church in his
encyclical Redemptoris missio.
In effect, since 1968, in Africa, Mercedarian religious from the Province of Castile had been present first in
Burundi, which they were later forced to abandon, and in Rwanda. Then in 1992, religious from the Province of Chile
were present in Angola.
Through the work of the Roman Province, for the first time, Mercedarian religious became present in Asia,
specifically, in India in 1992.
But the Order as such has taken a more specifically missionary path in the broadest sense of the word, with the
message of the 1992 General Chapter: Mercedarians and New Evangelization. The new evangelization, to which the pope
is summoning the Church, extends to every human being and it commits the entire Church. Mercedarians strive to carry it
out according to their particular charism to bring redemption to people who are subjected to new forms of captivity.
In this perspective, the message takes up what Mercedarian provincials specified in 1978, in the Córdoba
Document: “Redemption signifies the integral promotion of the new person. On the basis of Jesus’ Resurrection
culminating in the Reign, this includes liberation from all forms of economic, social and spiritual captivity which, in the
words of the Apostle (1 Cor 15), lead to death. In fidelity to this principle, Saint Peter Nolasco situated the liberation of
captives in the line of Christ’s universal redemptive work. All redemption tends to be humanly liberating even when at
times, this exigency does not become fully explicit at the social and economic level in the course of the history of this
world.”
!!
10. THE MERCEDARIAN FAMILY
!!
Religious of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy
! This group, which comes from the cloistered Mercedarian Sisters, was initiated by nine monasteries. On August
30, 1980, by a decision of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, with the election of the first general government, it
became juridically constituted as an Institute.
The definitive and reformed Constitutions were approved on May 13, 1986. As they were previously doing, the
sisters continue to profess the fourth vow and their basic objective is living the Mercedarian charism, imitating Christ and
making him present as a friend, redeemer and liberator among captive, oppressed or persecuted Christians. The
Constitutions express this objective in the following words: “The religious of Mercy intend to proclaim and to bear
witness to the Good News of love and liberty by actively bringing it to those who are deprived of it and who find
themselves submitted to different forms of oppression which make their human realization difficult and which are
opposed to the full development of their Christian faith.”
The motherhouse is the former Monastery of Don Juan de Alarcón in Madrid. At present, there are 11 monasteries
with 173 religious.
!Secular Association of Our Lady of Mercy
!
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!
In speaking of Mercedarian Institutes, it should be recalled that on January 8, 1975, Father Guillermo Hurtado
Alvarez founded the Secular Association of Our Lady of Mercy in Jipijapa (Ecuador). It was erected canonically as a
Secular Institute of diocesan right by the archbishop of Cuenca on September 24, 1989. The Responsible General of this
Institute is Miss Alicia Hurtado Alvarez.
The purpose of this Mercedarian association is to spread God’s Word and to practice works of mercy. Master
General Emilio Aguirre incorporated it in the Order on June 3, 1990.
!Attention to Other Members of the Mercedarian Family
! In these days of renewal, the Order has also turned its attention to other members of the Mercedarian Family:
religious institutes incorporated in the Order and in particular, to lay associations integrated in the Order.
In reference to Mercedarian religious institutes, the 1986 Constitutions prescribe: “The general and provincial
governments will have a delegate who is in charge of promoting relations with those institutes, so that they may help one
another and organize, if possible, some common apostolate. In order to strengthen the bonds of union even more, it is
useful to promote meetings of a spiritual character, study and planning.”
In the postconciliar period, there have been many initiatives in that direction, as indicated by the Constitutions.
These experiences are the expression and sign of results already obtained and a stimulus for the future. In fact, in the
general curia as well as in the provinces, where to a greater or lesser degree, there have been contacts of a spiritual,
formative nature, apostolic and vocational activities have been shared; there have been shared study encounters and the
feasts of the Virgin of Mercy and of Saint Peter Nolasco have been celebrated in a family atmosphere.
These expressions, the Order’s interest in strengthening spiritual bonds with Mercedarian sisters and the spiritual
encouragement for their federation reveal the new family atmosphere which has been created with these Mercedarian
religious institutes.
!Mercedarian Laity
! With regard to the laity, the Order maintains a relationship which has to be appreciated according to early
Mercedarian tradition.
For the purpose of undertaking the renewal of Third Orders, in 1975, the assistants general of some religious
orders took the initiative to give a new profile to lay associations incorporated in their respective orders. To that effect,
they prepared a document which was sent to the preparatory commission for the redaction of the Code of Canon Law.
Assistant general Father Alfonso Morales, responsible for the general Secretariat of Mercedarian pastoral ministry,
represented the Order in this initiative. In May 1976, he sent to all provinces a valuable study and reflection document for
the actualization of Mercedarian lay associations.
From September 26 to September 30, 1976, a national Congress was held in Guayaquil (Ecuador) for the renewal
and actualization of the Mercedarian Third Order of Ecuador and to come up with a joint response to the questionnaire
sent by the responsible for the general Secretariat of Mercedarian pastoral ministry, in view of the projected new
Constitutions. On that occasion, Master General Domingo Acquaro sent a letter on September 12, to lay people affiliated
to the Order, in order to encourage them in their work and in their membership in the Order.
On September 8, 1976, in writing to the religious of the province on the occasion of the Mercedarian feast, the
Provincial of Argentina, Manuel Orellano, particularly emphasized the need to revitalize the lay institutes of the Order and
to adapt them to the demands of the time.
The Master General suggested to the responsible for the general Secretariat of pastoral ministry to have a personal
encounter with the Mercedarian lay associations existing in Latin America. The initiative was concretized in the first
months of 1977, through meetings of the different Mercedarian associations in the Provinces of Argentina, Chile, Peru and
Ecuador. Various realities surfaced, according to the different local circumstances of each association, with perspectives
and expectations of renewal proportional to the fact that the Order assumed responsibility for that renewal. When these
encounters were concluded, in September, 1977, Father Alfonso Morales sent to all provinces a study and reflection on the
pastoral commitment which the Order should make to the Mercedarian laity. In turn, some provinces tried to publish some
general ordinances for Mercedarian lay associations.
The 1986 Constitutions underscored the importance of Mercedarian lay associations, the need to promote the
spiritual maturity and permanent formation of their members and their active participation in the Order’s apostolic works.
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In its concern for these associations, the 1992 General Chapter approved the General Statutes of Lay Mercedarian
Associations which constitute the Order’s common basis for the renewal of these associations.
In the new evangelization plan, special importance is given to the contribution of lay people to whom the Order
addresses a call inviting them to cooperate, according to its tradition, in the redemptive task.
!!
11.
!
MARY OF MERCY OR OF LIBERATION
In the work of looking more deeply into the charism and spirituality of the Order, a special reference to Mary of
Mercy has always been present. Pertinent publications bear witness to this by emphasizing Mary’s function in
Mercedarians’ consecrated lives. There were other occasions when the Order felt the need to return to this theme.
At the first meeting of the council of provincials, in Caracas, in 1981, participants reflected on the title Mother of
Mercy along the line of liberation. In 1988, Estudios dedicated a special issue to looking deeply at this title and at this
Marian line of liberation. The title of the issue was Santa María de la Merced and the most accredited writers of the
Mercedarian family collaborated. On the occasion of the fifth centennial of the evangelization of the Americas, in
Santiago (Chile), in 1989, Father Alfonso Morales published: María, Merced de Dios para los hombres, a work filled with
details on the origin, expansion—in America in particular—and the theological significance of the title of Mercy given to
Mary as the Mother of the Redeemer and on the influence which the Blessed Virgin, invoked under the title of Mercy, had
in the formation of American Christian communities. Finally, we should point out that in 1995, Father Xabier Pikaza
wrote a brief treatise of Mariology with the title Santa María de la Merced — Introducción bíblica. Before speaking
explicitly of Mary of Mercy in the life of Saint Peter Nolasco and in the history of the Order founded by him, the author
examines the biblical texts referring to Mary and he concludes that, in the history of salvation, Jesus’ Mother is liberating
captives according to God’s plan achieved in her and that Peter Nolasco and the Mercedarians have simply made this
function of Mary emerge within the Church.
In reference to this Marian aspect, in a discourse addressed to the 1986 capitulars, Pope John Paul II stated: “May
the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy be your Mother and model, especially as you live your fourth vow. The very title of
your Marian dedication which also gives its name to the Order, constitutes in itself a marvelous plan of life which speaks
of mercy, redemption, conversion and forgiveness: the same values through which the Son of God came into the world,
became incarnated and gave his life for us.”
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152
!
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Before concluding this historical synthesis of the life of the religious Institute founded by Saint Peter Nolasco
during almost eight centuries of existence, it is fitting to see it in a future perspective. This history is not only a
remembrance belonging to the past but it is also a catalyst to continue it in the future in order to offer the contribution of
the Order in building up a more just and more human world.
Paul VI said to the participants in the 1968 General Chapter: “Your history, so filled with sanctity and heroism,
has not stopped… it continues on its course: because its trajectory is one of charity and charity belongs to the essence of
the Church, although the way it is applied changes with the signs of the times. In accordance with the teaching of the
Council, you want to maintain and strengthen the spirit and the rich patrimony of your Order at the same time as you
analyze the needs of the world and of the Church to help human beings more effectively as you are on fire with apostolic
zeal. This mission—as you well know—will have no effect if it is not accompanied by fervent interior renewal, the
practice of the virtues of humility and obedience, fortitude and chastity, poverty and charity, by which you participate in
the kenosis of Christ from whom flows love of neighbor, a special aspect of your institutional physiognomy.”
These words of Paul VI are insightful in reference to the very soul of the Order and its spirituality as the source of
interior life from which liberating action emerges with strength at the same time as they encourage our looking to the
future where the Mercedarian charism always appears current.
Open to the breath of the Holy Spirit and with optimism, the Mercedarian Order has made room for appropriate
renewal to fulfill its role in the Mystical Body of Christ. This is why when, on May 22, 1986, the Holy Father, Pope John
Paul II, received the Order’s General Chapter’s participants in a private audience, his words were very encouraging.
Among other things, the pope said: “On this happy occasion, I am pleased to encourage you in your determination to carry
out your Founder’s ideals and purposes in today’s historical and social context which is, in many aspects, so different
from the one of his time, even though just as much in need of being oriented to the same fundamental values of justice,
mercy, liberation, reconciliation and peace. I would especially like to exhort you to maintain, to increase and to spread the
great devotion, characteristic of your origins, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, who has participated in her
divine Son’s redemptive work in such an exemplary way. Only this way will your Order be able to keep that evangelical
spirit, that deep longing for human redemption and liberation which has always characterized it in an integral and
unchanging way: the liberation of human beings from all forms of misery, slavery and oppression, starting with one that is
fundamental, liberation from sin.”
With these words, the pope has undoubtedly been able to capture and to express clearly the present relevance of
the Mercedarian charism in today’s world where captivity as it was known in Peter Nolasco’s time no longer exists and
yet there are still people oppressed by other forms of slavery. At this time in history, the Order of Mercy continues to carry
out Christ’s redemptive work and, imitating Mary in her admirable cooperation with her Son, in the redemption and
integral liberation of human beings. Bringing the Gospel to everyone is the surest means for this work of redemption and
liberation.
Now the Church is preparing to celebrate the Great Jubilee of the year 2,000 and to enter the third millennium,
determined to bring the new evangelization, that is to say, evangelical values to people who are still hoping to know
Christ. As Pope John Paul II observed in Redemptoris missio, humankind agrees with some of the values which the
Church proclaims. These values which form an integral part of the Mercedarian charism are: “the rejection of violence
and war, respect for human beings and their rights, the longing for freedom, justice and fellowship, the tendency to
overcome all forms of racism and nationalism, affirming the dignity and appreciation of women.”
All of this —the pope said— is a providential sign of God’s goodness and mercy and of sure hope: “As we are
approaching the third millennium of the Redemption, God is preparing a great Christian spring of which we are seeing the
beginning.”
Even though it is small, the Order of Mercy wants to contribute to bring the spring of the Spirit according to the
liberating charism of liberation which it received from Saint Peter Nolasco and which it longs to preserve and to actualize
in our contemporary world to build up the Reign of God.
!

Mercedarian Historical Synthesis - Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Transcription

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