Illegitimacy and Racial Hierarchy in the Peruvian Priesthood: A Seventeenth-Century Dispute

Towards the Founding of a Native Clergy and the Revival of ‘Mamacha Cocharcas’: Popular Lived Catholicism in the Wake of Vatican II

“…A native clergy was a goal that had long largely eluded the rural Andes, rooted in large part in longstanding and deeply held discrimination against indigenous people. In colonial Mexico, those who did not want mestizo priests ordained argued that Mexican Indians were simply too common and had none of the ascendancy with which is necessary to preach (de la Costa 1947) and in 1555, officially excluded all Mexican Indian men from Holy Orders (Hyland 1998). Peruvian bishops followed in their footsteps and refused to ordain Peruvian Indians as priests, and in 1582, the Jesuits unanimously voted to exclude all mestizos from the Society (Hyland 1998).…”

“…In colonial Mexico, those who did not want mestizo priests ordained argued that Mexican Indians were simply too common and had none of the ascendancy with which is necessary to preach (de la Costa 1947) and in 1555, officially excluded all Mexican Indian men from Holy Orders (Hyland 1998). Peruvian bishops followed in their footsteps and refused to ordain Peruvian Indians as priests, and in 1582, the Jesuits unanimously voted to exclude all mestizos from the Society (Hyland 1998). In 1677, Archbishop Pardo of Manila argued against a previous decree supporting native Filipino clergy, because Indians had "evil customs and ideas" that necessitated paternalistic handling.…”

The Long Road to an Andean Catholic Clergy: From Solórzano to Pèlach I Feliú

“…20, p. 673). 7 The Jesuits initially intended to allow many mestizos to join, and a number did, such as Bartolomé de Santiago, Pedro de Añasco, and Blas Valera (Hyland 1998). Many of these mestizo priests tended to view Andean Catholicism sympathetically, seeing Andean culture and Christianity as compatible.…”

“…Christianity (Hyland 1998). This was a stance supported by other prominent mestizos of the time, such as the chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, who argued "Christian truth could never had taken root in the Andes had its way not been prepared by the Incas" (MacCormack 1991, p. 364).…”

“…When the Crown banned mestizo priests, it caused an uproar among mestizo groups in Peru. Multiple letters were sent to the Crown, petitioning the Crown to revoke the order (Hyland 1998). Throughout these letters, a few themes stayed constant: namely, arguing that mestizo priests were particularly good missionaries due to their native fluency in the indigenous languages, and that without these language skills among the clergy, the evangelization of the Andes would inevitably falter and fail; and that existent mestizo priests were of excellent moral standing, diligent and faithful in their love of the Church; it was the Spanish who were the real problem, not mestizos.…”