by Eva Neisser Echenberg

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the Catholic Church in the conquest of the New World. The first priests arrived on Columbus' second voyage and from then on every expedition had one or more priests. Conversion to Christianity was fundamental to the Spanish conquest manifested by their two symbols, la espada y la cruz, the sword and the cross.

The Jesuits, like the other religious orders, came to the Americas to convert and civilize. But they also had another role, to defend the indigenous people against the abuse of their Spanish compatriots.

In Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, the native Guaraní people were in great danger of being captured and sold as slaves. To protect them, the Jesuits convinced them to abandon their nomadic lives and settle in missions. In Paraguay, the Jesuit missions' theocratic experiment, one of the most interesting social experiments of the Americas, survived for over 150 years.

The Jesuit missions were towns of about 4,000 people that had centralized organization and absolute discipline. These agricultural colonies, called “reductions,” were utopian experiments, founded on the basis of Christianity.

Two Jesuit priests made all the decisions and the Guaraní obeyed. One priest was in charge of the spiritual life of the population and the other, with more authority, directed the temporal life. Responsible Guaranís were chosen to implement the orders of the Jesuits. No one owned land nor homes since all benefits were for the community and not for the individual. Everyone, the smart and the stupid, those who worked hard and those who did little, received the same clothes, food and housing. They worked only half a day, and while they worked, they listened to music. Whatever surplus was produced, beyond the needs of the mission, was sold.

In keeping with the epoc, women had few rights. Men participated in celebrations. Women were merely spectators. Women were tasked with the manufacture of cotton fabrics, thus creating another product that served the needs of the mission and, if there were excess, was for sale.

The missions were small towns, with identical houses for the Guaraní and a large church in the center. The first buildings were built without interior walls, but later they were divided into small rooms, one for each family. The largest, most beautiful and most impressive building was the church. Today these enormous stone churches, monuments of baroque style with few local elements, filled with artistic and religious treasures, are tourist centers.

Because the Jesuits were so convinced of the superiority of European culture, religion and thought, they were uninterested in Guaraní culture, customs or traditions. The exception was language. Everyone spoke Guaraní. In this the Jesuits disobeyed the Spanish authority’s edict to impose Spanish.

The Guaraní only learned what the Jesuits thought necessary. Some learned trades such as blacksmith or silversmith, while others, always guided by Jesuit specialists, learned to paint, dance, be musicians and sculptors. All were baptized and learned to pray. Very few learned to read or write.

Despite the authoritarian organization of the missions, there were advantages for the Guaraní. Living inside the missions they were well fed, and safe from the greatest danger confronting them, being captured and enslaved.

When, for purely political reasons, the Jesuits were expelled from the Americas in 1767 the world they had created disappeared,including the prosperity. The Guaranís went hungry. Of the 30 missions existing when the Jesuits were expelled, 22 disappeared in less than 15 years. The towns were looted, burned, or simply abandoned.

One hundred and fifty years of Jesuit power as manifest in the Paraguayan mission system resists facile evaluation. While it is true that the Jesuits protected the Guaraní, it is also true that Jesuit absolutism has had a deep impact on the Paraguayan people.

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Eva Neisser Echenberg is a Canadian teacher, writer, and presenter who spends winters in SMA. Born in Lima, she has spent her adult life in Montreal. She has written a memoir, Walter's Welcome, the Intimate Story of a German-Jewish Family' s Flight from the Nazis to Peru. In SMA, she volunteers at the folk-art museum, La Esquina, where she also gives weekly guided tours of this outstanding gallery.

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