El Carmelo Novohispano, and: Los franciscanos en Chile: Una historia de 450 años (review)

Despite the fact that the Carmelite Order has been present in Mexico since the sixteenth century, it has not elicited the interest of many historians. For the colonial period, only the works of Father Dionisio Victoria, published between 1966 and 1991, precede the works of Manuel Ramos Medina, who has previously written two books on the female branch of the order. In El Carmelo Novohispano, Ramos surveys the Carmelites between 1586, the date of foundation of the first convent in Mexico City, and 1821, when Mexico gained its independence. Unlike other mendicants, the Carmelites were not missionaries, and despite Philip II's wishes to have them engage in proselytizing, a latesixteenth century reform defined them as mendicants, favoring a mixture of spirituality and active advocacy of the faith, except among the indigenous. They remained an urban- and Spanish-oriented order.

This work does not pretend to be an exhaustive history of the Carmelites. As the author points out, there are still many themes in their history open to future historians. However, this effort to reawaken interest in the order is commendable. Ramos examines the convents' establishment and related topics such as hacienda ownership and administration, the construction of models of exemplar spiritual behavior, personal transgressions, and devotional practices, represented by the activities of confraternities and the public celebration of Carmelite-based religious festivities. He also lists the members of the order between the years 1586 and 1811. Archival and printed sources furnish sometimes colorful data on the personalities of some members of the order. The information on devotional practices is of particular interest to historians in religious studies. A new analytical trend sees these practices as mirrors of the popular perception and interpretation of the Church's teachings. Since the richest sources of information are from the seventeenth century, this book provides a key to understanding the so-called "baroque mentality" of mid-colonial Mexican religiosity.

As true missionaries, the Franciscans were far more popular in their time than the Carmelites. Even so, the editors of Los franciscanos en Chile claim that the history of the order in that country remains largely unknown to the majority of the population, despite the wealth of its archival sources. This work gathers eighteen essays covering the colonial and republican periods, with special emphasis placed on narrating the Franciscans' missionary activity. Close attention is given to southern Chile, an often neglected area in church historiography. The contact with the indigenous in evangelizing areas is presented from the order's viewpoint, and, although valuable data is provided, the format is traditional rather than innovative. It is worth noting that the Franciscans were still engaged in missionary work in the nineteenth century owing to the ineffective results of earlier attempts. Of special interest are editor René Millar's essay on popular religion and the model of sanctity, Karin Pereira's article on the education of the indigenous, and Juan G. Muñoz's essay on the benefactors who established the chantries of the convent of San Antonio in Malloa, a rural area in central Chile.

These two works blend traditional approaches, such as the history of foundations and the financial bases of the orders, with more modern trends, such as the representation of holiness as a proselytizing device and a projection of the regulars' desire to build an official memory of their own. They also suggest that in the future, the history of religious orders should broaden its parameters by understanding religion as part of a period's cultural paradigm, as well as analyzing the goals and beliefs of those who professed in them and those who interacted with them as objects of their endeavors.