Las Casas en México: Historia y obra desconocidas By Helen Rand Parish and Harold E. Weidman (review)

470 BOOK REVIEWS priests' confidential files by the second bishop of the diocese, Albert Ottenweller . Given this approach, the work lacks the historical objectivity that one would expect to find in a work entitled a History of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio. Conjectures and opinions are given about episcopal motives, some of which might be quite valid, but without the backing of archival material they often remain simply in the realm of conjecture and opinion. The reader learns a great deal about how others perceived the actions of Bishop Mussio but not necessarily why the bishop acted as he did. This is not to say that the work does not have value. Father Brown gives a great deal of factual material about the diocese and the oral testimony that he presents is of genuine value. He strives for objectivity in presenting views other than his own and is generally successful in this endeavor. The Diocese of Steubenville encompasses an area that has long been depressed economically and at times the very continuance of the diocese has been questioned. The story is rather inspiring in terms of the sacrifices made by the priests, religious, and laity of the diocese. The author writes with an engaging style that displays his journalistic background. Often he shows a sense of humor such as when he describes how he himself was relieved of the title of Monsignor . The book could have benefited from a more thorough editing since there are spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. There are also factual errors. John Courtney Murray made remarkable contributions to the Declaration on Religious Liberty but he did not provide "the substance of the Council's crucial document on The Church in the Modern World" (p. 243); Richard, not Henry, Gilmour was the second bishop of Cleveland (p. 445). Finally, the price listed on the invoice is outrageous. At such a cost even libraries will hesitate to purchase the work. Thomas W. Tifft St. Mary Seminary Cleveland, Ohio Latin American Las Casas en México: Historia y obra desconocidas. By Helen Rand Parish and Harold E. Weidman. [Sección de Obras de Historia.] (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Order from Fondo de Cultura Económica, USA, Inc., 2293 Versus St., San Diego, CA 92154. 1992. Pp. 409. Í22.99) In this volume Helen Rand Parish, with extensive input from Harold Weidman , SJ., continues her life-work of illuminating the career of the famous Dominican friar and bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, known for his defense of Indian liberties. Here the co-authors take as their theme four episodes when Las Casas visited the city of Mexico in 1535, 1536, 1539, and 1546. The volume is composed of two parts and a long section of appendices. Part One (pp. 7-119), entitled "Una Historia Desconocida" (An Unknown History), is the work of Dr. Parish and presents her arguments for the four visits of Las BOOK REVIEWS 471 Casas to Mexico and his participation in discussions regarding the problems of relationships between the Spaniards and the Indians during those years. The presentation is episodic and at times the sequence is hard to follow. But it gives new insights into the friar-bishop's work, in spite of the fact that Dr. Parish never finds any cause to criticize the work of Las Casas. Part Two (pp. 121-247), "Una Obra Desconocida" (An Unknown Work), is a co-operative editorial work of the two authors in which they present a previously unknown Latin writing of Las Casas, which they have entitled "De exemptione, sive damnatione" (On Exemption or Damnation). The original is preserved in manuscript form, written in Las Casas' hand, in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris in the tome Mss espagnols 325. It is a work that the editors judge that Las Casas wrote in Mexico in 1546 and gave to his friend the Augustinian scholar Alonso de la Vera Cruz, who added some annotations to it. It is a Scholastic disquisition on the question of whether the clergy are exempt from the coercive jurisdiction of the princes and secular judges, to which Las Casas answers in the affirmative. It is published here in the...