Roma net Caraibi: L'organizzazione delle missioni cattoliche nelle Antille e in Guyana (1635-1675) by Giovanni Pizzorusso (review)

book reviews807 is a grouping offive shorter pieces, two byValdés and three by Flaminio, on topics including Christian penitence and justification by faith. Four letters foUow between Flaminio, Alvise Priuli, Pietro Carnesecchi, and GiuUa Gonzaga.Taken together, these works show the vitality ofreUgious discussion in Italy before the official condemnation by the Council ofTrent in 1547 of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Much of the excitement generated by this coUection is due to its origin: the Processo Carnesecchi contained in the archives of the Roman Inquisition.That Marcatto has been aUowed to examine—indeed print—these documents, raises the hope that soon these coUections wiU be avaUable more generally. Michelle M. Fontaine University ofArkansas at Little Rock Latin American Roma net Caraibi: L'organizzazione dette missioni cattoliche nette Antitte e in Guyana (1635-1675). By Giovanni Pizzorusso. [CoUection de l'École française de Rome, 207.] (Rome: École française de Rome. 1995. Pp. xv, 366.) This is a scholarly work that exhibits monumental research in an area that has been largely ignored in the literature on this topic. By examining in detaU Catholic missionary efforts in the smaUer Caribbean islands and the coast of South America during the baroque period, Giovanni Pizzorusso has provided a service for scholars who have focused almost exclusively upon the betterknown and more amply documented Mexican and Peruvian experiences. In contrast to the Iberian possessions where the missionary efforts usuaUy did not have to resolve national dUferences, this book shows how the competing monarchical interests in the Caribbean made for a major dUference in the organization of evangelization. Citing an English immigrant to Barbados in the first of four chapters, Pizzorusso describes the Caribbean as "A Babel ofAU Nations ." He points out that unlike the experience in Spanish America, CathoUc missionaries to the Caribbean had to confront Protestantism, while simultaneously trying to assuage conflicts arising from national and linguistic differences among themselves. Moreover, they had to minister not only to the native peoples indigenous to the Caribbean but also to African slaves. Chapters Two and Three document the disputes between Dominicans and Capuchin Franciscans (and eventuaUy the Jesuits) over matters of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.These disputes were compUcated by rivalries between the French, who had recently asserted political control ofmany ofthe islands, and the Spanish , who had established the missions earlier. In Chapter Four, the author evaluates the solution: the maintenance of a centraUzed control over the missions by the Vatican Congregation de Propaganda Fide that proposed creating an Apostolic Vicariate and a seminary for native clergy, Like Laval in Quebec, Canada. 808book reviews That solution was never applied, as King Louis XTV of France intended episcopal appointments as a mode of royal control and, like the Spanish monarch, opposed the erection of any more vicariates in the colonies. Although they were strange bedfellows with the GalUcan aspirations of the French crown, the interests of the religious orders in preserving their own foundations coincided with this opinion.As a result, it was not until 1850 that an episcopal see was erected in this region. Pizzorusso's well documented study supports the view that far from being a timid and passive agency, Propaganda was a creative and visionary force in baroque CathoUcism. OveraU, the author supplies a wealth of detaU and ample citations to sustain his positive view of the Holy See. The drawbacks to the book, ironicaUy, lie in its erudition.The four chapters are really more like four related but independent dissertation-type studies. No doubt European scholars are protected from the dragon of consumerism that increasingly forces academics pubUshing in EngUsh to write books with Uvely prose and the suspense of historical drama. But this book would be easier to read with a bit more dash. We also are not told enough about visionary humanist clerics like Raymond de Breton, O.P., Henri de la Borde, SJ., or Jean-Baptiste Dutertre, O.E, each ofwhom has contributed mightily to contemporary knowledge of the linguistic, cultural, and historical evolution of these multi-racial and multi-ethnic Caribbean societies . When aU is said and done, however, this is a highly specialized work of great value and an indispensable resource for future research...