Daily Life in Colonial Mexico: The Journey of Friar Ilarione da Bergamo, 1761-1768 (review)

This edited translation of Venetian friar Ilarione da Bergamo's memoir of his journey to New Spain, his impressions of Mexico City, and his experiences as an alms collector for the Propaganda Fide in the city of Real del Monte is a welcome addition to the few such published diaries, journals, and memoirs chronicling everyday life in late colonial Mexico. Well-known accounts, such as those of noted scientist Alexander von Humboldt, commentator Fanny Calderón de la Barca, and cleric Francisco de Ajofrín, are reinforced by this obscure friar's narrative; more important, his work provides the reader with a fuller, more nuanced portrait of the culture, institutions, and value systems dominating colonial Mexico.

Ilarione da Bergamo was one of seven Capuchins sent to New Spain in the 1760s to collect funds in support of efforts to reintroduce missionaries into Tibet. When the Spanish crown evicted all foreign clerics from the Americas in 1767, Ilarione returned to his monastery in Bergamo and, using notes, letters, diaries, and sketches, composed an account of his experiences in New Spain. Daily Life in Colonial Mexico is the first complete, annotated publication of the resulting manuscript and its only translation into English.

Fra Ilarione begins with a chronological account of his arduous two-year journey from Bergamo to Mexico City. His tale includes a harrowing account of his vessel's capture by a British warship, as well as descriptions of the unceasing physical hardships imposed by violent storms, unbearable heat, and endless ocean calms. Once in the Mexican capital, Ilarione shifts to a topical analysis of everyday life in New Spain. Clearly impressed by his surroundings, he describes typical Mexican foods and plants, occupations and amusements, and diseases and medicinal practices. Ilarione is not a bland chronicler, and his fascination with all things Mexican colors his narrative. Chile, for example, "like cancer, gnaws at the innards" (p. 105), and a matador's display becomes a demonstration of the "habitual Spanish air of indifference to life" (p. 118). Mexico City, he says, is "a wondrous composite of wealth and poverty, abundance and scarcity, fidelity and cunning, little faith, larceny, and many frauds" (p. 153). Finally, he travels to the mining district of Real del Monte to begin his work as an alms collector. He paints a vivid portrait of the intricacies of silver mining, concentrating on the mercury extraction process; he also matter-of-factly recounts his role in saving the life of mine owner Pedro Romero de Terreros, count of Regla, from his striking Indian miners during a 1766 uprising.

While Fra Ilarione is a marvelous eyewitness, he is not centrally aware of the implications of his observations. Although he tearfully recounts the 1767 expulsion of the Jesuits from New Spain and regrets his own subsequent expulsion from his adopted homeland, he evinces little understanding of the struggle between the clergy and the absolutist crown. To the extent that he notes the socioeconomic stratification dividing colonial Mexico, it is more by chance than by design. According to Ilarione, "Generally speaking, the Creoles, Indians, and mestizos, along with mulattos, are sluggards, drunkards, thieves, swindlers, and lechers" (p. 115). He fails to grasp how this growing tension within the racial hierarchy might form the basis for the Mexican independence movement 50 years later.

Ilarione's text is amply introduced and annotated by editors Miller and Orr, who provide a sound historical context to frame the friar's account and footnote all notable figures, institutions, and geographic locations mentioned in the text. Also included are a helpful timeline of Fra Ilarione's journey and a series of illustrations printed in his original manuscript...