A Harvest of Reluctant Souls: Fray Alonso de Benavides's History of New Mexico, 1630

18. The Moqui (Hopi) Nation

32 • Traveling in the same westerly direction another thirty leagues, you will arrive at the province of Moqui. It has the same number of inhabitants as the preceding Zuni tribe—about ten thousand souls. The friars are busy catechizing and baptizing. Our Lord has confirmed the baptism and the spreading of His Holy Word with the following miracle. It is customary among the infidel Indians to receive a friar very well in their pueblos in the beginning, and to submit themselves for baptism. And seeing how well the friars teach the Indians the doctrines of the church, which means, of course, the giving up of their idolatries and witchcraft, the sorcerers feel it greatly and stir up all the rest. They divert the attention of the others, trying their best to keep them from turning Christian. Not only this, but they may also throw the priest out of the pueblo, or kill him. This is what happened in the principal pueblo of the Moqui province . The people received the padre who had come to convert them very well, along with his companions and some soldiers who were there as escorts. Using an original cross that had belonged to Mother Luisa de Carrión,1 as well as lively and effective reasoning, the priest was urging them to the worship of the One God and Lord, the Creator 18. TheMoqui (Hopi)Nation The Moqui (Hopi) Nation • 33 of all things, Who for our redemption had died on a cross like Mother Luisa’s. The Indians had an obligation to adore the cross as well, and not their idols, with which the devil had so deceived them. The sorcerers were infuriated. Seeing everyone slipping out of the control that they, as ministers of the devil, had had over their souls, they persuaded the people that the priest and everyone who accompanied him were liars on a mission of deception. They should be killed. Although the Indians wished to do just that on several occasions, they didn’t dare do so on account of the vigilance of the soldiers, and, more to the point, because of divine aid. Shortly thereafter, a troop of them came up bringing a boy of twelve or thirteen, blind from birth, born with his eyes shut tight, with no chance of ever seeing, and they said these words to the priest: “You have to be an incredible liar, and if what you say about that thing you call a cross is true, go ahead and put it on this boy’s eyes. If it causes his eyes to open, we will confess the truth of everything you preach. But if it doesn’t, we’ll have to kill you or at least throw you out in our confusion.” Hearing all this, the padre fell on his knees with all the worry and devotion that you might imagine in such a case. With that same cross in his hands and his eyes lifted to heaven, he asked Our Divine Majesty that He work one of His miracles to confound those barbarous infidels so that they might worship His holy name and cross. A village in the western Pueblo country. © 1994 The Albuquerque Museum, Bernie Umland, Donor. Neg. No. 1975.063.610. 34 • Chapter 18 The priest got up and placed the cross with infinite faith on the eyes of the blind boy. In the same instant he opened them and began to cry aloud, admiring everything he saw. With that, the Indians hugged the boy, carrying him through the streetsandplazas,proclaimingthemiracleloudlyandsayingthateveryone should become Christian, and that everyone should be baptized and do whatever the good padre instructed, because it was the truth. They said that their own sorcerers were liars who had deceived them. And so the Indians submitted to whatever the priest and his retinue might teach them in order to be baptized, and they had great love and respect for them: Sit nomen Domini benedictu.2 Although Our Lord has worked many miracles in all of our previous missions, I have not referred to them as of yet. I have preferred instead to write a general history of that country, which with the grace of God I am doing.3 I have only wished to pass on to Your Majesty’s attention the selected miracles caused by the hand of Our Lord this past year of 1629, just after it had pleased Your Majesty to...