Vida eterna y preocupaciones terrenales: Las capellanias de misas en la Nueva Espana, 1700-1821 (review)

Vida eterna y preocupaciones terrenales: Las capellanías de misas en la Nueva España, 1700-1821. By GISELA VON WOBESER. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1999. Tables. Appendixes. Bibliography. 283 pp. Paper.

This work by Gisela von Wobeser is an important contribution to our understanding of the capellanía de misas (chantry) in colonial Mexico. This institution has been studied by many scholars, whose work is well recognized in this book. Yet none has written a full synthesis of the institution. Von Wobeser does just that. She analyzes nearly every aspect of the capellanía on the basis of literally thousands of examples from the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico. This work is truly a primer on the capellanía. In brief, the capellanía is an endowment, the fruits of which are used to pay for masses for the benefit of the souls of the founder and his/her relatives and others stipulated in the foundation documents.

The work is divided into five chapters that focus on the different aspects of the capellanía. Chapter 1 outlines the general characteristics of the capellanía, the various types into which they may be divided. The most important distinction is drawn between lay chantries and ecclesiastical chantries. This basic distinction is of great importance because the lay chantry, which was more common, existed in many ways alongside of ecclesiastical authority, while the ecclesiastical chantry was fully subject to supervision and administration by the ecclesiastical court. Moreover, the endowment for the ecclesiastical chantry was inalienable from the church, while the endowment for the lay chantry was fully negotiable, within certain very liberal guidelines.

Chapter 2 then delves more deeply into the economic basis for the chantry. Chantries could be established on various types of endowments. The two most obvious are donations of cash or real property. In the case of the cash it was loaned at interest, while property was rented to generate the income necessary for the sustenance of the chantry. The least well-understood type of endowment is the lien placed on real property. In this case the founder of the chantry placed a lien on a previously free-and-clear piece of real property, promising to pay the interest on that lien in perpetuity. This allowed individuals who lacked sufficient cash or who did not wish to donate property to both keep control over the property and also provide for the foundation of the chantry. The chapter deals with many of the particulars of the endowment, the collection of interest, and the redemption of liens and mortgages.

Studies of the patrons, founders, and chaplains is the theme of the third chapter. The lay chantry was normally a family affair. A parent would establish a chantry to provide for the ongoing support of a son who wished to enter the priesthood. These chantries would then be transferred among successive males in the family en route to the priesthood. Von Wobeser traces the means whereby chantries were inherited, who became chaplains, who became patrons, and the roles of each. Chapter 4 focuses on the spiritual underpinnings of the institution. Decrees by the Council of Trent formalized practices that had existed for centuries in the Western church. These practices included indulgences for the redemption of souls from purgatory through the positive acts of individuals still living--notably the saying of masses. These practices were also part of the increasing interest in the "good death," spiritual practices to prepare one for death. Lastly, von Wobeser looks at the ratio of sung masses to simple prayed masses, the specific saints invoked during the masses, and the number of masses to be said each year.

The last chapter studies the income-producing aspect of the chantry. The endowment generated a certain annual income. The masses to be...