Language and the "True Conversion" to the Holy Faith: A Document from the Archivium Romanus Societatis Iesu, Rome, Italy

One of the central problems of Spanish missionary activity in the New World was the translation of Christian concepts into native languages. The following document, housed in Rome's Jesuit archives (ARSI), highlights both the concern and the controversy surrounding this issue in the audiencia of New Granada (modern-day Colombia). On 25 August 1606, audiencia president Juan de Borja issued a decree requiring all members of New Granada's clergy to provide religious instruction in the Chibcha language. The recent arrival of a small group of Jesuits had intensified a long-standing debate over how best to explain the mysteries of the Christian faith in early-colonial New Granada. Almost three decades earlier, in 1580, the oidor Pedro de Zorrillo, complained to the Council of the Indies that the natives of New Granada were as ignorant (in spiritual matters) now as they had been before the conquest. This ignorance, according to Zorrillo, was the result of the recalcitrance of local priests, most of whom stubbornly refused to learn native languages. Few priests spoke Chibcha and therefore taught the doctrina in Spanish or in some cases, Latin, which the Indians simply repeated like parrots, "como papagayos."¹

In the early 1580s the audiencia attempted to remedy the situation by forcing all of New Granada's clergy to attend Chibcha language classes. In 1582, a priest by the name of Gonzalo Bermúdez was appointed to instruct New Granada's clergy. Classes began in early May of that year and were held in the cathedral in Santa Fé de Bogotá.² However, the classes do not appear to have had the desired effect; in 1598 Bartolomé Lobo Guerrero, the newly-appointed archbishop of Santa Fé, echoed Zorrillo's earlier statement, complaining that the clergy's stubborn refusal to learn Chibcha was the main reason for the sorry state of religious affairs in the region.³

The same year that Bermúdez was assigned to provide Chibcha lessons to members of the clergy, superiors from the Dominican, Franciscan, and Augustinian Orders issued statements in which they declared such linguistic training both unnecessary and worthless. Many of the religious vehemently opposed the establishment of a cátedra de chibcha. They argued that the Chibcha language was not sufficiently complex to express accurately the mysteries and dogmas of the Christian faith.

...these dialects [are] extremely poor in vocabulary, lacking such terms as Christ, charity, grace, contrition, penitence, etc., [and] they possess indecent expressions for terms such as incarnation and virginity; and therefore it would be less inconvenient to oblige the Indians to learn Spanish.⁴

However, such claims did not go unchallenged. Archbishop Lobo Guerrero dismissed the mendicants' concerns as nothing more than poor excuses from a clergy too slothful to make even the slightest effort to learn Chibcha.⁵ The archbishop acknowledged that mastering Chibcha was a difficult task; however, he was convinced that the challenge could easily be overcome with the diligence and dedication one should expect from all friars.⁶ Still, despite Lobo Guerrero's exhortations, attempts to convince the clergy of the importance of learning native languages proved unsuccessful. Furthermore, the mendicants expanded their criticisms beyond the earlier complaints about the inherent limitations of the Chibcha language. They also emphasized that Bermúdez's classes would be of only limited value because of the linguistic diversity in the region.

According to the three superiors, the Chibcha spoken by the Indians from Bogotá was not the same as the Chibcha spoken in Tunja. They acknowledged that Bermúdez spoke Chibcha very well; but they added that he spoke a unique dialect from the Valley of Ubaque (in the Province of Santa Fé), and his teachings completely ignored the dialects spoken in other areas.⁷ Not only that, but...