Spiritual Re-Conquests: The Franciscan Order and the Continued Extirpation of Maya Idolatry, 1570–1670

In colonial Yucatan the Franciscan order conducted the first major campaigns against Maya idolatry from 1550-1562, but it was not until the official creation of the bishopric that the extirpation of idolatry on a large scale began under the institution of the provisorato de indios and its commissioned ecclesiastical judges.  Although the creation of this episcopal court system ostensibly removed the Franciscan order’s power to engage in the extirpation of idolatry, Franciscans were not removed completely from the administration of ecclesiastical discipline. By 1605, Fray Diego de Castro, commissioned as Procurador by the Franciscan order in Yucatan, complained to the Crown and the Council of the Indies about increasing Maya idolatry.  Hoping to receive special commissions or orders from Spain empowering them to more actively extirpate the Maya's idolatries, Franciscan guardianes became more diligent and active in the extirpation of idolatry. As they would argue, the secular bishops had hampered their missionary activities.  By tying their hands in terms of their ability to enforce ecclesiastical discipline and punish wayward Maya converts, the Franciscans argued that the secular clergy had helped to ruin their early gains in the Christian conversion of the Maya.   The Franciscans argued that a spiritual “re-conquest” was needed, and the weapons that they would need to engage in this spiritual re-conquest required their renewed ability to actively extirpate Maya idolatry from their missionary regions.  This paper will examine the growing restrictions placed on the Franciscan order's ability to eradicate Maya idolatry within their own missions, and the gradual struggles and conflicts of jurisdiction that the Franciscan order faced in their continued efforts to extirpate heterodox Maya religious practices from their mission regions.