Historically, the artistic and economic activities of religious orders in the Americas, has been almost ignored. Although there are notable religious figures such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Bartolomé de las Casas, scarce information is available regarding the numerous convents and monasteries throughout Nueva España and the Viceroyalty of Peru that were set up almost from the earliest days of the arrival of the Spanish. Indeed, the first convent was set up in the city of Mexico in 1540 by Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga with four Spanish-born nuns who were charged with Christian instruction of the natives (A. Martínez Cuesta, “Las monjas en la Ámerica Colonial, 1530-1824,” Thesaurus, Tomo L, No. 1,2, and 3, 1955, p. 575). Although established as places for contemplative lives for devout women, they also served to protect and act on behalf of wives and widows, and the care and education of young women, such as they had in Spain. The convents and monasteries throughout the territories such as Santa Monica in Guadalajara, Santa Catalina in Lima and others, were self-sufficient through their various activities such as baking, flower growing and selling and their embroidery practices. These convents flourished and were centers for the spiritual and educational lives of those they served. As well, they served as hospitals for the sick and the nuns organized the teaching of the young through free schools they helped establish.

Lavishly embroidered pieces such as this small silk composition of a notable ecclesiastical figure surrounded by both saintly and secular tributes are typical of the delicate handiwork taught to young girls alongside their Christian formation throughout the many convents in Spanish colonies. This portrait is of Bishop Juan Palafox y Mendoza who was appointed Bishop of the City of Puebla de Los Ángeles in 1639 and upon his return to Spain in 1653 became Bishop of Osma-Soria—the cartouche at lower bottom details his various posts. The natural son of Spanish nobleman Don Jaime de Palafox y Mendoza, Marqués de Ariza, he was educated and ordained a priest in Spain. Appointed Bishop of Puebla in 1639, he also became Archbishop of Mexico and Viceroy of New Spain. Although a lively controversy with the Jesuits led to his eventual return to Spain—Palafox is recognized as a man of letters, able administrator and great humanist who sponsored the arts and culture in Puebla where he established the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in 1646 with more than five thousand books on science and philosophy which welcomed all. He founded a convent and seminary; established schools and began construction of the city’s cathedral. In his brief tenure as Viceroy, he supported the role of criollos in public service and organized several defense militias to assure civil stability.

Details of his well-known piety during his return home are noted in several documents at the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. He reports of his various parishes in Osma and all the small villages where he administered to their needs. “I found the villagers in need of comfort and I comforted them greatly and exhorted the priest to teach them with love” (V. Soladana, El venerable Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza obispo de Osma (1654-1659), Soria: Caja General de Ahorros y Préstamos de la Provincia de Soria, 1982, 235).

MJ Aguilar, Ph.D.