Fray Montesinos: The voice crying in the wilderness

Last updated on: December 22, 2011 at 11:59 am by Father Pablo Migone

Fray Montesinos: The voice crying in the wilderness 2011-12-22T11:59:00-05:00 Father Pablo Migone

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Five hundred years ago the Spanish Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos preached a sermon in Hispanola (modern day Dominican Republic and Haiti) that eventually changed the course of history in the new world. He preached against the slavery and ill-treatment of the native Indians by Spanish conquistadores. One of his listeners was Bartolome de las Casas, a man who had received land and natives as part of the Spanish encomienda system.

Montesinos preached:

“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. In order to make your sins known to you I have mounted this pulpit, I who am the voice of Christ crying in the wilderness of this island; and therefore it behooves you to listen to me, not with indifference but with all your heart and senses; for this voice will be the strangest, the harshest and hardest, the most terrifying that you ever heard or expected to hear….

“This voice declares that you are in mortal sin, and live and die therein by reason of the cruelty and tyranny that you practice on these innocent people. Tell me, by what right or justice do you hold these Indians in such cruel and horrible slavery? By what right do you wage such detestable wars on these people who lived mildly and peacefully in their own lands, where you have consumed infinite numbers of them with unheard of murders and desolations? Why do you so greatly oppress and fatigue them, not giving them enough to eat or caring for them when they fall ill from excessive labors, so that they die or rather are slain by you, so that you may extract and acquire gold every day?

“And what care do you take that they receive religious instruction and come to know their God and creator, or that they be baptized, hear mass, or observe holidays and Sundays? Are they not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves? How can you lie in such profound and lethargic slumber? Be sure that in your present state you can no more be saved than the Moors or Turks who do not have and do not want the faith of Jesus Christ.”

Bartolome de las Casas’ heart was pierced by the words of Montesinos and was convicted of his wrongdoing. He renounced his worldly possessions and joined the Dominican friars. In 1542, he wrote a historical masterpiece, On the Devastation of the Indies. In it, he catalogued atrocities committed against natives by Spanish conquistadores participating in the encomienda system. De las Casas however always portrayed missionaries in a positive light. The book reveals a tension between the church and state, between missionaries and encomenderos.

The book achieved its purpose when that same year Emperor Charles I of Spain passed the New Laws which restricted the encomienda system and banned Indian slavery. Unfortunately, as Indian slavery was forbidden, the use of African slaves was encouraged.

Despite achieving its primary goal, abolishing Indian slavery, De las Casas’ book had a negative lasting effect on Spain and Catholicism. De las Casas grossly exaggerated in his book, a technique common in 16th century literature. The book was translated into English later in the century and was used against Spain by the English crown and English church. It provided them with evidence of the brutish and barbaric nature of Spaniards and Catholics unlike the civilized manner of the English. This judgment can be disputed when studying the relationship between the English and the natives in North America.

Scholars believe On the Devastation of the Indies fueled such anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic sentiment that it survives today. A 20th century Spanish scholar named the foundation of this sentiment the Black Legend. Another day I will post parts of my undergraduate history thesis where I looked into the origins of the Black Legend and how it was perpetuated and reinforced in England.

The moral of this story for priests: you never know who is listening, so work hard on your homilies and let the Holy Spirit help you preach to that one person in the church that needs to hear Him.

Click here if you’d like to learn more about Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans

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December 22, 2011 Conversión y Obra de Bartolomé de las Casas

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