Diego Carranza
Diego Carranza (born in Mexico, 1559; died at Tehuantepec, date unknown) was a Dominican missionary in New Spain.[1]
Life
Carranza entered the Dominican Order on 12 May 1577, and was sent to Nejapa in Oaxaca after being ordained a priest. He was assigned to the mission among the forest-dwelling Oaxaca Chontal people.
Despite resistance from the Chontal, who were uninterested in conversion to Christianity, Carranza was partly successful in his efforts to settle them in villages, baptize them, and convince them to dress in European clothing.[2] Among the villages in which Carranza erected churches was Santa María Texcatitlán.
For twelve years Carranza led an exposed life, and contracted leprosy. He must have died quite young, but the exact date is unknown.
Works
He composed, in the Chontal language, a "Doctrina cristiana", "Exercicios espirituales", and "Sermones". They remained in manuscript, and were later lost.
In 1580, Carranza published grammatical studies on Chontal.[3]
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Diego Carranza — Born at Mexico, 1559; died at Tehuantepec. He entered the Dominican Order 12 May, 1577, and was sent to Nejapa in Oaxaca after being ordained a priest. He was assigned to the mission among the Chontal Indians, who roamed through the forests almost in a savage condition, although, by their language, they belong to the same linguistic stock as the sedentary Nahuatl. Undergoing great privations, Carranza clung to these forest tribes, and succeeded in partly settling them in hamlets and erecting hermitages where they might worship. For twelve years he led this life of exposure and contracted leprosy. He must have died quite young, but the exact date is unknown. Before his death he erected a church for his wards in the village of Santa Maria Tequiztlan. Details concerning this devoted missionary are very meagre. We know however, that he composed, in the Chontal idiom, a "Doctrina cristiana", "Exercicios espirituales", and "Sermones", which remained in manuscript, but they are now lost. They would be of the greatest value, since hardly anything has been published on this idiom.
DÁVILA-PADILLA, Historia de la Fundación deca (Mexico, 1596); BURGOA, Geográfica Descripción (Mexico, 1674); ANTONIO, Bibliotheca hispana nova (Madrid, 1733-1738); SQUIER, Monograph of Authors (New York, 1861); BRINTON, The American Race (New York, 1891); OROZCO Y BERRA, Lenguas indíjenas y Carta etnográfica de México (Mexico, 1864); PIMENTEL, Cuadro descriptivo y comparatívo de las Lenguas indíjenas de México (Mexico, 1862).
References
- Back to citation Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1883). History of Mexico: 1521-1600. United States: A.L. Bancroft. p. 396. “About this time the fierce and man-eating Chontales, who had hitherto scorned to accept civilization at the point of the sword, yielded to the preaching of the devoted Diego Carranza and the other Dominican friars.”
- Back to citation Gracida, Manuel Martínez (1910). Civilización chontal: historia antigua de la chontalpa oaxaqueña. Imprenta del Gobierno Federal. pp. 144–147.
- Back to citation Flores, Fernando (2007). From Las Casas to Che: An Introduction to Contemporary Latin America (PDF). Lund University: Department of History of Science and Ideas. p. 53. “Studies on Chontal by Diego Carranza were available in 1580.”
Bibliography
- Attribution