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The first Irish missionary to set foot on
American soil may well have been St.Brendan the Navigator,
who, according to legend, crossed the Atlantic in his
Currach (fishing boat) in search of new converts to the
Christian faith. An ancient manuscript found in medieval
European monasteries allegedly described his voyage to
strange, western lands, and is known to history as
Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abatis. According to an
ancient Toltec legend, a white, bearded man from across the
Atlantic visited their shores some 1500 years ago and taught
the native people a new religion based on fraternal charity
and resignation to God´s will. The legend claims that he
also taught them new methods of agriculture and the art of
astronomy which enabled them to design a calendar to predict
the changing seasons. When the Spaniards arrived they found
the Aztec calendar to be more accurate than its European
(Julian) counterpart.
Whether the legendary Toltec deity
Quetzalcóatl (plumed serpent) was in fact a deified Irish
monk from Kerry is still a matter for speculation, and the
rumor seems to persist on both sides of the Atlantic. The
Spanish conquistadors were able to use the legend to
facilitate their colonizing project, since the natives
believed that Hernán Cortés was the reincarnation of this
legendary deity who had promised to return. It is also
claimed that Columbus found inspiration for his historic
seafaring adventure in the pages of the Navigatio, by
St. Brendan the Abbot.
When the Portuguese maritime explorer, Pedro
Álvares Cabral reached the coast of Brazil in 1500, he
apparently believed that he had reached an island which he
named ‘Island of the Blessed’. Some historians have claimed
that Cabral thought he had reached the mythical island of
the Celts known as Hy-Brasil (Uí Breasail in Irish),
and it is quite possible that maritime explorers were
influenced by those ancient Celtic myths about unexplored
islands to the west like Tír- na -nÓg, the island of
Eternal Youth.
Irish-Hispanic missionary links are traceable
to the late 1500s when Irish religious communities found
refuge in Spain as they were forced to flee from the wrath
of the invading English Protestants. In the aftermath of the
Protestant Reformation, the shared Catholic religion became
the bond which created a special alliance between the Irish
and the Spaniards, and Spain sent military assistance to the
embattled Irish Chieftains O´ Neill and O´ Donnell, who were
engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the English
Protestant invaders. The defeat of the Irish-Hispanic
Alliance at the Battle of Kinsale in 1602, marked the
beginning of the end of the old Gaelic, Catholic order and
many of the surviving Gaelic Chieftains were forced to seek
refuge in Spain.
Religion was not the only bond between the
two countries, however, and the Irish émigrés were at
pains to recall that the Ibero-Celts (The Milesians) from
Spain were their common ethnic ancestors. The Spanish
historian Óscar Recio Morales in his book, Ireland and
the Spanish Empire, quotes Hugh Ó’Donnell, Earl of
Tír Chonaill (Donegal), claiming to be a direct
descendent of the Milesian dynasty in Ireland. Another
important link in the chain of Hiberno-Hispanic solidarity
was the appointment of a Spanish Franciscan Archbishop of
Dublin in the late 1500s.
During the late 1500s and early 1600s, Irish
Colleges were established in Spain to educate the children
of the Irish nobility in exile, and the Spanish King, with
encouragement from Rome, became the protector of the Irish
Catholic diaspora in Spain. The colleges, which also served
as seminaries, were subsidized by the monarchy, and prepared
their students for service as priests, soldiers and
administrators in their adopted country. There were five
Irish colleges in Spain and two in Portugal, and some of
their graduates were sent as missionaries to the Latin
American colonies. There were also three Irish Regiments in
the Spanish army, the Hibernia, the Ultonia and the Irlanda.
Historian Morales explains how these regiments provided
strong support for Spain´s armed forces over a period of
three centuries, and how some of their units were sent to
serve in the American colonies.
Irish Franciscans and Jesuits were serving on
the missions in New Spain (Mexico) in the early 1600s, and
one of the most prominent Irish missionaries of that period
was Fr Michael Wadding, S.J. (1591-1644) from Waterford. He
studied at the Irish College of Salamanca and was later
assigned to the Jesuit missions in New Spain. He ministered
to the indigenous people in the northwestern region of the
colony, and was very successful in converting those people
to the Catholic faith. He changed his name, and is known to
history as Miguel Godinez. Many immigrants adopted a
Hispanicized version of their names and surnames as a token
of their willingness to become inculturated, and that custom
still persists in Spanish-speaking countries today. Fr.
Wadding was the brother of the prominent Irish Cardinal Luke
Wadding, a promoter of the Confederation of Kilkenny. Miguel
Godinez had a successful career as a lecturer and
theologian, and is remembered for his theological treatise,
La Práctica de la Teología Mística (The
Practice of Mystical Theology
published in 1681, almost four decades after
his death).
Juan Agustin Morfi (Murphy) came to New Spain
from Galicia in 1752, where many Irish exiles had settled in
the early 1600s. He joined the Franciscan Order and became
known as Fray Juan Agustín de Morfi. As a missionary,
he travelled extensively throughout the northern regions of
the colony and kept a diary of his travels. He is best
remembered for his book, Viaje de Indios y el Diario del
Nuevo México (Indian Journey and Diary of New Mexico).
(Editorial Manuel Porrua, Mexico 1980). He is also
remembered as a brilliant historian and cartographer.
The most notorious Irishman in Mexico during
the early 1600s was William Lamport also known as, Guillermo
Lombardo, who was condemned by the Holy Inquisition to be
burned at the stake as a heretic in 1659. While
incarcerated, he wrote his famous Regio Salterio
(Regal Psalter) which was a denunciation in Latin verse of
the cruel and corrupt colonial system, including the Holy
Inquisition. He advocated putting an end to slavery and the
exploitation of the native people by creating an independent
Mexico with himself as king. He is remembered in Mexico as
the precursor of its Independence, and a school, Escuela
Guillén de Lampart, is dedicated to his memory in Mexico
City.
His brother, Fr. John Lamport, was a
Franciscan missionary in Mexico during the same period, but
was unable or, as some say, unwilling, to help his brother
William escape the wrath of the Holy Inquisition. Some claim
that William should also be remembered as the precursor of
Liberation Theology in Latin America. The Lamport brothers
from Wexford were educated at the Irish College at Santiago
de Compostela in Galicia where many Irish immigrants had
settled in the early 1600s. The college was founded by Irish
Franciscans in 1605, following the debacle of Kinsale in
1602, and Irish priests from the Spanish seminaries
continued to serve the Church´s missions in Latin America
throughout the colonial era and beyond.
Another outstanding Irish missionary in Latin
America was Fr. Thomas Field S.J., from Limerick, who
arrived in the Portuguese colony of Brazil in 1577. He later
moved to Paraguay where he helped establish a Jesuit
province and became acquainted with the local Guaraní
people. He is credited with providing inspiration for the
organization of the Jesuit ‘Reductions’ which were intended
to protect the native people from Spanish and Portuguese
slave traders, and to evangelise and educate the Guaraní
people in their own language. He is believed to be the first
Irish priest to celebrate Mass in the Americas. He died in
Asunción in 1626.
Apparently, this new type of mission provoked
the wrath of the colonizers, and led to the expulsion of the
Jesuits from the region in 1767. Missionaries were expected
to cooperate with, and provide moral justification for, the
colonial system. When they failed to do so, they were dealt
with severely by the local colonizers. Taking a stand on the
side of the poor and exploited in Latin America has always
been a very dangerous and even life-threatening undertaking
for the missionary.
During the 1600s there was considerable Irish
migration to the Caribbean Islands (West Indies), especially
to the islands under British colonial control like
Montserrat and St. Christopher. During the Cromwellian
campaign in Ireland in 1648, people were rounded up like
cattle and transported to work as slaves on the Plantations
under British control. There was some Irish missionary
activity in the region, especially on the island of St.
Croix which, under Danish control, allowed the freedom of
worship and some Irish priests were sent to minister to the
emigrants settled there.
In the
post-Colonial era of the early 1800s, Argentina became the
preferred destination for Irish migration to Latin America.
This was due to the fact that some Irish immigrants in that
country, who had become prosperous entrepreneurs, returned
to Ireland and persuaded their compatriots to join them in
their business ventures. They also were promised land and
opportunities for a much better life than they could hope
for in their poverty-stricken homeland. As a result,
thousands did emigrate and prospered in their new homeland.
Some Irish immigrants in the US also moved to Argentina to
escape the prevalent anti-Irish, anti-immigrant ‘Nativist’
bigotry in that country.
The Irish in Argentina were so numerous that
they could organize their own churches, schools and
hospitals, and several Irish religious orders sent
missionaries, priests and nuns, to minister to their
spiritual, educational and social needs. The most
outstanding patron of the Irish in Argentina was Fr. Anthony
Fahy, a Dominican priest from Galway who arrived in the
mid-1800s, and was a very talented organizer and
administrator. As a result of his untiring efforts, Irish
immigrants became a united and well organized group, and due
to their numbers have been able to preserve their ethnic and
cultural identity to the present day. In 1875, they were
able to establish their own newspaper, The Southern Cross
which still serves as a link for the Irish diaspora in Latin
America and beyond. In other countries, the Irish immigrants
were so few and far between that they were quickly
assimilated into the local Hispanic culture.
Mexico might have rivaled Argentina as the
Latin American country with the most Irish immigrants were
it not for some adverse geopolitical circumstances. Just
like in Argentina in the early 1800s, some Irish
entrepreneurs (Empresarios), well established in
Mexico, were authorized to organize Irish colonies in
Mexico´s sparsely populated northern regions. They went back
to Ireland and persuaded many to emigrate to Mexico with
promises of land and opportunities for a better life. As a
result, the San Patricio de Hibernia and other
colonies were established in what is now southern Texas in
1831, and Irish priests and nuns ministered to the
immigrants. Again, just as in Argentina, several Irish
immigrants in the US moved to Mexico to get away from
anti-Catholic bigotry so prevalent there at that time. In
the 1840s, Fr. Eugene McNamara, described by historians as
an Apostolic Missionary in Mexico, was promoting a plan to
settle ten thousand Irish immigrants in Alta California. His
plans came to an abrupt ending, however, when the US invaded
Mexico in 1846 and annexed all of Mexico´s northern regions
in 1848. McNamara was accused by US officers of persuading
Irish soldiers in the invading US Army to desert and join
the San Patricio Companies who fought on the side of
Mexico. Some officers called for his arrest and execution,
according to US historian Robert Ryal Miller (Shamrock
and Sword, 1989). Apparently, McNamara was able to evade
his would-be captors and returned safely to the Emerald
Isle.
In modern times, the first major Irish
missionary effort in Latin America was undertaken by the
Legion of Mary in the 1950s. The Legion was intended to
inspire and encourage lay people to take a more active role
in the mission of the Church at a time when the clerical
structure permitted very little lay participation. The
Legion was founded in Dublin in 1921 by Frank Duff as an
apostolic lay organization and quickly spread to Catholic
churches throughout the world. The Legion´s lay missionaries
were well received by the Latin American people, and Legion
praesidia (local units) were established in several
countries, where they continue to make an important
contribution to the overall mission of the Church by
preparing their members to play a more active role in
parochial life.
During the early 1900s, Latin America was not
regarded as mission territory, and the Irish Foreign Mission
Societies like the Columban and Kiltegan Fathers
concentrated their missionary efforts on Africa and Asia.
The perception was that Latin America had been evangelised
during the colonial era, but that perception was to change
radically in the late 1950s when Pope Pius XII and his
successor, Pope John XXIII urged church leaders in Europe
and the US to send missionaries to Latin America, where the
local churches were in dire need of personnel and material
assistance. It also became evident that the evangelising
efforts during the colonial era only reached a small section
of the inhabitants, and had little effect on the vast
majority which included the indigenous people and the poorer
sections of the general population. It also became evident
that very little effort had been made to encourage religious
vocations among the poor.
Critics claimed the institutional Church in
Latin America was elitist and concentrated on providing
educational and health services for the privileged classes
who could afford to pay for such services. And the hierarchy
tended to be supportive of the status quo, providing moral
justification for dictatorial regimes which oppressed and
exploited the poor. Historians mention what they call the
Triple Alliance that existed in Latin America between the
local Oligarchy, the Military and the Institutional Church.
The Church and the clergy were almost totally dependent on
the patronage of the local Oligarchy who expected a quid
pro quo for their generosity. That situation began to
change dramatically in the 1960s due to the influence of the
Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) which urged church
leaders to challenge the socio-economic and political
institutions which were responsible for so much poverty and
injustice throughout the world, especially in Latin America.
One Council document, The Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World, spoke of ‘a new humanism
wherein individuals are defined by their responsibilities
toward others, and toward history’. The Council documents
posed a challenge for missionaries to become involved in the
struggle against poverty and injustice throughout Latin
America.
Church leaders in Europe and the US responded
to the Papal appeal by encouraging priests, nuns and lay
volunteers to undertake missionary programs for Latin
America. In the US, the response was widespread and included
The Papal Volunteers for Latin America, the St. James
Society in Boston, the Maryknoll Missionary Society, among
others. In the political arena, President Kennedy promoted
‘The Alliance for Progress’ and the Peace Corps which
encouraged young people to volunteer for service to the poor
in underdeveloped areas of the Third World. In Ireland, the
response too was generous where religious orders and
missionary societies began preparing some of their members
for service in Latin America. Lay volunteer programs were
also sponsored by churches and funding agencies such as
Trócaire and
Gorta.
Lay volunteers accompanied the religious as nurses, doctors,
teachers, and so forth. There was much euphoria in the early
1960s about the creation of a better world, free from
injustice and human misery, and Pope John XXIII and John F.
Kennedy provided the moral leadership and inspiration for
this newfound optimism.
The Columbans were the first Irish missionary
society to send some of their members to Chile and Peru in
the early 1950s, and in 1960, the Pope asked the Irish
bishops to allow some of their diocesan clergy to serve with
the Columbans in Latin America. The Kiltegan missionary
society followed suit by sending some of its members to
Brazil in 1963, and several other orders of nuns and priests
in Ireland began to prepare and send missionaries to various
Latin America countries during the 1960s, and this trend has
continued down to the present day.
The most ambitious missionary effort was
undertaken by the Cork and Ross diocese which included a
number of poor colonias and barrios (shanty
towns) on the outskirts of the city of Trujillo in Peru. The
Cork diocese financed the building of churches, schools and
health clinics in the colonias, and sent priests and
nuns to staff those missionary programs. The diocese also
opened a mission in Ecuador in the outskirts of Manta where
they organized mission programs similar to those already
undertaken in Trujillo. Bishop Lucey of Cork was influenced
by his close friend and benefactor, Cardinal Cushing of
Boston who had established the St. James Missionary Society
for Latin America, and had asked Bishop Lucey to release
some of his priests to work with the St. James Society in
Peru. The Boston-Irish Cardinal was very close to his Cork
roots and had assisted the Cork diocese with its building
programs. Inspired by Cushing´s initiative, Bishop Lucey
decided to send some priests to Peru with the St. James
Society, and this partnership led eventually to the
establishment of the Cork and Ross mission program for Latin
America.
Fr. Michael Murphy was one of the first
volunteers to serve in Peru, and to organize the Cork
mission there. When he became Bishop of Cork he continued to
be a staunch supporter of the Mission, and encouraged the
priests and nuns working there to continue, despite the
serious threats they had received from the Shining Path (Sendero
Luminoso) guerrilla movement which intended to install a
Maoist-inspired regime in Peru. In I991, they began to
target foreign missionaries, killing three European priests
and an Australian nun, but the Cork missionaries were not
harmed. They did receive death threats, however, and on one
occasion the guerrillas did attack a health clinic and stole
a large amount of medical supplies. The guerrillas regarded
foreign missionaries as agents of Yankee Imperialism,
distributing food and medicine paid for with American
dollars. When they robbed the clinic, they left a huge
poster which read: ‘Death to Irish Imperialism’. The
guerrilla movement came to an abrupt end when the leaders
were captured and incarcerated, and the mission continued
its work in peace until it was closed in 2004. After almost
40 years of dedicated ministry, and due to the scarcity of
priests in the home diocese, the churches, schools and
clinics were turned over to the local clergy and people of
Perú. Leonard O´Brien has written a detailed account of the
Cork mission in his book, Children of the Sun: The Cork
Mission to South America (2010), which is
reviewed in this issue by Gabriela McEvoy.
Conclusion
The euphoria of the I960s was short-lived, as
were the lives of its two most prominent protagonists: the
Pope and the President. However, ideals when once expressed
tend to take on a life of their own, and to inspire future
generations to carry on the struggle for a better world; and
for the missionaries to continue to bear witness to the
Gospel message of hope and reconciliation. The Irish and the
Latin Americans continue to believe in miracles, cures and
healing wells, and with poet Seamus Heaney believe that
‘once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice can
rise up, and hope and history rhyme.’
Some missionary projects, like the Cork
Mission to Peru, have had to be turned over to the local
church authorities, and that is precisely what foreign
missionaries are expected to do, prepare local people who
can take over and continue the work begun by the
missionaries. Hence the appropriateness, in this case, of
the well-known cliché used by missionaries ‘work yourself
out of a job’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-Fogarty, James, Liberation and
Development: A Latin American Perspectve, (London:
Minerva Press, 1998).
-Hogan, Michael, Savage Capitalism and the
Myth of Democracy (Booklocker.com 2009).
-Kirby, Peadar, Ireland and Latin America:
Links and Lessons (Trócaire and Gill and
Macmillan, I992).
-Miller, Robert Ryal, The Shamrock and
Sword (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989).
-Morfi, Juan Agustin, Viaje de Indios y el
Diario del Nuevo México [Indian Journey and Diary of
New Mexico]. (Mexico: Editorial Manuel Porrua, 1980).
-Morales, Óscar Recio, Ireland and the
Spanish Empire, 1600-1825 (Dublin: Four Courts Press,
2010).
-O´Brien, Leonard, Children of the Sun:
The Cork Mission to South America (Dublin: Veritas
Publications, 2010).
-Ronan, Gerard, ‘The Irish Zorro’: The
Extraordinary Adventures of William Lamport (1615-1659)
(Dingle: Brandon Publications, 2004).
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