Juan de Zumárraga

By this time more detailed accounts of the importance of the conquest of Hernán Cortés began to be received, and on December 20, 1527, Zumárraga was recommended by Charles V for the post of first bishop of Mexico.Without having been consecrated and with only the title of bishop-elect and Protector of the Indians, he, accompanied by Fray Andrés de Olmos, left Spain with the first civil officials, magistrates (oidores), towards the end of August 1528, and reached Mexico on December 6.Bishop Zumárraga attempted to notify the Spanish court of the course of events, but the oidores had established a successful censorship of all letters and communications from New Spain.Fearful of the consequences, Audiencia president Nuño de Guzmán left Mexico City on December 22, 1529, and began his famous expedition to Michoacán, Jalisco, and Sinaloa.Meantime the calumnies spread by the enemies of Zumárraga and the partisans of the first oidor had shaken the confidence of the Spanish Court, and he set sail in May 1532 under orders to return to Spain.As a result of Delgadillo's charges, Charles V held back the Bull of Clement VII, originally dated September 2, 1530, that would have named Zumárraga bishop.The multitude of Indians who asked for baptism, said to have greatly increased after the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531, forced the missionaries to adopt a special form for administering this sacrament.The practice faced no opposition while the Franciscans were in charge of the missions, but as soon as members of other religious orders and some secular ecclesiastics arrived, doubt began to be cast upon the validity of these baptisms.Adrian VI on May 9, 1522, issued the bull Exponi nobis fecisti to Charles V, in which he transferred his own Apostolic authority in all matters to the Franciscans and other mendicant orders when they judged it necessary for the conversion of the Indians, except for acts requiring episcopal consecration.He never availed himself of the title and did not establish the tribunal, although he did indict and deliver to the secular courts a lord of Texcoco, known as Don Carlos Ometochtzin Chichimecatecuhtli, accused of having "reverted to idolatry" and of offering human sacrifices.Through the prudent intervention of Bishop Zumárraga and the compliance of Tello, Mexico was undoubtedly saved from a bloody civil struggle such as engulfed Peru on account of the enforcement of these same laws and from which the Indians emerged worse off than they were before.
Juan de Zumárraga, the first archbishop and inquisitor of Mexico City
O.F.M.Bishop of MexicoMexicoAlonso de MontúfarDiego Ribera de ToledoDurangoBiscayMexico CityNew SpainSpanishRoman CatholicBasqueFranciscanprelateinquisitorWestern HemisphereFranciscan OrderHernán CortésCharles VProtector of the IndiansAndrés de OlmosoidoresJuan Ortiz de MatienzoDiego DelgadilloNuño de GuzmánPánuco ValleySpanish monarchyAudienciaMichoacánJaliscoSinaloaquarteredtorturedinterdictTexcocoVera CruzSebastián Ramírez de FuenlealBishop of Santo DomingoVasco de QuirogaBishop of MichoacánValladolidBishop of SegoviaFrancisco Zamora de OrelloTitular BishopFrancisco SolísBishop of DrivastoviceroyAntonio de MendozaJuan López de ZárateBishop of Antequera, OaxacaFrancisco Marroquín HurtadoBishop of Santiago de GuatemalaToribio de Benavente MotoliniaOur Lady of GuadalupechrismPope Paul IIIpolygynyconcubinessecular clergyAdrian VIExponi nobis fecistiApostolicInquisitor GeneralArchbishop of SevilleCarlos OmetochtzinLas CasasecclesiasticalsecularViceroysgovernorsencomendarNew LawsMechlinColegio de Santa CruzTlatelolcointroduction of the first printing press into the New WorldSee of SevilleArchdiocese of MexicoOaxacaTlaxcalaGuatemalaHispanic American Historical ReviewGarcía Icazbalceta, JoaquínWikisource1913 Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic Church titlesEscheatedEncomenderoOcuitucoMarian apparitionsVilla de GuadalupeJuan DiegoJuan BernardinoHill of TepeyacEl Tepeyac National ParkBasilica of Our Lady of GuadalupeList of churches dedicated to Our Lady of GuadalupeCodex EscaladaStradanus engravingImage of the Virgin Mary Mother of God of GuadalupeHuei tlamahuiçolticaInformaciones Jurídicas de 1666Maravilla AmericanaMiracle of the rosesTepeyacThe Saint Who Forged a CountryTonantzinMarcos Cipac de AquinoMiguel Sánchez