Benavides, Alonso de (1579–c. 1636)

Alonso de Benavides (b. before 1579; d. ca. 1636), Franciscan missionary and propagandist in New Mexico. The personification of Christian spiritual conquest, Benavides acted in New Mexico in the seventeenth century with a zeal reminiscent of his sixteenth-century brethren. He was born at San Miguel, in the Azores, and entered the Franciscan order in Mexico City, serving subsequently in various capacities. Appointed superior of the New Mexico missions and agent of the Inquisition, Benavides presented his credentials to Governor Felipe de Sotelo Osorio at Santa Fe early in 1626. During his three-year term, Benavides labored actively not only among Pueblo Indians, but also among Apaches. When the ardent friar returned to Mexico City in early 1630, Franciscan authorities sent him to Spain to lobby at court. His sanguine report of missionary progress and potential in New Mexico, published the same year, and a revised version prepared for the pope in 1634 remain valuable ethnohistorical sources.

See alsoMissions: Spanish Americaxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frederick Webb Hodge Et Al., eds., Fray Alonso de Benavides' Revised Memorial of 1634 (1945).

Peter P. Forrestal, trans., and Cyprian J. Lynch, ed., Benavides' Memorial of 1630 (1954).

Additional Bibliography

Benavides, Alonso de, and Baker H. Morrow, trans. A Harvest of Reluctant Souls: The Memorial of Fray Alonso de Benavides, 1630. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1996.

Hodge, Frederick Webb. Bibliography of Fray Alonso de Benavides. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1919.

                                      John L. Kessell