Former Jesuit Seminary In Peru Is Now A Hotel

Sprawling some 3,000 metres above sea level sits a 16th Century monastery, incorporating elements from its Inca and Spanish history, this historic site is has grown far from its spartan beginnings. Cuzco's famous 126-room Hotel Monasterio, one of the Orient Express properties, bills itself as the 'finest hotel in Cuzco, Peru' and with a host of awards and accolades, they've got the acumen to back up the claim.While now utterly luxurious, the architecture of Hotel Monasterio still reflects the property's 1592 origins as a home for Jesuit seminarians. The refurbished baroque construction also includes touches of Spanish Colonialism in the rooms, from key furniture pieces to the vivid use of colour.

Link (here)

Fr. Diego Alvarez de Paz, S.J. : One Of The Last Representatives Of The Ancient Schools Of Mysticism

On the day of the Jesuit, Fr. James Alvarez de Paz 's death 100,000 men in the silver mines of Potosi stopped work to assist at his obsequies. He is said to have had the gift of prophecy, and it is reported that after his death his body remained incorrupt. Hunter says of the three folio volumes of his works: "Summi aestimantur; rara et cara sunt". His first treatise is "De viât spirituali ejusque perfectione" (1608); his second, "De exterminatione mali et promotione boni: (1613); his third, "De inquisitione pacis, sive de studio orationis" (1611). The work has been widely used in compendiums, extracts, and translations. In the opinion of a recognized authority on mysticism, Father Poulain, S.J., writing in Vacant, "his bent is not so much to observe patiently, as to philosophize and display much erudition. He is the first to use the expression oratio affectiva, implying a species of contemplation meditation in which the affections dominate. He does not appear to have read St. Teresa, whose works were just published, and he may be regarded as one of the last representatives of the ancient schools of mysticism."

Link (here)  to The Catholic Encyclopedia. 
Engraving is of 17th Century Potosi in present day Venezuela the place were Fr. Diego Alvarez de Paz, S.J. labored and died.

Lima Jesuit

Fr. Juan Perez de Menacho, S.J.

Peruvian clergyman, b. in Lima in 1565 ; d. there, 20 Jan., 1626. He studied in the University of Lima, was graduated in Latin and philosophy in 1582, and entered the Jesuit order.

He was graduated as doctor in theology at the University of San Marcos in 1601, and obtained the chair of theology, which he held during twenty-seven years, gaining a wide reputation. During the earthquake that occurred in Lima in 1609 he suffered a fall, the results of which obliged him to keep his bed for sixteen years. During this long period, and notwithstanding his sufferings, he wrote many of his works.

These are now in the library at Lima, and include "Summa theologian Sancti Thomas" (6 vols.); "Theologiipo moralis tractatus" (2 vols.); "Tractatus precepti ecclesin>e"; " Privilejios de la Compañía de Jesús" (2 vols.); "Privilejios de los indios"; "El Decálogo "; " Consciencia errónea"; and " Vida, virtudes y revelaciones de Santa Rosa."

Link (here)

Photo of the University of San Marco in Lima
More in the original Spanish (here) some translations into English (here)

Easter Island Jesuits

In 1864 a Jesuit mission was established on Easter Island, at which time the population numbered about 1,500. When H. M. S. Topaze visited the island in 1868 there were about 900 Rapa Nui (Natives of Easter Island) left. In 1870 the Frenchman Dutroux-Bornier transformed Easter Island into a sheep farm, which led to, in about the year 1875, some 500 were removed to Tahiti under contract to work on the sugar plantations of that island. Dutroux-Bornier was killed by Islanders in 1877. In 1878 the Jesuit missionaries (Fr. Alexis Clerc, S.J.) departed from the island, taking with them about 300 of the people, who settled Gambier Archipelago. When H. M. S. Sappho touched at the island in 1882 it was reported that but 150 of the inhabitants were left.

Link (here)

Lithograph from 1860 of the Rapa Nui

Read the book entitled, One of the Jesuits! Alexis Clerc, Sailor and Martyr. It contains a detailed account of the Jesuits missionary activities on Easter Island ( Paasch Eiland ).

Jesuit In Peru

President Evo Morales seemed assured of an easy victory in a referendum on Sunday over a sweeping new Constitution aimed at empowering Bolivia’s Indians. The vote capped three years of conflict-ridden efforts by Mr. Morales to overhaul a political system he had associated with centuries of indigenous subjugation. Citing preliminary vote counts, reports on national television said about 60 percent of voters had approved the new Constitution. If that margin holds or goes higher, it would strengthen Mr. Morales’s mandate, political analysts here said.

In symbolic importance, said Xavier Albó, a Jesuit scholar and linguist, the new Constitution may be the equivalent of Spain’s Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors in 1492.

But instead of the blood spilled in that process, Mr. Albó said, Bolivia is “advancing in a democratic process that does not exclude or subjugate anyone.” Some Bolivians who read the entire Constitution came away with other impressions. Edmundo Paz Soldán, a writer who teaches at Cornell University, said it reminded him of an essay by Jorge Luis Borges that describes a Chinese encyclopedia’s attempt to divide fauna into myriad nonsensical categories. For instance, Mr. Paz Soldán said that the Constitution recognized 36 different indigenous groups in Bolivia, some with fewer than 100 people, but that it was unclear how precisely each group would be enfranchised in a country where three main indigenous groups — the Quechua, Aymara and Guaraní — wield much larger influence. “The mind-boggling text may have the ratification of the majority,” Mr. Paz Soldán said, “but it might not be the recipe for a viable country.”

Link (here)

Photo is of Fr. Albo

Mother Earth + Jesuit Mentor = An Admirer Of Jesus Christ

After attending a Mass in which he received Communion, Bolivian President Evo Morales said, “I believe strongly in the rites and in Mother Earth (Pachamama),” Morales said. “But of course I am a Catholic and an admirer of Jesus Christ.”

Link (here)

The Jesuit And President Morales

Mauricio Bacardit is a Jesuit priest who has been Mr Morales' mentor for 20 years, watching over him as he rose to become leader of the coca growers' union. When I ask him whether he gives Mr Morales spiritual advice he almost chokes on his whisky.

"No, not spiritual advice. Power. Evo is a leader, leadership runs through him. He has responded to what the masses wanted."

He tells me a joke about the 2002 presidential elections, when Mr Morales lost by two points. "Evo is walking along the street and sees some children playing football. When they see him they start chanting, 'Evo! Evo!' He says why are you cheering me? They say, because daddy says that if you win the election we'll all move to Miami."…

Link (here)

Photo: Upper right Pachamama, lower right Fr. Mauricio Bacardit, S.J.

Iglesia La Compañía de Jesús

Cusco, Peru is draped beautifully, though awkwardly, over a hillside, about halfway to heaven. But at any time of year, the site provides a breathtaking introduction to the scale and intricacy of Inca masonry....

The Spanish-built Plaza de Armas remains one of the most magnificent city squares in the Americas. Besides the handsome (Cathedral of Santo Domingo) cathedral, and colonnades topped by galleries, in the south-east corner you can see the exquisite baroque façade of a Jesuit church (more) built on the site of an Inca palace.

Yet the Spanish left untouched much that their predecessors created, as you discover when you explore the cobbled streets of this thriving city. Many of the Inca walls remain intact, including one with an implausible 12-sided stone.

Link (here)

Plaza de Armas: Iglesia Compañia de Jesus

Compañia de Jesus:

Considered one of the finest examples of colonial Baroque architecture in the Americas, the construction of this church was begun by the Jesuits in 1576 on what was the Amarucancha, or palace of Inca Huayna Cápac. The spectacular façade made of carved stone and its great altar, elaborately covered in cedar and gold leaf and built on top of an underground chapel, are among its most notable features. The church also houses a large collection of sculptures and paintings by the most renowned artists from the Escuela Cuzqueña. The church is flanked by the Lourdes chapel and the ancient oratory of San Ignacio de Loyola.

(By Mariadela)

Link (here)