Establishing the Jesuit Province of Mexico: The Development and the Institutions of a Missionary and Educational Province (1572–1615)

Abstract The Society of Jesus has been characterized as a global order, as it could adapt to different social and political contexts. The initial purpose of the Jesuit province in New Spain was to convert the Indians to Catholicism. However, when the Jesuits arrived they found that the social diversity of the viceroyalty, particularly the large contingent of Creole inhabitants, made it impossible for them to focus solely on the Indians. Consequently, the Order in New Spain had to forge a path between the orders issued by the King of Spain and the General of the Order based in Rome and the needs of the local inhabitants, which resulted in the Province of Mexico acquiring a missionary and educational character. The main aim of this article is to analyze the foundation and development of the Province of Mexico during the generalates of Everard Mercurian and Claudio Acquaviva by examining the institutions they opened, and the different strategies of education and evangelization that they pursued throughout the viceroyalty. It will pay special attention to the designs of the central powers in Europe, the views points and discussions on education and evangelization by actors in New Spain, and how transatlantic decisions on the Order’s role in the viceroyalty affected the evolution of the province. To do this, the article will discuss three main aspects of the Jesuits’ mission in New Spain, (1) the type of missions and colleges that the Jesuits opened, (2) how Jesuit institutions were shaped according to the group of people that they aimed to evangelize or educate, and in turn (3) how that influenced the languages that the Jesuits taught to the local inhabitants.