FIGHTING FATHERS OF PARAOUARIA

Though founded by erstwhile soldier Iñigo de Oñaz y Loyola—aka Saint Ignatius of Loyola—the Society of Jesus was not initially a military-religious order. That changed, however, during the 17th and 18th centuries in the Río de la Plata basin of South America. While this militarization gained the Jesuits a century of success in the Spanish colonial province of Paraquaria, it would ultimately help bring about their downfall.

Pope Paul III’s formal confirmation of the Roman Catholic order on Sept. 27, 1540, made Loyola and his Spanish brethren soldiers of Christ. Originally intending to convert Muslims in the Holy Land, Loyola soon shifted the society’s focus to challenge the spread of Protestantism in Europe and seek converts among more accepting people in territories colonized by the Spanish and Portuguese.

To accomplish their objectives, the Jesuits became preeminent educators, establishing colleges to instruct the elite and future leaders of Catholic Europe. Their apostolic zeal also led them to establish missions throughout the Americas and Asia. In addition to their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, they also swore a vow of obedience to the Pope and resolved to live out their motto, Ad maiorem Dei gloriam (“To the greater glory of God”).

Jesuit Superior General Claudio Acquaviva ordered the establishment of Paraquaria. Within the province—radiating from the bishopric of Asunción across Paraguay into sections of Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina (the provinces of Misiones and Entre Ríos) and the Brazilian regions of Itatín (part of the present-day state of Mato Grosso do Sul), Guayrá (largely the state of Paraná) and Tapé (the state of Rio Grande do Sul)—the Jesuits evangelized the indigenous peoples and founded mission pueblos known as (“reductions”). They were tasked with bringing together tribal populations from the surrounding forests to live in communities. At one point 30 missions flourished with more than 140,000 Guaraní