The Society of Jesus and the Evangelization of Black Slaves, its beginnings in Seville and its reflection in America

Abstract

The Company of Slaves, the Christian education of children and rough people, is one of the main ministries of the Society of Jesus cited in the pontifical bulls of foundation. When the first Jesuits arrived in Seville, in 1554, they took care to catechize the black-Africans of the frames and noticed their religious ignorance, but they did not question their baptism, which was supposed to have been received in their places of origin before their embarkation. Founded the school in 1561, the teachers with the school brothers were in charge of touring the places frequented by the slaves and taking them to the nearby churches for the mass and explanation of the catechism, in which Father Ruiz de Montoya professor of Theology was distinguished, In 1568, when the Society was founded in Lima, the Jesuits were in charge of the same apostolate with the Afro-slaves, as well as in Cartagena, when the vice-province of the New Kingdom was founded, in 1605, the vice-provincial P. Torres Bollo, with experience in this ministry. Alonso de Sandoval commissioned Father Alonso de Sandoval to wear the muzzles, and investigated the nullity or absence of his baptism, by the testimony of the masters of the ships, so he baptized everyone, absolutely or under condition. At this time, the new archbishop Don Pedro de Castro, was concerned about the black-Africans and entrusted their problems to the teachers of the school, in which Father Sandoval intervened, warned by his companions, informed the archbishop of what had happened in Cartagena and the archbishop commissioned the investigation with the masters of the ships anchored in the river, Ruiz de Montoya with information on how to proceed in the baptism of Africans. In Seville and surroundings there were more than 6,000 cases. The Instruction was also applied in America