Nahuas and Catholicism in Mexico Tenochtitlan: Religious faith and practice and La Capilla de San Josef de los Naturales, 1523-1700
Description
Using Nahuatl- and Spanish-language sources, this dissertation examines the integral role played by the Nahua community in shaping indigenous Catholicism in the altepetl of Mexico Tenochtitlan. The Franciscans' chapel and doctrina of San Josef de los Naturales was the hub of most indigenous activity in the capital, and Nahua parishioners soon came to claim many of the chapel's buildings and ceremonial activities as their own. The focus is on both the institutional church and Christianity as it was practiced by Nahuas to bring to light information about religious beliefs and rituals in the home as well as in the polity at large As the center of Nahua religious faith and practice in Mexico Tenochtitlan, the chapel of San Josef de los Naturales was a constant presence in Nahua life during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Through an examination of indigenous testaments and other important sources, such as census records, mendicant chronicles, Nahuatl annals, parish documents, and pictorial codices, the significant role played by women in Nahua Catholicism, the centrality of religious brotherhoods, and the veneration of the saints in colonial life becomes apparent. Moreover, the work treats the parish organization of the altepetl and the various religious facilities that were established in it, and focuses on the Franciscans' use of four pedagogical tools, alphabetic writing, imagery, music, and theater, to evaluate their adoption by the community By delving into these many aspects of Nahua Christianity, a greater understanding of indigenous religion across society can be achieved, which includes the marketplace and the household. The mendicant friars introduced Catholicism, but it was the Nahua parishioners who personalized the faith in their homes and built the churches for its celebration by the community