THE CHURCH IN THE INDIES 101
century to curb in some measure the excessive
power of the church.
Royal control over ecclesiastical affairs, both in
Spain and the Indies, was solidly founded on the
institution of the patronato real (royal patronage).
As applied to the colonies, this consisted of the ab-
solute right of the Spanish kings to nominate all
church offi cials, collect tithes, and found churches
and monasteries in America. Under diplomatic pres-
sure from King Ferdinand, Pope Julius II had ac-
corded this extraordinary privilege to Spain’s rulers
in 1508, ostensibly to assist in converting New
World heathens. The Spanish monarchs regarded
the patronato as their most cherished privilege and
reacted sharply to all encroachments on it.
THE SPIRITUAL CONQUEST OF AMERICA
Beginning with Columbus’s second voyage, one
or more clergymen accompanied every expedition
that sailed for the Indies, and they came in swelling
numbers to the conquered territories. The friars
formed the spearhead of the second religious in-
vasion that followed on the heels of the Conquest.
The friars who came to America in the fi rst decades
after the Conquest were, on the whole, an elite
group. They were products of one of the periodic
revivals of asceticism and discipline in the medi-
eval church, especially of the reform of the orders
instituted in Spain by the Catholic Sovereigns and
carried out with implacable energy by Cardinal
Cisneros. This vanguard group of clergy frequently
combined with missionary zeal a sensitive social
conscience and a love of learning. The missionar-
ies were frequently impressed by the admirable
qualities of the indígenas, by their simplicity and
freedom from the greed and ambitions of Europe-
ans. Wrote Vasco de Quiroga, royal judge and later
bishop of the province of Michoacán in Mexico:
Anything may be done with these people,
they are most docile, and, proceeding with
due diligence, may easily be taught Christian
doctrine. They possess innately the instincts
of humility and obedience, and the Christian
impulses of poverty, nakedness, and contempt
for the things of this world, going barefoot andbareheaded with the hair long like apostles;
in fi ne, with very tractable minds void of error
and ready for impression.
Millenarian^1 and utopian ideals strongly infl u-
enced many members of the reformed clergy who
came to the Indies in the fi rst decades after the Con-
quest. Inspired by the vision of a multitude of native
souls waiting to be saved, they dreamed of a fruitful
fusion of indigenous and Spanish cultures under
the sign of a Christianity returned to its original pu-
rity. Such men as Juan de Zumárraga, fi rst bishop
and archbishop of Mexico; Vasco de Quiroga; and
Bartolomé de Las Casas were profoundly infl uenced
by the humanist, reformist ideas of Erasmus and by
Thomas More’s Utopia. Indeed, Quiroga proposed
to the Spanish crown that indigenous cities be es-
tablished and organized on the lines of More’s ideal
commonwealth, in which the natives’ natural vir-
tues would be preserved and perfected by training
in the Christian religion and culture. When the
crown ignored his proposals, Quiroga used his own
resources to found the pueblos or refuges of Santa
Fe in Michoacán. In these communities Quiroga
established collective ownership of property, sys-
tematic alternation between agricultural and craft
labor, the six-hour working day, work for women,
the distribution of the fruits of collective labor ac-
cording to need, and the shunning of luxuries and
of all occupations that were not useful. Quiroga’s
dream of establishing islands of charity and coop-
erative life in a sea of exploitive encomiendas and
haciendas was doomed to eventual failure, but to
this day the indígenas of Michoacán revere the
name and memory of “Tata Vasco.”
These attitudes of reformist clergy inevitably
placed them on a collision course with the enco-
menderos and other lay Spaniards who sought
the unchecked exploitation of native peoples and
commonly described them as “dogs” (perros). To
be sure, not all the religious saw eye to eye on this(^1) Millenarianism is the medieval doctrine, based on a
prophecy in the Book of Revelation and widely held by the
reformed clergy, that Christ would return to earth to reign
for a thousand years of peace and righteousness, to be
followed by the Last Judgment at the end of the world.