Matías de Escobar y Llamas (

La Orotava La Orotava is a town and a municipality in the northern part of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands of Spain. The area of the municipality stretches from the north coast to the mountainous interior, and includes the summit of the Teide volcano, ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, in 1680 or 1688 -

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

México Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatem ...

, 1748) was a Spanish religious of the

Order of Saint Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

. He is known for his work ''Americana Thebaida'' (1724), one of the most important treatises of Mexican colonial historiography.

Biography

Born in

, in the north of the island of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

( Canary Islands). In his youth, he emigrated with his parents to New Spain. In 1706 he received the religious habit in the convent of

Yuriria Yuriria, Guanajuato, Mexico,(), is one of 46 municipalities in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Geography Yuriria is located in the "Bajío", or lowlands, of Guanajuato. It is bordered to the east by Salvatierra and Santiago Maravatío, to th ...

púndaro, the May 25, 1714, he was ordained priest. Later, he studied to teach theology and worked as a teacher between 1719 and 1727. His most famous work is ''Americana Thebaida'', written in 1724 and published in 1729. The book describes the province of Michoacan, and a study of ethnic groups living in the region before the conquest, especially the

Tarascan Tarascan or Tarasca is an exonym and the popular name for the Purépecha culture. It may refer to: * the Tarascan State, a Mesoamerican empire until the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, located in (present-day) west-central Mexico * the Purépecha p ...

ethnic and traditional images of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

made in cornmeal. The work the origin of the Order of the Augustinians in Mexico and his arrival in Michoacan also recounts.La historia de Michoacán de un originario de La Orotava
/ref> Fray Matias was a speaker reputation for what was ordained a priest in various communities and cities. In 1729, he was appointed provincial Augustinian chronicler of Michoacan. In 1748, he died in ''Valladolid'' (now

), where he was provincial prior.

References

{{Authority control 18th-century Spanish clergy 1680 births 1688 births 1748 deaths People from Tenerife Augustinian Order Roman Catholic writers Michoacán Writers from the Canary Islands