Reducción de Nuestra Señora de Loreto (''Reduction of Our Lady of Laurel''), founded in 1610, was the first reductions established by the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

in the Province of Paraguay in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

during the Spanish colonial period. The site is located in the Candelaria Department of

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The Jesuits learned Indian languages and developed ways to write them using the Roman alphabet. They established a printing press at this mission, for which it became renowned. Not only did the Jesuits print works in Spanish and Latin (the language of the Catholic liturgy, Bible and prayer book), but they translated the Bible and other Christian works into Indian languages, as well as printing dictionaries. Father Antonio Garriga was a Spanish Jesuit attached to Nuestra Señora de Loreto beginning in the last years of the 17th century and extending well into the early 18th century. He was particularly known as a linguist and missionary to the

Moro people The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro (lit. ''Moro nation'' or ''Moro country''). As Muslim-majorit ...

; he worked in the region from 1696 and served as Superior of the Mission several times. His book, ''Practical Instruction to Order One’s Life According to Saintly Precepts'' (c.1713) was the second oldest book printed at the mission. In 1760, a ship named after the reduction was built by a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. Today only the ruins of the

Jesuit reduction Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such red ...

are left at the site. In 1984 it was one of four ''reducciones'' in Argentina (others were San Ignacio Mini, Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana, and Santa María la Mayor) and São Miguel das Missões in Brazil designated as

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

s by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. In 1993 UNESCO added two missions of the Province of Paraguay, located in present-day Paraguay, as World Heritage Sites. Vegetation has grown over and contributed to deterioration of the ruins, which are not as well preserved as those of

San Ignacio Miní San Ignacio Miní was one of the many missions founded in 1610 in Argentina, by the Jesuits in what the colonial Spaniards called the Province of Paraguay of the Americas during the Spanish colonial period. It is located near present-day San Ign ...

, also in Misiones.

References

Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis Spanish missions in Argentina Buildings and structures in Misiones Province Former populated places in Argentina 1610 establishments in the Viceroyalty of Peru World Heritage Sites in Argentina {{Misiones-geo-stub

See also

References