Cristóbal de Cañas (16801740) was a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

Biography

Cañas was born in 1680 in

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

, Spain; entered the Society of Jesus on May 19, 1697; was ordained in 1706 in

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

, Mexico; and served his

tertianship Tertianship is the final period of formation for members of the Society of Jesus. Upon invitation of the Provincial, it usually begins three to five years after completion of graduate studies. It is a time when the candidate for final vows steps ...

in 1707. From 1710 to 1718, he taught philosophy at the

College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro The College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro was a Franciscan missionary college, or seminary, in New Spain. It was located in present-day Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico, and was the second Roman Catholic missionary college in the New World to train mis ...

, taking his final vows on February 2, 1715. In 1720, Cañas was assigned to Mission Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Arizpe, and by 1722 he was

Father Visitor In the Catholic Church, a canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view to maintaining faith and discipline and of correcting abuses. A person delegated to car ...

of the Jesuits in

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

. Other Jesuits frequently consulted Cañas as a legal expert. Cañas clashed with Captain Gregorio Álvarez Tuñón y Quirós for a decade leading up to the latter's death in 1728. By 1730, Cañas was serving at Mission San Pedro Aconchi. There, he warned about , writing that "the devil talks to

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

in the form of a jaguar, puma, dog, or, most commonly, in the form of a snake." In 1735, he was appointed rector of the Jesuit College in

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

. Accounts by Carlos de Roxas, another Jesuit missionary, describe Cañas as tormented by "unnatural" suffering under the spell of a shaman for the last two years of his life. Cañas died on May 9, 1740.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canas, Cristobal de Jesuit missionaries in New Spain 1680 births 1740 deaths