Gerónimo Boscana (Jerónimo Boscana) was an early 19th-century
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
missionary in Spanish
Las Californias
The Californias (Spanish: ''Las Californias''), occasionally known as The Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican st ...
and Mexican
Alta California
Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...
. He is noted for producing the most detailed ethnographic picture of a
Native Californian
The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. W ...
culture to come out of the
missionary period, an account that "for his time and profession, is liberal and enlightened" (Kroeber 1959:282).
Life
Born at
Llucmajor
Llucmajor (; es, Lluchmayor) is the largest municipality (in terms of surface area) of the Balearic Island of Mallorca.
There are sixteen urban settlements in the municipality, including the town of Llucmajor and the coastal areas of s'Aren ...
on the island of
Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...
,
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")
, ...
in 1775 (Geiger 1969:29). Boscana was educated at
Palma, joined the Franciscan order in 1792, and was ordained in 1799. He traveled to New Spain in 1803 and to Alta California in 1806. He served at the missions of
Soledad,
La Purísima,
San Luis Rey
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia ( es, Misión San Luis Rey de Francia) is a former Spanish mission in San Luis Rey, a neighborhood of Oceanside, California. This Mission lent its name to the Luiseño tribe of Mission Indians.
At its prime, ...
, and
San Gabriel. For more than a decade, from 1814 to 1826, he was stationed at
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Mission San Juan Capistrano ( es, Misión San Juan Capistrano) is a Spanish missions in California, Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, California, San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California, Orange County, California. Founded November 1 ...
. He died at Mission San Gabriel in 1831, and is the only missionary to be interred in its cemetery among over 2,000 other mission inhabitants, mainly
Gabrielino or Tongva Indians, buried there.
Ethnographic studies
Boscana's first
ethnographic
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
contribution resulted from an 1812 questionnaire sent by the
Spanish government in Cádiz to the missionaries of Alta California (Geiger and Meighan 1976). The task of helping his colleague,
José Barona
Father José Barona, O.F.M. was Catholic a priest of the Franciscan Order, and a Spanish missionary in California during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Born in July, 1764 at Villa-Nueva del Conde, in the archdiocese of Burgos, Old Castile, ...
, to prepare a response in 1814 on behalf of Mission San Juan Capistrano may have stimulated the missionary's interest in the native culture.
While at San Juan Capistrano, Boscana composed at least two versions of a detailed ethnographic sketch of the
Juaneño or Acagchemem Native Americans, who were primarily speakers of a dialect of the
Luiseño language
The Luiseño language is a Uto-Aztecan language of California spoken by the Luiseño, a Native American people who at the time of first contact with the Spanish in the 16th century inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging f ...
but probably also included
Gabrieliño or Tongva speakers from the north. A translation of one version of Boscana's manuscript, "Chinigchinich; a Historical Account of the Origin, Customs, and Traditions of the Indians at the Missionary Establishment of St. Juan Capistrano, Alta California Called The Acagchemem Nation," was published by
Alfred Robinson in 1846 as an appendix to his book ''Life in California''. Robinson was apparently responsible for giving the title "
Chinigchinix (Chinigchinich)" to Boscana's work. An edition of this version with extensive annotations by the anthropologist and linguist
John Peabody Harrington
John Peabody Harrington (April 29, 1884 – October 21, 1961) was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the indigenous peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which h ...
was published in 1933.
The following year, Harrington published a translation of another, variant version of Boscana's account, newly discovered in France and entitled "Relación histórica de la creencia, usos, costumbres, y extravagancias de los indios de esta Misión de San Juan Capistrano llamada la nación Acagchemem" (Harrington 1934). This version was subsequently also published in its original Spanish by Henry and Paula Reichlen in 1971. It seems to have been an earlier draft of the manuscript published by Robinson, but it contains some material not included in the later version.
Portions of a still earlier draft made by Boscana, with some additional ethnographic information, have also been discovered by John R. Johnson in 2006.
[Johnson, John R. 2006. "The Various Chinigchinich Manuscripts of Father Gerónimo Boscana." In ''San Diego, Alta California, and the Borderlands: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the California Mission Studies Association, Mission San Diego de Alcala, February 18–20, 2006,'' edited by Rose Marie Beebe. Bakersfield, California: California Mission Studies Association.]
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boscana, Geronimo
Native American history of California
1776 births
1831 deaths
People from Mallorca
Roman Catholic missionaries in Mexico
Spanish Franciscans
Religious workers from California
Priests of the Spanish missions in California
Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries
19th-century Spanish people
Llucmajor
Franciscan missionaries
Spanish expatriates in Mexico