Pérez de Bocanegra was a parish priest in this church in Andahuaylillas Juan Pérez de Bocanegra, TOSF (died 1645) was a

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

and member of the Third Order of St. Francis, who was a musician, and specialist in the indigenous languages of colonial Peru.

Life

Pérez de Bocanegra established himself in the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru (), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (), was a Monarchy of Spain, Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in ...

as one of the most important experts in the local languages and ways of life. He taught Latin at the University of San Marcos in Lima before moving to

Cusco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department. The city was the cap ...

. He then served as the

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo there from c. 1599–1611, serving as choir-book corrector from 1598-1604, during the episcopacy of Antonio de la Raya y Navarrete. He served as examiner general for the native languages

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

and Aymara for the Diocese of Cusco, and was for many years a

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

in Andahuaylillas. His name appears on the cornerstone of the church at Andahuaylillas.Bruce Mannheim, ''A Nation Surrounded'', in: ''Native Traditions in the Postconquest World'', ed. Elizabeth Hill Boone and Tom Cummins, 383–420 (Dumbarton Oaks, 1998), 389. He got painter Luis de Riaño to paint the ornate murals inside, for which the church is sometimes called "the

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...

of America." As a Franciscan, Pérez de Bocanegra was sometimes in conflict with the

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 ...

s about how to translate Christian terminology into native languages. Jesuits favored

loan word A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing (linguistics), borrowing. Borrowing ...

s from Spanish, which were free of heterodox implications, while Bocanegra preferred to draw on the rich imagery of the Andean linguistic resources. The Jesuit position became official at the Third Council of Lima (1582–83), but Pérez de Bocanegra continued his practice by avoiding literal translations and separating the Spanish and Quechua passages in his works. He and the Jesuits also disputed how to use Andahuaylillas; the Jesuits wished to make his parish a Quechua-language training center similar to the Aymara one they had established in Juli.Mannheim, 392. Pérez de Bocanegra is best known for the publication of a work entitled ''Ritual, formulario e institución de curas'' (1631), which gave texts to various rituals in both Quechua and Spanish. It is particularly noted for '' Hanacpachap cussicuinin'', the earliest polyphonic vocal work printed in the New World. Robert M. Stevenson, ''Music in Aztec and Inca Territory'' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968). It is unknown whether the hymn was composed by him or a local indigenous person.

Writings

* Juan Pérez Bocanegra. ''Ritual, formulario, e institución de curas para administrar a los naturales de este reyno, los santos sacramentos del baptismo, confirmacion, eucaristia, y viatico, penitencia, extremauncion, y matrimonio: con aduertencias muy necessarias''. Lima: Geronymo de Contreras, 1631. 720 pp
digital facsimile
from the

John Carter Brown Library The John Carter Brown Library is an independently funded research library of history and the humanities on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The library's rare book, manuscript, and map collections encompass a variety of ...

collection at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Bocanegra, Juan 16th-century births 1645 deaths 16th-century Peruvian Roman Catholic priests 17th-century Peruvian Roman Catholic priests Members of the Third Order of Saint Francis Viceroyalty of Peru people Quechua-language writers