The first Jesuit missionaries among the Guarani and the experience of the “aldeias” in Brazil

Abstract

In the extensive literature on the Jesuit missions of the Guaranis, little account has been taken of the Portuguese Jesuits’ work during the first evangelization period. However, many have sought for antecedents of such work in the Jeronimos’ experience in the West Indies, from the well-chosen Verapaz of Bartolomé de las Casas to the first contacts of the Jesuits in Peru as well as the Franciscans’ work in Asunción, among others. Yet the work of the first Jesuits that settled in Paraguayan territory and belonged, precisely, to the Portuguese Assistance was, without any doubt, significant. Therefore the purpose of the article is to refer to and highlight the work of these Jesuits who had had their own experience with the aldeias of Brazil and took it to Paraguay along with their previous and successful missions in Guayrá, where they could even consolidate their own learning of the language and create Christian indigenous groups that were the seeds of future reductions.

Keywords: Guayrá, Jesuit missions, Paraguay.