Acosta, José de (1540-1600)

Jesuit missionary to Peru. Born in Medina del Campo, Spain, Acosta had completed most of his studies as a Jesuit when he arrived in Lima in 1572. He taught theology in the Jesuit major seminary in Lima and between 1573 and 1574 conducted a study tour of southern Peru and Bolivia. In 1576 he was named provincial superior of his order. He served as a theologian-adviser to the Third Lima Council, convoked by Archbishop Toribio de Mogrovejo in 1582. This, the most important of all the Lima councils, influenced pastoral practices in the Andes into the nineteenth century. Acosta was instrumental in preparing the catechism approved for use among priests in Indian parishes. It was written in Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara. Acosta also founded the Jesuit mission in Juli, by Lake Titicaca, which served as a model for the more famous Paraguay missions.

Acosta returned to Spain in 1587 after spending a year in Mexico while completing his two major works, De Procuranda Indorum Salute (1588, On how to bring about the salvation of the Indians) and Historia Natural y Moral de los Indias (1590, A natural and moral history of the Indies). De Procuranda, published in Spain, soon became one of the most influential guides for missionaries in the new world. In it Acosta blamed the slow progress in evangelizing on missionaries who gave bad examples, treated the Indians harshly, or failed to understand their language and culture. He expressed his belief that the Indians were basically good and docile and could be converted to Christianity by a combination of firmness and gentleness.

In Historia Natural y Moral, Acosta saw the hand of God in the great Indian civilizations of the Incas and the Aztecs, which for him represented a providential preparation for the coming of the gospel. However, he did not esteem the contemporary Indian religions, but rather saw them as the work of the devil and their Indian rituals as a parody of Christian sacraments. Acosta stood out most of all for his combination of humanism, zeal, and common sense. He was the prime spokesman among second generation missionaries to the Andean regions who found fault with the superficial means used by the first generation. After returning to Spain in 1587 he held several important positions in his order. He died in Salamanca.

Jeffrey Klaiber, SJ, “Acosta, José de,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 3-4.

This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998. Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

Bibliography

Primary

Acosta, José de. The Natural and Moral History of the Indies. Edited by Jane Mangan; translated by Frances Lopez-Morillas. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002.

Secondary

Burgaleta, Claugio M. José de Acosta, S. J. (1540-1600): His Life and Thought

Lopetegui, León. El Padre José de Acosta, S. I., y las Misiones. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, 1942.

MacCormack, Sabine. Religion in the Andes: Vision and Imagination in Early Colonial Peru. New Haven: Princeton University Press, 1993.

Martín, Luis. The Intellectual Conquest of Peru: The Jesuit College of San Pablo, 1568-1767. New York: Fordham University Press, 1968.

Shepherd, Gregory J. José de Acosta’s De Procuranda Indorum Salute: A Call for Evangelical Reforms in Colonial Peru. New York: Peter Lang, 2014.