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1510
The Friars' Communidad Profetica
The
four friars found strength for their preaching and teaching in the
life of their Dominican community: their common prayer, the study
which their Constitutions required to be "assiduous," and the sharing
of gifts in planning for ministry. Their first bold action was to
refuse the comfortable quarters provided them by the invaders. They
moved into one of the native huts and soon became a "communidad
profetica " in Santo Domingo, openly supporting each others'
preaching in the face of daunting power and wealth. The Word of
God came to life in the western hemisphere when the friars denouned
the injustices of the Conquistadores against the natives.
They addressed with courage the evils of inhuman treatment of the
conquered people: the long hours of killing work in the mines; the
suffering of children and women forced to labor under the oppressive
encomendero system on the vast encomiendas
of the conquerors. These evils were widespread, despite the fact
that by June 1500 the Catholic Kings formally approved a policy
of liberty, not slavery, for the natives. 
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SOURCE:
Mary Nona McGreal, O.P., ed. Dominicans at
Home in a Young Nation (1786-1865), 18-19. |
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1511
Antonio de Montesinos
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150
foot statue of Antonio de Montesinos in Santo
Domingo |
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On the second
Sunday of Advent in 1511 , Antonio de Montesinos preached a
rousing sermon (see below) to which all four friars had contributed
ideas and added their signatures. The listeners included soldiers,
colonists and officials who represented Kind Ferdinand and the Court
of Spain. For the first time they heard a deliberate public protest
against the atrocities for which they themselves were responsible.
The listeners
were astounded and shocked. Never before, to their knowldege, had
Christians been called to truth and justice among people whom many
thought to be less than human. Thus developed in this hemisphere
the first significant clash between human rights and human greed.
Perhaps Montesinos awakened the moral conscience of some Spanish
listeners, but it was too late to undo twenty years of destructive
exploitation. However, by their intense, persistent protests, the
four Dominican men became the first European spokesmen to defend
the rights of natives in the Americas.
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SOURCE:
Mary Nona McGreal, O.P., ed. Dominicans at
Home in a Young Nation (1786-1865), 19. |
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Montesinos
In His Own Words: |
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SECOND
SUNDAY OF ADVENT, 1511--"I am the voice
of one crying in the wilderness...You are in mortal
sin and live and die in it because of the cruelty
and tyranny that you use against these innocent
peoples. Tell me, by what right, with what justice
do you hold these Indians in such cruel and horrible
servitude? On what authority have you waged such
detestable wars on these peoples, in their mild
and peaceful lands, where you have consumed such
infinitudes of them, wereaking upon them this
death and unheard-of havoc?....And what care do
you take that anyone catechize them, so that they
may come to know their God and Creator, be patized,
hear Mass, observe Sundays and Holy Days? Are
they not human beings? Have they no rational souls?
Are you not obligated to love them as you love
yourselves? Do you not understand this?...How
is it that you sleep so soundly, so lethargically?"
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1510-1606
