The Jesuit and the Incas: The Extraordinary Life of Padre Blas Valera, S.J.

Description

In the spirit of justice he broke the rules — and paid with his life. This is the tale of Father Blas Valera, the child of a native Incan woman and Spanish father, caught between the ancient world of the Incas and the conquistadors of Spain. Valera, a Jesuit in sixteenth-century Peru, believed in what to his superiors was heresy: that in most ways the Inca were equal to their Christian counterparts. As punishment for his beliefs he was imprisoned, beaten, and, finally, exiled to Spain, where he died in 1597. Four centuries later, this Incan chronicler had been all but forgotten, until an Italian anthropologist discovered startling documents in a private Neapolitan collection. The documents claimed, among other things, that Valera’s death had been faked by the Jesuits and that he had returned to Peru. Far from settling anything, the documents created an international sensation among scholars and led to bitter disputes over how they should be assessed. Are they forgeries, authentic documents, or something in between? If genuine, they will radically reform our view of Incan culture and Valera. The author insightfully examines the evidence, showing how fact and fiction intertwine, and brings the dimly understood history of this author-priest to light. Sabine Hyland is Co-director of a multidisciplinary project studying the Chanka people of Peru. She is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at St. Norbert College.