Brazil[9] was discovered by the Portuguese, Alvares de Cabral (1500), who named it Vera Cruz because his ship came to anchor there on Good Friday. The Franciscans were early in the field to tend to the spiritual wants of the natives, who stood in need of some defenders to protect them from the greed of the Portuguese officials. At the request of King John III. St. Ignatius despatched some of his followers to Brazil (1549). A great college was opened by the Jesuits for the education of young men. The wars with the French, the invasion of Brazil by the Dutch, and the opposition of officials who were annoyed at the protection afforded the natives by the missionaries, rendered the work of conversion exceedingly difficult. But "reductions" or settlements of Indians were formed by the Jesuits, Capuchins, Carmelites, and others, and episcopal Sees were established throughout the country. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1759 was a severe blow to the missions in Brazil.
Paraguay[10] was taken possession of by Spain in 1536. The Franciscan Fathers who accompanied the expedition addressed themselves at once to the conversion of the natives; but the difficulty of ****** themselves understood, the cruelty of the first conquerors towards the natives, and the bad example of the early colonists, made their work much more difficult than it might have been.
The Dominicans, the Augustinians and the Order of Mercy came to the assistance of the first missionaries, and three episcopal sees were established. One of the bishops, a Dominican, invited the Jesuits to come to Paraguay (1586). They established colleges in several of the leading centres, and sent out their members in all directions to preach to the Indians, over whom they acquired in a short time a very salutary influence. But the harshness of the Spanish officials, and the bad example they gave to the native converts, made it necessary for the Jesuits to form "Reductions" or special settlements, where the Indians might live apart from the Spaniards, and where they might be free from oppression and the corrupting influence of their Spanish masters. Philip III. of Spain approved this plan, and ordained that the Reductions should be subject directly to the Crown. In these settlements the Jesuits trained the natives in agriculture and in trades, but the peace of the communities was disturbed frequently by the slave-hunters against whom the Spanish officials refused to take action. As a last resource the Jesuits organised an Indian force, and provided them with arms for self-protection. Close on a million converted natives were attached to the thirty-one Reductions that formed a kingdom of independent principality subject only to Spain.
This happy condition of affairs was not destined to last forever. By a treaty made in 1750 Spain, in return for some territory ceded by Portugal, handed over to Portugal seven of the Reductions. The Jesuits pleaded for delay in carrying out the eviction of the Indians who were settled in this territory, and when their appeal was refused they advised the Indians to submit. Some of them followed this advice while others of them flew to arms only to be defeated (1756). The blame for the rebellion was attributed to the Jesuits by Pombal and the other enemies of the Society in Portugal. By a royal decree issued in 1767the Jesuits were expelled from Paraguay, and in a few years the flourishing communities which they had established were completely dissolved.[11]
Christianity reached the territory now known as the United States from three distinct sources, namely, the Spanish colonies in the south, the French settlements in the north, and from the English Catholic colony of Maryland in the east. The sphere of influence of the Spanish missionaries was Florida, California, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1526an expedition under the command of de Narvaez and accompanied by several Franciscan Fathers was sent to explore Florida, but the expedition ended in complete failure. Several other attempts of a similar kind were made with no better results till at last, aroused by the danger of a French occupation, Menendez established a permanent settlement at Fort St. Augustine and prepared the way for Spanish occupation (1565). Menendez, zealous for the conversion of the natives, invited the Jesuits to come to Florida, as did also the Franciscans. At first the work of conversion was attended with great difficulties and proceeded very slowly, but by the year 1700 many Christian villages had been established. The attacks of the English on Florida injured the missions, and the cession of Florida to England (1763) completed the work of destruction.[12]
Lower California was discovered by Cortez in 1533, and Upper California by Cabrillo eleven years later. In the beginning the missionaries encountered great opposition, but after 1697 the Jesuit Fathers were very successful. They formed the natives into permanent settlements or reductions, and so rapidly did the work of evangelisation proceed that in 1767, the year in which the Jesuits were expelled by Spain, nearly all the Indians were converted. The Franciscan Fathers succeeded the Jesuits, continuing their reductions in Lower California, and introducing missions of a similar kind among the Indians of Upper California. The Dominicans, also, rendered valuable assistance. In 1822 California was ceded to the United States, and the missions were broken up owing to the hostility of the civil authorities.[13]