Libraries

Go to link

This document, probably printed by Francisco del Canto, focuses on the process of creation of the bishopric of Trujillo which, created as a diocese by Gregory XIII, was constituted by Pope Paul V. As noted, the creation of this bishopric was suggested by King Felipe III and entrusted to the viceroy of Peru Juan de Mendoza y Luna. Francisco Díaz de Cabrera was the first bishop to take the seat of the bishopric of Trujillo and was a decisive agent during the first years of this ecclesiastical territory.
For its creation, territories were taken that were part of the archbishopric of Lima and the bishopric of Quito. In the document, the places covered by those jurisdictions are mentioned; as well as the number of priests incardinated in these places. The territorial breadth and the variety of regional spaces that it covered allow us to intuit that it was a difficult geographical area to administer.
This source is a fundamental tool to understand the beginnings of the process of evangelization and dissemination of Catholic ideas in the Spanish Empire and, in particular, in the region covered by the Trujillo bishopric. Finally, it places the reader or researcher in the years prior to the strong earthquake of 1619 that destroyed the entire city and, consequently, affected the bishopric and the development of evangelization.

Enrique Urteaga
Proyecto Estudios Indianos