Men of God : mendicant orders in colonial Mexico / Asunción Lavrin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lavrin, Asunción, author.

Series:

Confluencias (Lincoln, Neb.)

Confluencias

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Friars--Mexico--History.

Friars.

Monasticism and religious orders--Mexico--History.

Monasticism and religious orders.

Masculinity--Religious aspects--Catholic Church--History.

Masculinity.

Mexico--History--Spanish colony, 1540-1810.

Mexico.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 403 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2024]

Summary:

"A sweeping cultural history of the men of Augustinian, Franciscan, and Dominican orders in New Spain, from the Late sixteenth century through 1800"-- Provided by publisher.

"A broadly researched cultural history, Men of God offers a path to understanding the concept of religious masculinity through an intimate approach to the study of friars and lay brothers in colonial Mexico. Though other scholars have focused on the missionary work of the Augustinian, Franciscan, and Dominican friars, few have addressed their everyday lives and how the internal discipline of their orders shaped the men within them. In Men of God Asunción Lavrin offers a sweeping yet intimate history of the mendicant friars in New Spain from the late sixteenth century through 1800. Focusing on these individuals' lives from childhood through death, Lavrin explores contemporaneous ideas from how to raise a boy to the friars' training as novices, and the similarities and differences in the life experiences of lay brothers and ordained members. She discusses their sexuality to reveal the challenges and failures of religious manhood, as well as the drive behind their missionary duties, especially in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Men of God also explores the concepts and realities of martyrdom and death, significant elements in the spirituality of the mendicant friars of colonial Mexico"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Childhood: prescriptions and memories

The threshold of religious life: the novitiate

Lay brothers: an alternative choice

Sexuality: the treacherous flesh

Missionaries: preaching their faith

Martyrs: the offer of life

Death: the test of faith.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781496237804

1496237803

9781496240446

1496240448

OCLC:

1408649596