FRANCISCO JAVIER CLAVIJERO: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - ARTE - 2024

Francisco Javier Clavijero (1731-1787) was a historian and priest from New Spain, born in Mexico, who belonged to the Jesuit Order. The importance of his work lay in the place he gave to the history of his country in terms of the conquest and the process of evolution of the indigenous people.

Clavijero's work had traits of his personality, that is, his pen was innovative and modern for the time in which he developed it. He also used clear and bold language; perhaps his writing was influenced in style by the readings of Descartes, Benito Feijoo, and Gottfried Leibniz.

Portrait of Francisco Javier Clavijero. Source: Unidentified painter, via Wikimedia Commons

Some of Clavijero's most prominent titles were: The Ancient History of Mexico, De la Colonia de los Tlaxcala, and La historia de la Antigua or Baja California. The priest became a reference for the study of the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico.

Biography

Birth and family

Francisco was born on September 9, 1731 in the old New Spain, today Mexico, specifically in Veracruz, into a family that served the Spanish monarchy. His parents were the Spanish Blas Clavijero and María Isabel Echegaray; he had ten siblings, he being the third.

Headstock childhood

Clavijero's childhood was characterized by constant changes, due to the work carried out by his father, closely linked to the Spanish crown. He lived in cities like Puebla and Oaxaca; Since he was little he was involved with the life of the indigenous people, their culture, languages ​​and traditions.

Educational training

Francisco Clavijero studied at the San Jerónimo and San Ignacio de los Jesuitas schools in Puebla, where he learned Latin, literature, philosophy, and theology. Then, in 1748 and at the age of seventeen, he entered the Order of the Society of Jesus in Tepotzotlán to become a priest.

After three years in Tepotzotlán, in 1751, he returned to San Ildefonso to study scholastic philosophy or Christian revelation. However, he was not entirely pleased with that teaching, so he decided to learn about philosophy, and then he delved into theology in the Mexican capital.

Priest headstock

Clavijero was ordained a priest in 1754. At that time he had already served as a teacher, and was in charge of the Colegio San Ildefonso. He has always shown interest in the indigenous people, and that is why he requested to be part of the missions that were carried out in California; however, it was not sent.

In 1758, when he began to work at the Colegio San Gregorio, in Mexico City, he was one of those in charge of the training that was given to the Indians there. At the same time, he delved into Mexican history, especially in the research work carried out by the New Spanish writer Carlos Sigüenza.

Dedication to education

Francisco Clavijo spent five years, between 1762 and 1767, dedicated to teaching. First he was at the San Gregorio, then he was assigned to Puebla, to the San Francisco Javier school to teach the natives; and in 1763 he was sent to Morelia for the same purpose.

Expulsion of the Jesuits

Clavijero was in a teaching institution in Guadalajara when the monarch Carlos III ordered, in February 1767, the expulsion of the Jesuits from all their territories; this was for compelling reasons, according to him. As of June 25 of that year, the exile stage for the priest began.

Beginning of exile

Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, where Francisco Javier Clavijero died. Source: Patrick Clenet, via Wikimedia Commons

Francisco Clavijero and his companions spent time in Veracruz, before leaving on October 25, 1767, for Havana. The exile process was long and difficult. On the way, the priest fell ill, managed to recover, finally reached Italy, and in 1770 he resided in the city of Bologna.

His interest in the pre-Hispanic

From the process of conquest by the Spanish to America, there were many debates about the culture of the indigenous people. Because of this Clavijero became interested and concerned about maintaining and giving value to each of the traditions and customs of the native peoples in Mexico.

Installed in Italy, he undertook the task of showing that the beliefs of the natives, regarding their gods, were part of their idiosyncrasy. For this reason, he considered it necessary for the corresponding authorities to dedicate themselves to exalting the meaning of the culture of the Native Americans.

His greatest work written in exile

After settling in Bologna, the Jesuit priest began to develop, between 1770 and 1780, his most important work: Ancient History of Mexico. Clavijero exposed the history of indigenous peoples, and also debated the ideas that existed about them, through his extensive knowledge.

Reason for his work

At the time Clavijero went into exile in Italy, he perceived that Europeans had a wrong conception of what American soil was like. So the reason for his work was to bring the inhabitants of the old continent out of ignorance, and also to spread the truth about indigenous peoples.

Headstock as a source of inspiration

The work of Francisco Javier Clavijero from Italy to spread and revalue the ancient history of Mexico, was inspiration for a few New Hispanics. Among them were José Antonio Alzate, Antonio de León y Gama, Mariano Veytia, Lorenzo Boturini and Juan José de Eguiara.

Each of them took pains to leave a clear history of pre-Hispanic Mexico and life during the Spanish colonization. To achieve this, they strengthened their qualities, contributing from their offices as writers, astronomers, philosophers, historians and chroniclers; their union provided an unparalleled documentary wealth.

Last years and death

The last years of Francisco Javier Clavijero's life were spent outside of his native land, since he could not return. He dedicated himself to writing and serving those most in need. He died in Bologna, on April 2, 1787, due to an infection that he suffered for a long time.

Process of repatriation of your body

The news of the priest's death reached Mexico 75 years later, in 1862. From then on the pertinent procedures began to bring his body to Aztec land. However, first great efforts were devoted to its location.

After years of anthropological studies and research, he found his remains. On July 13, 1970, the administration of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz announced the repatriation, which materialized on August 5 of that year. After being honored, his skeleton was deposited in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons.

Sepulcher of the historian Francisco Javier Clavijero, in the Rotunda of the Illustrious. Source: Thelmadatter, via Wikimedia Commons

Validity of Francisco Clavijero

The validity of Francisco Clavijero remains firm, because his writings continue to be a reference for scholars of the history of Mexico and America. In addition, the group has him present in each of the institutions and places that bear his name, such as streets, avenues, squares and schools.

On the other hand, the Francisco Javier Clavijero Award has been instituted to enhance studies on history and ethnohistory in Mexico. The initiative was sponsored by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, together with the National Council for Culture and the Arts.

Style

The literary style of the Jesuit priest from New Spain was characterized by the knowledge and direct contact he had with the different indigenous populations of his time. He also reflected the modernity of his personality in his texts, which allowed him a greater scope of his ideas.

His language was precise, bold and bold. Through his words he was able to innovate what was known at that time about scholastic philosophy. The issues that worried him were always related to his homeland, the indigenous people and their different cultural manifestations; its objective was to spread and preserve it.

Plays

- Ancient history of Mexico (1770-1780).

-Short description of some of his works

Ancient history of Mexico

It was the most outstanding and important work of Francisco Clavijero, which he developed in exile with a high degree of sentimentality due to the remoteness of his homeland. With this work, the priest tried to give the value it deserved to Mexican history before the conquest, after the existence of a large number of foreign and ignorant opinions.

The book developed by Clavijero was a tribute to America, especially to his native Mexico, as well as being a source of entertainment during the slow passage of time. In it, the author was in charge of exposing the pre-Hispanic history of the Aztec country, until the middle of the 16th century.

Structure

Ancient history of Mexico was structured in ten books, together with nine dissertations or speeches. In the case of the first, it was related to the natural formation of the indigenous peoples, while the others were the detailed description of pre-Hispanic events.

Content

Through this work, Francisco Clavijero gave a new air to the historical process of Mexico and America. It also contradicted the opinions of those who had never set foot in the territory of New Spain and who, even so, tried to make judgments about the way of life that existed there.

On the other hand, the priest took pains to present a broad panorama of the Mexican past. The Toltecs, the Mexica or Aztecs, the birth of the Mexican reign, the arrival of the Spanish and the occupation of Tenochitlan in 1521, were part of the pages of the book.

The

In the section on lectures or speeches, the New Spain priest defended and preserved with absolute loyalty his love and respect for indigenous peoples. It was also in this section that he expressed his annoyance at the pointless attacks of the Europeans against the American people.

Faced with his disagreement and disagreement with the opinions of the intellectuals of the old world, Francisco Clavijero became the main voice of the indigenous people. Its intention and purpose was to quell rumors and false claims, and to make America seen with equality, and as a land with identity.

Editions

Historia antigua de México was published in its first edition in Italian, and included four copies. It was so important and well received that it was soon published in English and German, and also held a place of honor for more than five hundred years.

In 1826 Clavijero's work was translated into Spanish, in two volumes; he arrived in Mexican territory after the feat of independence. With this book, the Jesuit became the greatest exponent and defender of America, since his experience, documentation and research gave him sufficient knowledge.

In Spanish

When the priest's work in Spanish came out in 1826, it was a translation of the original text, made in London by the Spanish writer and journalist José Joaquín de Mora. Then, between 1868 and 1917, it managed to spread throughout almost all of America.

A century later, the publication in Spanish was made directly of the text written by Clavijero himself. The task was in charge of Mariano Cuevas, a Mexican Jesuit. The work was presented in four volumes in the first two appearances, and was later reduced to one.

Fragment

“They are Mexicans of regular stature, from which they deviate more frequently by excess than by default; with good meat and a fair proportion in all its members, with a narrow forehead, black eyes and an equal, firm, white and smooth teeth…

Their senses are very alive, especially that of sight, which they keep whole even in its decrepitude…

Those transports of anger are not regularly seen in Mexicans, nor those frenzy of love that are so frequent in other nations… they are very suffered in injuries and jobs, and very grateful for any benefit… ”.

Fragment of the

“It is true that Mexicans did not have voices to explain the concepts of matter, substance, accident and the like; but it is equally true that no language, Asian or European, had such voices before the Greeks began to lose weight, abstract their ideas, and create new terms to explain them.

The great Cicero, who knew the Latin language so well and flourished in the times when it was in its greatest perfection… struggles many times in his philosophical works to find voices corresponding to the metaphysical ideas of the Greeks… ”.

The history of Antigua or Baja California

It was another of the relevant works of Francisco Clavijero. This was published in Italy, in 1789, by his brother, also the Jesuit priest Ignacio Clavijero. The work was about the missionary work that the parents of the Order of the Society of Jesus carried out in the territory of Baja California.

The development of the work was supported by the stories and testimonies of the Jesuits, among them: Juan María Salvatierra, Miguel Venegas, Eusebio Kino and Juan de Ugarte. It was divided into four volumes; in Mexico it was born in the mid-nineteenth century, specifically in 1852.

Fragment

“As for religion, an essential article in history, there is little we can say, because there was hardly any among the Californians. They had no temples, altars, simulacra, priests or sacrifices, and therefore, no trace of idolatry or external worship of the divinity was found among them.

They had, however, some idea of ​​a Supreme Being, creator of the world, but as obscured and confused as in other barbarian peoples, and disfigured with a thousand nonsense, needs and childishness… ”.

Phrases

- “Their souls are radically like those of other men, and they are endowed with the same faculties. The Europeans have never done less honor to their reason than when they doubted the rationality of the Americans… their understandings are capable of all sciences, as experience has shown ”.

- "Laws are useless when their observation is guarded and offenders are not punished."

- "Philosophy is noble and learned rest, consolation in tribulations, useful and gentle solace in the vicissitudes of life."

- "The desire for happiness that stimulates men to commit the most arduous undertakings, frequently throws them into the deepest precipices."

- "Those who have acquired it without fatigue easily dissipate their wealth."

- "Live off the product of your work, because that way your livelihood will be more pleasant."

- "There is never a lack of powerful perverse and banal men who are ministers of their passions."

- "There is no throne more vacillating than the one that is sustained rather by force of arms than by love for the people."

- "I want to complain in a friendly way about the indolence or neglect of our elders with respect to the history of our country."

- “… Due to the loss of writings, the history of Mexico has become very difficult, if not impossible. Since it is lost, it cannot be repaired, unless what we have left is not lost ”.

References

1. Francisco Xavier Clavijero de Echegaray. (S. f). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
2. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Francisco Javier Clavijero. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Francisco Javier Clavijero. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
4. Macías, O. (S. f.) Famous phrases of: Francisco Javier Clavijero. (N / a): Omar Macías. Recovered from: omarmacias.com.
5. Reyes, A. (2017). Francisco Xavier Clavijero. Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.