Miguel de Quintana, 1730-1734

The Bishop of Durango visits Nuevo México. Miguel de Quintana is harassed more by Manuel de Sopeña, then is denounced by him to the Inquisition.

1730
Benito Crespo, the bishop of Durango, visits Nuevo México, including Santa Cruz. He notices the missions at Santa Clara and Santa Cruz have no resident friars, and appoints Santiago de Roybal as his vicar in Santa Fé. [27 March 2016]

Last surviving diligencias matrimoniales for the period from Santa Cruz. One is signed by José de Atienza y Alcalá, and one by José Bernardo Gómez. [Roots]

1731
Quintana witnesses a boundary decision between Cristóbal Martín and Francisco Martín. [Twitchell v1]

Quintana sees the ghost of Juan de Tagle four or five times in church. He asks him why he doesn’t say mass. Tagle answers, "He who can say it for me is the priest, Fray Manuel." [Quintana 1732]

Quintana tries to not think about his vision. He writes to Sopeña, "given what Your Paternal Grace has told me I am very much afraid to reveal to Your Paternal Grace what happens to me, or even to go frequently to confession as I used so, since I am terrified by Your Paternal Grace." [Quintana 1732]

1732
Quintana is unable to complete saying the rosary for the Sorrowful Mysteries. He writes, "those stations appeared to me so vividly that it seemed that I was witnessing them with an incredible apprehension. This became even more acute when I reached the final station at Calvary, where the feelings increased so much that I though my life had come to its end, for I was overcome and choked with pain." [Quintana 1732]

He adds, "I have been very afraid to give Your Paternal Grace all of what I have said above, fearing a reproach at the altar or from the pulpit." [Quintana 1732]

March: Sopeña denounces Quintana and his writing to José Antonio Guerrero in the Holy Office in Santa Fé. José Irigoyen is present as the notary. [Lomelí]

March: Roybal visits San Ildefonso. That mission’s records haven’t been published, so I don’t know if there was a special reason. His parents have land at Jacona and so he knows many settlers in the area. Sometime after this, he is reassigned to El Paso. [Archives, 27 March 2016]

April: Irigoyen is assigned to Santa Cruz, and Sopeña is dispatched to Nambé. [Archives]

Irigoyen later says, "throughout the time he has known him the said Miguel de Quintana spends his time writing things for others who live here, that they rely on him for this purpose, that this is his life and his usual activity." He adds, "his advice is well received by those who ask it." [Irigoyen 1734]

Easter is April 13. Irigoyen demands Quintana confess. He answers, "it was a requirement which he could not fulfill, and that God did not ask the impossible." [Irigoyen 1732]

April: José de Bustamante replaces Roybal as the bishop of Durango’s vicar, and visits the mission at San Ildefonso. Again, there are no published records, although the originals are available on microfilm in a few locations. [Archives]

Quintana is aware he has been denounced to the Inquisition. He stops attending meetings of the Third Order. He says "it is not necessary to be a member" to be saved from "all the power of hell." [Quintana 1732]

July: Irigoyen denounces Quintana to the Holy Office for not taking communion. [Lomelí]

He later says Quintana "was the current notary of the ecclesiastical court," which is headed by Bustamante. [Irigoyen 1734]

July: no man seems to be assigned permanently to Santa Cruz after July 1 until 1738. Chávez found at least six friars who signed the sacramental books, including Juan José Pérez de Mirabal and José de Eguía y Lumbre. [Archives]

December: Bustamante visits the mission at Santa Cruz. No obvious reason for the visit appears in the sacramental records. There are no baptismal records between March 1732 and May 1735. The only recorded marriage in 1732 was in August. [Archives]

1733
September: Quintana is terrified of attending mass. [Quintana 1734]

1734
August-September: Quintana’s daughter, Antonia, is abducted from her San Ildefonso area home by Esteban Rodríguez. The record is incomplete. [Twitchell v2]

Rodríguez is the son of an African brought from Loanda, Angola, who married Juana de la Cruz. At the time Esteban is the drummer with the presidio. Since the records are missing, it’s impossible to know what motivated him or why or how he returned her. [Family]

September: Bustamante visits the mission at Nambé. Sopeña was there until August of 1733. Eguía replaced him. Francisco Manuel Bravo Lerchundi is serving there in August and September of 1734. He goes to the mission at Pecos is November. [Archives]

This trip and the ones in 1732 are the only visitations by Bustamante recorded by Angélico Chávez outside Santa Fé. [Archives]

November: José Antonio Guerrero, local head of the Inquisition, interrogates Sopeña, Irigoyen and Quintana, as per his instructions from Mexico City. Eguía and Bravo are the witness. [Lomelí]

Sopeña says, Quintana "seemed to suffer from delusions because when helping him at mass he showed a speech impediment, speaking haltingly, and seems to have something possessing him." He is not attending mass because of his spleen. [Sopeña]

Sopeña notes Quintana is "the notary to the ecclesiastical judge," which would be Bustamante. [Sopeña]

Notes: Dates in brackets refer to earlier postings. Comments are those of the author. Third Order of the Franciscans was open to devout laymen.

Chávez, Angélico. Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, 1678-1900, 1957.

_____. New Mexico Roots, Ltd, 1982.

_____. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.

Irigoyen, José. Denunciation of Miguel Quintana to José Antonio Guerrero in the Inquisition office, Santa Fé, 1 July 1732; in Lomelí.

_____. Statement to José Antonio Guerrero in the Inquisition office, Santa Fé, 5 November 1734; in Lomelí.

Lomelí, Francisco A. and Clark A. Colahan. Defying the Inquisition in Colonial New Mexico, 2006.

Quintana, Miguel de. Coloquio, 1732; in Lomelí.

_____. Interrogation by José Antonio Guerrero in the Inquisition office, Santa Fé, 8 November 1734; in Lomelí.

Sopeña, Manuel de. Statement to José Antonio Guerrero in the Inquisition office, Santa Fé, 4 November 1734; in Lomelí.

Twitchell, Ralph Emerson. Spanish Archives of New Mexico, two volumes, 1914.