Apóstrofe a la "Religión de Domingo"

Escolios: Folio 5, side 2

The Newberry Library catalog record for the Ximénez manuscript describes this page as “an apostrophe praising the Dominican Order, dated Aug. 14, 1734 and signed ‘Echave’.” According to Ruud van Akkeren, “El mencionado Echave es fray Ignacio de Echave. Aparece por primera vez el 20 de julio 1732 y por última vez el 4 de diciembre 1735.”

This text is a copy of a sermon preached in 1687 by Padre José de Aguilar, S.J. in la Ciudad de La Plata (then the capital of la Real Audiencia de Charcas; now Sucre, Bolivia).

Echave transcribes nearly verbatim paragraphs 27 and 28 from section five of the sermon, but he eliminates the first few lines, which give context to the apostrophe:

Muy reconocida, señor, debe estar la Compañia, mi madre, à los grandes, y continuos favores, que de V.S. ha recibido, y recibe, mas entre todos este beneficio de oy, se haze gran lugar en su reconocimiento, por lo mucho que interessa en esta vnion renovada con los hijos de Domingo.

The "señor" to whom Aguilar expresses gratitude for his many favors done for his own order, the Society of Jesus (la Compañia de Jesús), is Don Diego Cristóbal de Mejía. Mejía had sponsored Aguilar's trip to La Plata, and had organized the gathering of Jesuits and Dominicans at which this sermon was preached.

After thanking his benefactor, Aguilar then turns to the Dominican guests and begins his praises of their order: "Contigo hablo, ò Religion ilustre..."

Echave eliminates this context and replaces it with the opening which we see in this manuscript: "Contigo hablo, o Itte. [ilustre] Religion de Domingo..." (Other texts from the same period address the Dominican order using the phrase “Religión de Domíngo,” though it was more common to use the official “Orden de predicadores.”)

Moreover, Aguilar's praise is formed in rhetorical questions ("no eres vn Cielo, tachonado de mas Santos, que Estrellas del Firmamento?") while Echave edits this into declarative statements.

Acknowledgment: Thanks to Joey Belleza and Kevin Gallagher for their help in deciphering this manuscript and locating its source.