The reputation of Fr. Agustín de Vetancurt, one of the better known Franciscans of colonial Mexico, derives largely from his fame as a historian. He is the author of the monumental Teatro mexicano (1698), a historical description of the most important events of colonial New Spain. Fr. Agustín was also an accomplished scholar of Nahuatl, and published several works in that language. This essay will take a preliminary look at his life and times by focusing on a small work written by him in Nahuatl. It is a guide for the ceremony of the Stations of the Cross, celebrated throughout the year but especially on Good Friday.
The brief details of Fr. Agustín's life are relatively simple. He was born in Mexico sometime around 1620 and attended the University of Mexico, receiving his baccalaureate degree. From university he entered the Franciscan monastery in Puebla, where he eventually took his vows as a friar. He remained in Puebla for several years, teaching novices in the Franciscan house there. His specialties were humane letters and Nahuatl. Eventually, he was assigned as the priest of the Franciscan parish of San José de los Naturales in Mexico. There he lived for over 40 years in service to his order and the natives of Mexico. In 1642 he was appointed Lector of Arts within the province. On various occasions, he served as a definitor of the Franciscan Province of the Holy Gospel, a member of the governing council dealing with administrative matters of the order. Vetancurt eventually became the official chronicler of the province; in that position he was able to draw upon the significant historical archive of the order and take advantage of the materials already organized by Mendieta, Torquemada, and others. Vetancurt also taught theology within the order and was one of its official preachers and a supervisor of works produced by friars in Nahuatl. He died in 1700.Footnote 1
Vetancurt's first work appeared in 1673, published by Francisco Rodríguez Lupercio (Medina, Mexico, 1103).Footnote 2 Several of his publications stand out as truly significant. The first of these was his Arte de la lengua mexicana, a grammar of Nahuatl based on the principles laid down by the famous Latin grammarian Antonio de Nebrija. In 1674, Vetancurt published a handbook for the administration of the sacraments, Manual de administrar los Santos Sacramentos (Medina, Mexico, 1118). This book draws on two earlier handbooks, published by Fr. Miguel de Zarate and Fr. Pedro de Contreras, both Franciscans. It would become one of the most popular works from Vetancurt's pen, reprinted three times within his lifetime, in 1682, 1690, and 1700. This is a significant contribution to church practice, 150 leaves long; yet, because of its mundane nature and its multiple printings, it is not normally accorded much attention.
Vetancurt's skills as a historian shine through in his brief biography (1682) of Saint Anthony of Padua, one of the most revered Franciscan saints. In Epitome de la vida, muerte, y milagros del Taumaturgo Español S. Antonio de Padua (Medina, Mexico, 1263). It is curious that Vetancurt refers to Anthony as a Spaniard. In fact, Anthony was Portuguese, although normally considered together with the early Italian Franciscans. Vetancurt addressed another topic of interest to the Franciscans in 1697 when he published a biography of the founder of the order, St. Francis of Assisi. This work was Chronografia sagrada de la vida de Christo... y en el Serafico Padre S. Francisco, y su Apostolica Religion (Medina, Mexico, 1656).
Teatro mexicano has already been noted. An early work (1697), which would become the first of four parts of the Teatro, was the Chronica de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio de Mexico (Medina, Mexico, 1684), the fourth section of the larger collection. One of the most important sections of this chronicle is the Menologia, a series of biographies of the friars who were members of the Holy Gospel Province. The full Teatro mexicano, which appeared in 1698, was one of the largest books published in the period, a massive work consisting of 1,815 pages plus introductory material in four volumes. The book covers the history of the conquest and settlement of New Spain, along with some of the Iberian precursors, and provides descriptions and histories of each of the region's dioceses and cities and other important historical information. Vetancurt added the chronicle of the Holy Gospel Province and the Menologia to the Teatro.
Much of Vetancurt's reputation for scholarship comes from his study of Nahuatl. By the late seventeenth century the number of works published in Nahuatl had declined significantly from the number published a century earlier. Because of Fr. Agustín's prolific career as a writer and chronicler, we know more about his publications than those of many of his contemporaries. Moreover, he also left many unpublished manuscripts, including a set of sermons cast in Nahuatl.
In comparing the list of Vetancurt's works as he reported them in his Teatro mexicano with the extant imprints from the period, there is one noticeable gap. In the Teatro, he mentions as one of his publications “el Via Crucis en mexicano, dos veces impreso, todo por Francisco Rodríguez Lupercio.” The work was clearly popular: it was published twice before 1700. Some of the guides to early printing include descriptions of the book, mentioning, for example, that it consisted of 11 leaves. Strangely, none of the scholars who study the history of printing in colonial Mexico has been able to find a copy.
Within the manuscript collection of the Academy of American Franciscan History there is a piece with the title “Para saber andar las estaciones de la via sacra y las yndulgencias que ganan Vitando [sic.] la traducido en lengua mexicana por el R. P. Fr_ Augn de Vetancurt.” It carries a date of 1680. The theme of the work and its date correspond to what little we know about the "Via crucis,” as mentioned by Vetancurt himself. Further examination shows that the manuscript itself dates from 1738 and was copied by Matheo de San Juan Chicahuastla. From this information, it is reasonable to conclude that the manuscript held by the Academy is in fact a manuscript copy of the published edition of the Vetancurt work.
The manuscript is octavo size (16cm x 22cm) and consists of 28 leaves (Figure 1). The paper is of European manufacture, and some parts are badly worm-eaten, which poses a great challenge to reading the text. The handwriting can be characterized as unsophisticated. It is a far cry from the elegant hands of the lettered capital, and, along with the inscription, leads one to believe that the author was not a trained scribe. The most engaging feature of the work is the profuse illustration throughout. It is unfortunate that an original print of the work does not exist; it would allow us to determine the fidelity of the illustrations to the original.
The manuscript copy consists of an introduction, the 14 Stations of the Cross, and a body of final material that includes the Act of Contrition in Nahuatl and a list of the indulgences to be gained through the celebration of the stations. In this regard, it does not vary from the common format for handbooks to the via crucis, which include meditations and prayers at each of the stations. The traditional stations are as follows:
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1. Christ condemned to death
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2. Cross is laid upon him
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3. His first fall
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4. He meets His Blessed Mother
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5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross
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6. Christ's face is wiped by Veronica
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7. His second fall
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8. He meets the women of Jerusalem
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9. His third fall
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10. He is stripped of His garments
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11. His crucifixion
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12. His death on the Cross
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13. His body is taken down from the Cross
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14. He is laid in the tomb.
The devotion of the Stations of the Cross dates from the early Middle Ages. From earliest times, pilgrims to Jerusalem would trace the route Christ took on Good Friday. As early as 1342, the Franciscans had obtained a set of indulgences for those who visited these special places, in recognition of their guardianship of the holy city. As early as the sixth century, some European churches constructed chapels to represent stops along the route of Christ's Passion. By 1520, the pope had agreed to grant a set of indulgences to the faithful who visited a set of stations in the Franciscan friary cemetery in Antwerp. By the seventeenth century, the devotion of the stations had become more common in the West, and the number of stations was regularized at 14. Finally, in 1686, Pope Innocent XI granted to the Franciscans the right to place stations in the churches of the order. Moreover, Franciscans, and those affiliated with the order, might gain indulgences by visiting these stations.
In fact, the indulgences granted were the same as those granted to pilgrims to the Holy Land, which reflected the difficulty in visiting for Jerusalem for most people. This privilege was confirmed in 1694 and in 1726 extended to all the faithful. At last, in 1731, Pope Clement XII extended the privilege to all churches that had been created with Franciscan assistance and were licensed by the local bishop.Footnote 3 Thus the appearance of the Vetancurt “Via crucis” in 1680 fits well into the historical development of the devotion within the Franciscan order, leading up to the definitive papal grant six years later. This link to the concession of indulgences helps to explain the popularity of the “Via crucis” publication and its two printings in fewer than 20 years.
Since the seventeenth century, the devotion of the Stations of the Cross has begun with a general introduction to Christ's Passion. Each of the stations is then commemorated with a short meditation, followed by a litany of intercessions between the celebrant and the faithful, and concluding with a series of standard prayers, such as the Act of Contrition, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Doxology. Also included in the litany are the ancient prayer, the Stabat Mater, and other canticles of Mary. The Academy version of the Vetancurt handbook follows this pattern quite closely. The introductory material to the Nahuatl work consists of a rather long sermon or series of admonitions, tenonotztlaliztli, which continue to page 12. These are followed by a brief introduction to the Stations of the Cross proper. For each station, there is a short admonition or meditation, followed by a series of responses. The text for each station occupies some three to four pages, and at the end of the work is the Nahuatl version of the Act of Contrition.
Distinctive Illustrations
As noted, the Academy manuscript has the traditional 14 sections. A unique and most interesting feature is the unsophisticated drawings, more like sketches, that serve as illustrations. They do not have the clarity of line and control that one would expect from a trained artist; nonetheless, they convey a great deal of information beyond what is found in the text, and also manifest a fairly high degree of iconographical sophistication.
Not all of the 14 stations are illustrated. The illustrations in the Academy manuscript consist of the title page (Figure 1); a drawing of Christ carrying the cross to Calvary (Figure 2); Christ fallen, carrying the cross (Figure 3); a second Christ carrying the cross (Figure 4); a second Christ fallen (Figure 5); Christ
stripped of his garments prior to the Crucifixion (Figure 6); the Crucifixion (Figure 7); the Pietà (his body is taken from the cross, with the symbols of the Passion) (Figure 8); the Interment (Figure 9); and a flowered cross (Figure 10). In addition to these larger illustrations, there are several designs at chapter heads and other spots, where they serve as textual separators. In all, the drawings convey the sense that the manuscript is a popularized version of Vetancurt's work, illustrated to a popular taste rather than with the European engravings and woodcuts normally found in these works. Unfortunately, since no copies of the printed version of the book exist, we cannot know definitively if these drawings are rough copies of original engravings or whether the copyist decided simply to illustrate the work on his own.
Plate 1, Frontispiece, “Via crucis en mexicano”
Plate 2, Station 1, page 13
Plate 3, Station 7, page 24
Plate 4, Station 8, page 2
Plate 5, Station 9, page 28
Plate 6, Station 10, page 30
Plate 7, Station 11, page 33
Plate 8, Station 13, page 37
Plate 9, Station 14, page 39
Plate 10, Flowered Cross, page 48
It is interesting that nearly all of the illustrations depict events in the second half of the devotion. Furthermore, the one event that serves as the culmination of the devotion, the Crucifixion itself, is absent. Some of the other famous moments of the Way of the Passion, such as Veronica wiping Christ's face, the meeting with the Blessed Virgin, and the taking up of the cross by Simon the Cyrene, are likewise absent. Yet, a less picturesque moment, such as the second fall is depicted. In the drawing of Station 8, when Christ meets the women of Jerusalem, only Christ is depicted, not the group of women.
The images in the illustrations demand some greater attention. One feature of all the scenes prior to the Crucifixion is the rope around Christ's neck, the crown of thorns, another rope, and the cross. The manner in which these elements are depicted does not vary much from one image to another. Both the rope and the cross carry additional decoration of dots along their surface (see Figures 2, 4, 6) In the case of the rope, these dots almost lead one to believe that Christ is carrying a rosary, rather than the rope of the Passion. The dots in this context give texture to the surface, although they are actually represented to one side. In the case of the cross, the dots are less representational and more decorative. In some of the illustrations, the dots are lines, again conveying the feeling of the texture of the wood of the cross.
The Christ figure also bears the crown of thorns, one of the most important signs of the Passion. Looking closely, one can see that the crown has starburst figures at three points: the forehead and over each temple (Figure 2). Keleman has identified this decoration as the tres potencias (the three powers).Footnote 4 These are rays of light or tongues of flame added to the nimbus or halo. Originally this element symbolized the Greek cross within the halo, but by the baroque period the cruciform had been lost and only the three front-most parts remained. These powers became associated among the Spanish mystics with the three faculties of the soul: memory, understanding, and will. They are frequently seen on baroque statues of Christ, especially those used in Holy Week processions, as occurs in Seville (Figure 11).Footnote 5 One should also notice that the baroque figures of Christ also show the rope around his neck, as depicted in the drawings.
Plate 11, Cristo del Gran Poder, Seville
The illustrations for Stations 11 and 13 are important in that they depict the collected symbols of the Passion. These include the nails, hammer, lance, sponge, tongs, ladder, winding cloth or robe, crown of thorns, dice, and rooster, among other items. In the illustration of the Crucifixion (Figure 7), one sees the implements used (the hammer, nails, tongs, and the rope from the way of the cross), all lying to one side of the crucified Jesus. In the Deposition (Figure 8), known as the Pietá, the lance is also depicted.
The relevance of most of these to the Passion should be obvious. The tongs, among the less obvious implements, were used to hold the nails while they were hammered into Jesus and the cross. The lance was used to pierce his side, and the sponge, not depicted, was used to offer him the bitter wine. The dice and rooster, also not depicted, are taken from the Gospel accounts. The dice were used by the soldiers as they cast lots for Jesus's robe, and the rooster or cock symbolizes Peter's three-fold denial of Christ. All of these symbols were frequently used in other popular representations of the Passion, especially on atrium crosses from an earlier period (Figure 12).Footnote 6
Plate 12, Huichiapan Atrium Cross
At the base of the cross in Figures 8 and 9, corresponding to stations 13 and 14, one sees a face. Not simply a face, this is a skull and crossbones, frequently used in conjunction with the Crucifixion. According to the pious legend, Golgotha or Calvary, means “Hill of the Skull.” The particular skull referenced by the place name is the skull of Adam, the first man, who was supposedly buried on that site. Thus many medieval illustrations of the Crucifixion, and of the cross itself, include a small skull and crossbones underneath. The symbolism is that Christ was the new Adam. In addition, there is at the beginning of nearly all the sections a small cross coming out of a circle, not unlike an orb. Perhaps the most interesting of these faces is the one found in Figure 6, which seems extremely similar to a Maya glyph (Figure 13).Footnote 7 Most closely resemble the face used in the skull and cross bones of the illustrations.
Plate 13, Maya Glyphs
The two most complex illustrations are the title page (Figure 1) and the Interment (Figure 9). The title page shows two angelic figures holding either end of a stone arch, upon which rest the three crosses of Calvary. All three crosses have the Chi or X figure through them. The cross of Christ is further decorated with five flowers, one on the left of the cross, and four on the lower portion of the main member. These elements are in contrast to the flowered cross seen in the depiction of the Holy Cross, where there are flowers at each hand, one at the head, and one at the feet (Figure 10). Traditionally, the five wounds are represented as flowers, perhaps from the Spanish expression “flor de la sangre,” meaning a wound. They correspond to the two hands, two feet, and the side where Christ was injured in the Crucifixion. These became part of the coat of arms of the Holy Gospel Province of the Franciscans, to which Vetancurt pertained (Figure 14).
Plate 14, Five Wounds of Christ, Crest of the Holy Gospel Province of Mexico
On the title page, there is under the arch an image of the chalice and the consecrated host on a shield, surrounded by a halo or nimbus. The juxtaposition of the Passion with the Eucharist is a relatively common feature of baroque art; it can be seen in the decorated atrium cross from Huichapan whose base shows a chalice and the host (Figure 12). The arch itself is very similar to several in central Mexico, especially in some open chapels such as those at Tlahuelilpa and Epazoyucan (Figure 15).Footnote 8
Plate 15, Open Chapel, Tlahuelilpa, Hidalgo.
The illustration of the burial or Interment of Christ in Figure 9 is unique. In contrast to the cave burial described in the Bible, the artist has represented Christ in an ornate coffin. These coffins, often with glass or crystal sides, are found throughout central Mexico and usually hold sculptures of the buried Christ, although saints are frequently depicted as well. In this representation, bruises are seen on Christ's cheek, and the wounds on the feet are also visible. It is unclear whether or not Christ still wears the crown of thorns. The coffin is ornately decorated with stars and other symbols, and topped with a canopy.
The illustrations of the Academy manuscript of the Vetancurt “Via crucis” supply to the viewer information that goes well beyond the material in the text alone. They firmly place the work in the baroque period, but still manifest some medieval symbols. It is in the realm of symbolism and iconography that the illustrations demonstrate a fairly high level of sophistication. While they may have been merely images copied from paintings and sculptures known to the artist, they are effective in conveying a significant level of meaning beyond the text.
Differences and Similarities in the Spanish and Nahuatl Texts
The text, as noted earlier, follows the example of many Spanish-language Stations of the Cross of the same era. Indeed, part of the Nahuatl version must have been a translation of a Spanish text. However, some of the material seems to have been written specifically for Nahua speakers since it is quite different from anything seen in a Spanish text, and in one case exhibits some peculiarly Nahua features. When the papal recognition of the Stations of the Cross as a formal devotion, and the extension of indulgences to those who participated, occurred in the late seventeenth century, several Spanish versions appeared at essentially the same time. One early version was printed in Madrid in 1705, with a Mexican version appearing in Puebla in 1729. It was Manual de los exercicios para los agravios de Christo, by Fr. Diego de Oviedo, OFM.Footnote 9
As noted, the devotions for each station include set prayers, and there is sometimes additional material of a devotional nature, something like a small sermon or meditation. These are known in Nahuatl as tenonotztlaliztli (admonitions). Although the text of these pieces is unique to the Nahuatl version, the Spanish and Nahuatl homilies do have a few features in common. Each meditation or homily begins with a description of the place, frequently listing the number of steps from the last stop. The meditation itself then follows the setting of the scene. At this stage, the descriptions are quite similar between the Spanish and the Nahuatl. For the fourth station, for example, the Spanish reads: “This is the fourth station, which consists of sixty-one steps... [to which] the Lord walked, and it is the place where His Majesty met his Sorrowful Mother” (Manual de los exercicios, 93). The Nahuatl reads very much the same: “Here is the fourth place of kneeling [called] a station. Our beloved Savior was walking around; it was 70 steps. This is where His weeping Mother, Saint Mary, and her afflicted beloved Son recognized each other on the road and met face to face.” (Via crucis, 17) The text initially said 60 steps, but the copyist added “and ten” between the lines.
The number of steps between the stations is largely consistent between the Nahuatl and the Spanish version. The only discrepancies appear in the second, fourth, sixth, and ninth stations. In these instances, the difference seems to result from the Nahuatl author's inability to convert from decimal numbers to vigesimal. For example in the sixth station, the Spanish gives the distance as 191 steps, while the Nahuatl simply gives 91, accidentally dropping the hundred. For the ninth station, the distance in the Spanish was 71 steps, but in Nahuatl it is 140. One might posit that the copyist recognized the seven in the tens place, and accidentally made it the multiplier for the twenties. Lastly, in Nahuatl there are no distances listed for the thirteenth and fourteenth stations, while the Spanish provides nominal distances of 25 and 30 steps, respectively.
The text of the meditations in Nahuatl differs significantly from that of the traditional Spanish-language version. At the fourth station, the Nahuatl offers a very simple description of mother and son meeting on the road, looking at each other with love. Darkness falls, as does affliction upon her heart. She does not wipe his face but follows him weeping all the way to Calvary (Via crucis, 17). In the Spanish version, however, the meditation draws a parallel between the sufferings of Christ and the affliction of Mary. Then, as for all of the other meditations, the Spanish provides a ten-line poem to summarize the emotional meeting (Manual de exercicios, 93). The Nahuatl version does not have a similar poetic component.
The most interesting comparisons can be made between the prayers in Nahuatl and the prayers in Spanish, since these features became standardized across all versions, regardless of language. To see the slightly different message imparted in Spanish versus Nahuatl, one can look at the corresponding prayers for a specific station. In the case of the second station, when Jesus takes up his cross, the standard prayer found in the Spanish version condemns the Jews for tormenting Jesus, and then compares Jesus taking up the cross to Isaac carrying the wood for his own immolation. It ends with the hope that the penitent might take up the metaphorical cross of his own penance in recognition of his own sins (Manual de exercicios, 91). The Nahuatl version offers a unique take on this prayer. Rather than merely blaming the Jews for Jesus's punishment, the Nahuatl version calls the them “scoundrels,” (“tlahueliloque judiosme”), (Via crucis, 14). The Nahuatl version describes Jesus as being loaded with “crossed sticks of wood” (“quauhnepanoli”), and then describes the cross using the Spanish borrowed word “cruz.” As noted, the standard version of the prayer compares Jesus to Isaac, but the Nahuatl makes no such comparison. This omission is very curious because the friars during the early phases of the evangelization used the story of Isaac as an important moral lesson against human sacrifice.
In the prayer for the sixth station, when Veronica wipes Jesus's face, there is also a significant divergence between the wording of the standard prayer and the Nahuatl translation. Although the station is identified with Veronica, the traditional prayer in Spanish does not mention her by name, but merely calls her “that pious woman” (Manual de exercicios, 96). By contrast, the Nahuatl calls her the noble or honored woman (cihuatzintli), (Via crucis, 21). In the prayer for the eighth station, when Jesus confronts the women of Jerusalem, the Nahuatl version of the prayer makes no mention of the women at all, although they are discussed in the introductory admonition. (Via crucis, 24–25)
The Spanish prayer says that as Jesus taught the women of Jerusalem, and as they cried for themselves while commiserating with Jesus, the penitent might gain true contrition through his tears (Manual de Exercicios, 99). The Nahuatl is even more convoluted. It maintains the image of washing one's sins away through tears of contrition, but adds typically Nahua imagery of an impure soul: “I have blackened and dirtied my soul” (“ynnotlatlacolli yni onictlilehui onic catziahui yn noanima"), (Via crucis, 25).
Multiplicity of Sufferings
Toward the end of the work, there is a long section in which the author describes all the punishments meted out to Jesus and all of his sufferings. In the Spanish, there is a litany of short meditations after the fourteenth station, focusing on the sufferings of Christ in his Passion. It begins: “For the agony in the garden and imprisonment of the Lord,” with the response being “Blessed and praised be for ever, oh great Lord.” In the rest of the litany, the participants recall the blows and injuries, false testimonies, whippings, blasphemies, and other sufferings of Christ, with the same response after each of the sufferings (Manual de exercicios, 108–110). This litany is no longer a standard part of the Stations of the Cross devotions.Footnote 10 There are similar litanies circulating, such as a “Litany of the Passion,” found on several websites.Footnote 11
A unique version of this litany appears in the Nahuatl translation. It describes all of the affronts to Jesus in multiples, using very large numbers—what can only be described as a deviation from the normal counting system. Each suffering is described in exquisite detail: “144 kicks, 120 times they stoned him, 102 slaps in the face... 28 times they struck his chest with stones... 80 times they mistreated him... 77 times they whipped his neck: 350 times on a stone base... 70 times on a stone column.... 4,800 times they tore his precious body with a whip.” Other fantastical numbers include the 130,000 times he paid for our sins with his blood, the 1,000 dripping tears; the 5,065 flayings; and the 362,460 drops of blood (Via crucis, 43–45).
To understand how unique this section is one needs to know a bit about the Nahuatl number system. The Nahua, like most Mesoamerican groups, used a vigesimal number system. We count by integers, tens, and hundreds, and so on. They counted by integers, then twenties and then four hundreds, and so on. For example, 100 was expressed in Nahuatl as five twenties: macuilpohualli. One thousand was two four-hundreds, plus ten twenties: omtzontli ihuan mactlacpohualli. In English, we do not in general express a number higher than nine in multiples in formal situations, although in common speech we do say things like “fifteen hundred,” rather than one thousand five hundred. Similarly in Nahuatl, there would normally be no multiple higher than nineteen in any place category. Yet, in the fantastical numbers used to describe the affronts faced by Jesus, the author has been very creative, violating these basic numerical rules. The best example is the huge number: onpoalli yhuan macuilli xiquipilli yhuan yheipoallitziontli yhuan yehpoalli, (two twenties and fifteen [= 35] eight thousands, and three twenties [= 60] four hundreds, and three twenties.” This clearly violates the basic principles by including multiples over nineteen at any level, whether integers, twenties, four-hundreds, or eight-thousands.
The explanation for this odd occurrence is twofold. First, the author was attempting to give the impression of the huge number of sufferings and indignities suffered by Jesus during his Passion. In a similar manner, we might say a “gazillion” or “eleventy-seven thousand”— made-up numbers to convey something very large. In Nahuatl-speaking regions to this day, one sign of command of the language is the ability to express large numbers. In the “Via crucis” the author got carried away in expressing large numbers and began to simply make them up.
Conclusion
This lecture is merely an initial study of Vetancurt's “Via crucis en mexicano,” but it leads us to recognize three issues of critical importance. The development of the devotion of the Stations of the Cross within the Catholic church, of course, is central. What is remarkable about the Nahuatl version of this devotion is that it appeared so close in time to the approval of the liturgy within the Church (1686–1726). The colony, in this sense, can be seen as active in an issue of interest to the worldwide Church, if not on its cutting edge. Second, the manuscript is profusely illustrated, and demonstrates that the illustrator was fully cognizant of themes and issues in the Church at large. Although the illustrations may seem to be naïve, if not quixotic, they in fact manifest a solid command of Christian symbols. Last, while the Nahuatl text generally follows the lead of similar Spanish texts of the time, it is unique and clearly addresses some issues within the native community and in a manner in keeping with native interests and sensibilities. Thus, while the Nahuatl version of the “Via crucis” seems to be an odd little book from an isolated community, it actually addresses issues within the larger Church and does so in a manner well integrated into Church traditions.
