On 14 November, the Franciscan Province of St. Peter and St. Paul in Michoacán, Mexico, concluded its celebrations marking 500 years since the arrival of its founder, Fr Martín de Jesús de la Coruña, in the ancient Kingdom of Michoacán, and subsequently the Franciscan presence in the Bajío region, in Querétaro and beyond. Five hundred years of ‘sowing the Gospel.’
During the Jubilee Year, the Franciscan Family celebrated this event with various religious and cultural events. To celebrate the Centenary, the IV Congress of Franciscan History was organised with the intention of recording this great and significant event through the memoirs or proceedings that will soon be published.
A team was appointed to coordinate and seek the necessary collaborations to carry out this ambitious project, bringing together several academic institutions such as the Provincial Historical Archive, the University College of Santa Cruz, the Faculty of Arts of the Autonomous University of Querétaro, the College of Michoacán, and the Enahrmonicos and Mechoacan Tarascorum study centres. The team launched the call in March of this year, receiving responses from various institutions and universities across the country, as well as from independent researchers. By the close of the call, there were 62 applications for papers, which qualified the event as ‘extraordinary,’ suggesting that the topic of ‘Franciscanism’ is alive and present in university classrooms and among researchers.
The ‘IV Congress of Franciscan History’ took place over three days, from 12 to 14 November, with the sessions held simultaneously at two venues at the same time in order to accommodate the speakers. Each day featured keynote lectures, book presentations and a cultural event at the end of the day. The closing ceremony featured a ‘themed dinner,’ with a menu taken from the ‘Carta cuentas’ (‘Account Menu’) of an 18th-century recipe book from our historical Archive.
The topics addressed, divided into twelve study groups, were as follows: Chronicles, stories and descriptions; Franciscan foundations; Evangelisation programmes; The figure and work of the ‘Twelve Franciscan Apostles’; Life and work of illustrious Franciscans; Art, literature, science; Franciscans in the face of major events in Mexican history; Regular clergy and secular clergy: Confluences and divergences; Franciscanism in women: Monasteries and beguinages; Franciscanism through the laity: Confraternities, stewardships and Tertiaries (OFS).
The success of this event poses a challenge for us: What next? Well, may God grant us the grace to hold the ‘Fifth Congress,’ and it would be very good to return to the intention of the first Congress on Franciscan History in 2015: it should alternate among the Provinces of the Conference of Saint Mary of Guadalupe. May God continue to give us opportunities and wisdom to share our history and charism. Peace and All Good.
