Jesuits in Baja California (1683–1767)
Spanish
Catholic priests called Jesuits attempted to settle Baja California beginning
in 1683. They abandoned their first two attempts due to hostile responses from
the natives. In 1697, Jesuits settled their first of 18 permanent missions to
convert local natives to Christianity. “Along with religion, the Europeans
brought with them diseases that the indigenous peoples had never been exposed
to, and consequently had no immunity against. By 1767, epidemics of measles,
plague, smallpox, typhus, and venereal diseases had decimated the native
population. Out of an initial population of as many as 50,000, only some 5,000
are thought to have survived.” (“Spanish missions in Baja California,”
http://en.wikipedia.org)
Jesuit
records describe the people, lands, and culture that the Jesuits found in Baja
between 1683 and 1767. These records can give us a glimpse into a people who
may have been descendants of Book of Mormon people. The religious traditions of
the Jesuits and the natives of Baja were similar to and different from those
found in the New Testament and Book of Mormon when prophets and apostles were
present about 1500 years before.
Pablo L.
Martinez used Jesuit records in the early chapters of his book, History of
Lower California (HLC). Several entries will refer to parts of this book that
relate to the Book of Mormon.
Three
Indian Tribes in Baja
The
Jesuits found three prehispanic Indian tribes that they called the Cochimíes,
Guaycuras, and Pericúes. However, these
were not the names the Indians called themselves. “The word laymón [or laimon]
was the name” the Guaycuras or monquis gave to the Cochimíes (HLC 23–24).
We divided
into two missions, and soon we noticed that there was a mingling in them of
nations of different languages, one, the Monqui … and the other the Laimon. …
Immediately we set about … to learn the latter, and because it is the
dominating language, and appears to be the general one in this extensive
kingdom, with continued study we learned it quickly, and in it we … teach the
Christian doctrine to the Laimones, as in the Monqui to the Monquis.” (Herbert
Eugene Bolton, Kino’s Historical Memoir of Pimería Alta, 2:50)
Was the
name Laimones related to Lamonites?
Below is a
map showing the locations of these three tribes (HLC 51).
Petroglyphs
in Baja
The
Jesuit missionaries found Indians who did not have any written records. They
also found evidence of earlier people who were more cultured and skilled.
The
prehispanic inhabitants of Lower California lived in a disastrous cultural
condition. Certainly as the experts think, when the first men came to the
peninsula they brought with them some greater culture, which was gradually
lost. … There is not found among them the least notion of writing nor are there
even any hieroglyphs in the land; the petroglyphs or paintings on stone that
are found around Santiago … and other places do not belong according to the
opinion of the learned to the men who inhabited the peninsula at the time the
Spaniards arrived: they are attributed to other and very different people about
whom we do not have any information except that they left their traces in these
[rock] paintings. …
In the
Cape Pulmo, on a large rock … there can be seen something which is like an
inscription with heavy character among which many persons believe there are
Gothic, Hebraic and Chaldean symbols. The natives never were able to explain
the origin and significance of the drawings. They limited themselves to saying
that they were the work of their ancestors. …
The
petroglyphs of San Borjitas … represent distinct human figures …; in them are
found as many as nine colors, without including black and white. The technique
of the painters reveals great skill and beauty. …
The author
of this work has seen … engravings, not paintings, of some figures of animals.
The polished stone is in a convex form and on the previously prepared surface
there is sculptured with a degree of perfection a deer, a tortoise and a
lizard. (HLC 29–30; italics added)
The
Mulekites left Jerusalem after Lehi left and lived in the land of Zarahemla
which is north of where Lehi landed. Over 300 years later, Mosiah, the father
of King Benjamin, found the Mulekites.
17
Their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them;
and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of
Mosiah, could [not] understand them. … 20 In the days of Mosiah, there was a
large stone brought unto him with engravings on it; and he did interpret the
engravings by the gift and power of God. 21 And they gave an account of one
Coriantumr, and the slain of his people [the Jaredites]. (Omni 1:17, 20–21;
[not] in verse 17 is in the Printer’s Manuscript and the 1830 Book of Mormon)
Without
written records, the Mulekite language became corrupted and they no longer believed
in their Creator. King Benjamin later told his sons what would have happened if
Lehi had not brought the plates of brass to the new world.
Were it
not for these things … even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we
should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing
concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them,
because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct. (Mosiah 1:5)
Indian beliefs
about God
The
Jesuit missionaries asked the three Indian tribes about their religious
beliefs. Some Indian beliefs are similar to Christian beliefs while others are
similar to LDS beliefs. Some believe the Indian beliefs were influenced by the
Jesuits, “but considering the limited intelligence of the [Indians], such a
conclusion is impossible to accept” (HLC 57). However, if the Indians were
descendants of Book of Mormon people, we would expect some similarities to Old
Testament writings found on the brass plates, and to Book of Mormon writings.
We would also expect differences that would come after 1500 years without
prophets or written records. In the examples below, notice the similarities and
differences. (Underlining added, but italics are in original.)
“The
Pericú tradition mentioned a great lord who lived in the sky, called Niparaja,
who had made the sky, the earth and the sea, and who enjoyed the privilege of
going whatever he liked. This great personage had as wife Anajicojondi, who
gave him three sons without use of herself, since she lacked a body; one of
them Cuajaip, had been a real man and had lived for a long time on the earth …
to indoctrinate humanity. One day these people ungratefully rebelled against
the one who had granted them innumerable blessings; they killed him and placed
on his head a wreath made of thorns. They believed that in the sky there were
more people than on earth, and that in that region at a remote period frightful
wars had been fought, provoked by another personage called Tuparán by some and
Bac by others, against the supreme Niparaja; that the latter had been victor in
the end … [and cast Tuparán] from the sky with all his followers.” (HLC 57–58)
“The
Guaycuras gave credence to a leading spirit called Guamongo, who sent diseases
to earth. They asserted that at a remote period he had sent to the earth one of
his [subordinates] called Gujiaqui, to visit there in his stead; it so happened
that as he traveled through the Peninsula, sowing pitahayas [= tall cacti or
their edible fruit] and establishing fishing localities, at the end of which he
hid in Puerto Escondido, where he was served by lesser spirits, who took to him
daily exquisite pitahayas and delicious fish to eat, he busied himself making
capes for doctors and charlatans; and that he then went back to the north, from
whence he had come.” (HLC 58)
The
Cochimíes … made reference to a great lord who lived in the sky, called … He
who lives; they spoke also of his son, born without the aid of woman. … There
was only one [Lord], creator of the sky, earth, plants, man and woman. They
agreed that He who lives created certain invisible beings … [who] plotted
against him, declaring themselves enemies of man; and that these being were
liars and seized men when they died and put them under the earth where they
could not see He who lives. … They made mention of a man who in far distant
times had come from the sky to benefit mankind …; but they were not able to say
what benefits he had brought to man nor did they tender him any worship. … They
celebrated a fiesta named for the man who came from the sky, but this … was
reduced to the enjoyment of pleasures, eating and dancing. (HLC 59–60)
Cochimí
Indian names for God
The
Cochimíes … made reference to a great lord who lived in the sky, called in
their language He who lives; they spoke also of his son, born without the aid
of woman, and who had two names: one of these names signified The Swift One and
the other Perfection or the End of Clay; furthermore, there was another
personage, He who makes Lords. (HLC 59)
The name
“He who lives” is related to scripture phrases: “the living God” (Josh 3:10; Dt
5:26; 2 Ne 31:16) and “the LORD liveth” (1 Sam 14:39; 2 Sam. 22:47; 1 Ne 3:15).
The Jesuits like other Catholics believed in a God without body, parts, and
passions. However, for Moses and Book of Mormon prophets who saw and talked
with God “face to face” (Ex 33:11), “the living God” was in contrast to idol
gods “which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell” (Dt 4:28).
The first
name of the great lord’s son, “The Swift One” relates the following scriptures.
The
LORD … rode upon a cherub, and did fly … upon the wings of the wind (2 Sam
22:7, 11; Ps 19:10). The LORD rideth upon a swift cloud (Isa 19:1). [Jesus] was
taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight (Acts 1:9). Jesus Christ
… cometh with clouds (Rev 1:7).
They
saw a Man descending out of heaven (3 Ne 11:8). There came a cloud … [and
Jesus] ascended into heaven (3 Ne 18:38–39).
The other
name of the son, “Perfection or the End of Clay” is interesting. Christ did not
say he was perfect until after his death and resurrection (Mt 5:48; 3 Ne
12:48). The Bible says “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Gen
2:7). King Benjamin said, “the Lord Omnipotent … shall dwell in a tabernacle of
clay” (Mosiah 3:5). In “the resurrection … this mortal body is raised to an
immortal body … that … can die no more; their spirits uniting with their
bodies, never to be divided; thus … becoming spiritual and immortal” (Al
11:45). Therefore, after the “end of clay” or the mortal body, Christ was the
first to be resurrected and to be perfect or complete with an immortal body
that can die no more.
The last
name, “He who makes Lords,” will be discussed in the next entry.
“He who makes
Lords”
The
Cochimíes … made reference to a great lord … called … He who lives; …
furthermore, there was another personage, He who makes Lords. (HLC 56–59)
The
name, “He who makes Lords,” makes sense to Mormons but not to most Christians.
The Jesuits who like other Catholics of the time used the Latin Bible instead
of the Hebrew Bible. A common Bible name for the Creator (Gen. 2:4) is “LORD
God” in English, and “Dominus Deus” (LORD God) in Latin. This name seems
completely unrelated to “He who makes Lords.” The same name for God in the
Hebrew Bible is “YHWH Elohim” (Jehovah Elohim). Hebrew was the language of the
Jews and the Nephites (Morm. 9:33).
Elohim is
plural and means Gods or gods. However, in the Bible it is translated as God
when it refers to the God of Israel and gods when it refers to pagan gods.
YHWH is
written without vowels. The vowels added in modern Hebrew Bibles are from the
word adonai (Lord) to remind readers to say adonai instead of what was written.
Christians used the word Jehovah based on these vowels, but usually translated
it as LORD in the King James Bible. Scholars generally write Yahweh and agree
that YHWH comes from the Hebrew word meaning “to come into existence, become,
be,” but they differ as to the meaning. For many scholars, YHWH means the one
who is, the existing, ever-living. However, many recent scholars believe it is
the causative form which means: The one bringing into being, life-giver; giver
of existence, creator; he who brings to pass, performer of promises. Examples
of the causative meaning of YHWH include:
The
LORD of Hosts (1 Sam 1:3): “he creates armies”
Jehovah-shalom
(Jg 6:24): “he creates peace or well-being”
Jehovah-nissi (Ex 17:15): “he creates my
refuge or standard”
Therefore,
YHWH Elohim (LORD God) would mean: “he creates Gods,” “he will create Gods,” or
“he who creates Gods.” The Cochimi name, He who makes Lords, reflects this
Hebrew meaning.
Sources:
- The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon
- Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 5:500–501, 515
- William H. Brownlee, “The Ineffable Name of God,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (April 1977), 39–40.
Author of this paper:
Monte F. Shelley, PhD
Director, Research Technology Group
Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship
Brigham Young University
