Peru, The Catholic Church in

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PERU, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN

The Republic of Peru is bound on the northwest by ecuador, on the northeast by colombia, on the east by brazil and bolivia, on the south by chile and on the west by the South Pacific Ocean. Peru has three distinct regions. Its costa or coastal area, a narrow strip of desert that is fertile where irrigated by mountain streams, while the central region, the sierra, is formed by the Andes mountains that run north to south through the center of the country. Peru's vast jungle area, the selva, encompasses nearly two-thirds of the country and is sparsely populated by indigenous groups and Spanish-speaking settlers who live along the rivers that feed the Amazon basin. Natural resources include copper, silver, gold, petroleum, iron ore and phosphates, while agricultural produce consists of coffee, cotton, sugarcane, rice, wheat plantains and potatoes. Fishing is also an important industry

in Peru, where fishmeal is one of its major exports, as is the cultivation and export of coca, which is processed into cocaine in neighboring countries. In 1999 the government curtailed production of coca by 24 percent as a way of curtailing the presence of the illegal drug trade in Peru.

Peru was part of the Spanish viceroyalty of Lima until 1821, when José de San Martín proclaimed independence. Under a republican government, the region joined with Bolivia in the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation from 1836 to 1839; from 1879 to 1884 it engaged in a bloody war with Chile. Under military rule from 1968 to 1980, Peru returned to democratic government and experienced stable economic growth in addition to making progress in combating both outbreaks of guerrilla violence and the activities of traffickers in illegal drugs. Almost half the population is ethnic Amerindian, with 37 percent mestizo and the remainder of European, Asian or African descent.

Early Christianization. In Peru, the seat of many cultures thousands of years old, there arose in the 14th century an Andean state, the empire of the Incas, which constituted a social and economic structure without equal, although lacking in individual liberty. In 1532 Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro, at the head of a group of 200 conquistadores, put an end to that political organization by defeating Incan leader Atahualpa, and ten years later, Lima was created as a viceroyalty of Spain, its jurisdiction the entire southern continent, although it was effective only along the Pacific Coast. Catholicism was introduced by the regular clergy at the same pace as the conquest, and by 1550 Dominicans, Franciscans, Mercedarians, Augustinians and Jesuits were all active in Peru. The Incas continued to revolt against the Spanish conquest, leading full-scale rebellions as late as 1814, all without success.

Although the Church was aided in its work by Spain, there were several obstacles present in evangelizing a vast area housing three million inhabitants. Altering tribal customs and rituals, while not difficult with children, was extremely difficult with adults in whom such customs were deeply rooted. The number of unfamiliar Amerindian languages made communicating the scriptures difficult, for mastering one such language did not make the others spoken any easier to comprehend. In addition, the region suffered a shortage of clergy, which forced missionaries to gain the help of Spanish-speaking natives called alguaciles or fiscales de doctrina. These individuals helped the priest, leading repetitions of minor catechism, and tending the general management of the parish. After 1570 settlements of native converts were formed from which the doctrinero or rural priest operated. From these settlements the doctrineros, who served entire provinces, would also establish mission centers that they visited according to distance and necessity.

Besides their primary objective, the orders undertook to protect their converts and to disseminate culture. The dominicans and jesuits particularly worked in higher education, the Dominicans having opened 60 schools by 1548. The University of San Marcos in Lima was created in 1551. The Jesuits directed the Colegio de San Martín in Lima, San Bernardo in Cuzco, the University of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Cuzco, schools for the children of caciques in the Lima and Cuzco regions and schools in Juli. In addition, orders attended to evangelization, distributing the Peruvian territory among themselves. By the end of the 1500s the Dominicans had founded 22 convents, which attended to a total of 57 doctrinas; the Mercedarians had 13 convents with 47 doctrinas; the Franciscans, 22 with 28; the Augustinians, 13 with 28; and the Jesuits, in addition to residences in Lima, Arequipa and Cuzco, took charge of doctrinas in Huarochiri and Juli as well as of the native people living in Lima.

Despite the many challenges posed in Peru, the Jesuits and Franciscans went on to excel in Marañón and Ucayali and in the eastern region of present-day Bolivia. The Jesuits founded flourishing missions in the areas of the Morona, Santiago and Chinchipe Rivers; tragically, these missions would disintegrate when the Jesuits were expelled from South America after 1760. The Franciscans from the Colegio de Propaganda Fide de Santa Rosa de Ocopa (valley of the Mantaro) projected their evangelizing labor over the Pampa del Sacramento toward the Ucayali. At the beginning of the 19th century the Franciscans established themselves in the remote headwaters of the Yavarí, Yuruá and Purús Rivers. The bishopric of Maynas, erected in 1802, embraced the entire Amazon region and the tributary missions, in which neophytes were abundant.

In the 17th century new orders of men and women entered Peru, among them the Benedictines, the Hospitallers of St. John of God, the Minim Fathers, the Bethlemites and the Oratorians. In the 18th century the Camillians or Ministers of the Sick began their activities.

The two hospitaller orders of St. John of God and Our Lady of Bethlehem (the latter founded in America) expanded rapidly. The first took over the convalescent hospital in Lima; in Cuzco, Ayacucho and Huancavelica, they staffed previously established institutions. The Bethlemites took charge of hospitals in Lima, Cajamarca, Trujillo, Chachapoyas, Piura and Cuzco.

Development of the Hierarchy. While missionary work was carried out by the religious orders, the tasks of direction and coordination fell to the episcopate. The Church in Peru was first subject to Seville, but in 1529 the first see was erected in Túmbez. In 1537 Cuzco was created, its first bishop the Dominican Vicente de Valverde. Lima followed in 1541, and was raised to an archdiocese by Paul III in 1546. In 1559 Lima Archbishop loaysa founded the 12-room hospital of Santa Ana for Amerindians, which continued to operate for centuries on archdiocesan funds; later the hospital of San Bartolomé was opened for blacks, that of San Pedro for priests and that of Nuestra Señora de Atocha for orphans; and in Cuzco that of San Juan de Dios (1555) and that of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios for Amerindians. In addition the Church founded schools for children of all races, with instruction suited to their needs. During the third council (158283) the conversion of natives was of special concern. The knowledge of native languages was made obligatory, to aid priests in confession (up until the mid-16th century interpreters had been tolerated). In addition, a single catechism and confesionario in the Quechua and Aymara languages was adopted.

It was a general rule of the Church in Peru to elevate to the priesthood Creoles (whites born in Peru), and soon they outnumbered clerics from Europe. Mestizos (mixed white and Amerindian) were not excluded from religious

orders, and after 1588 their ordination was authorized if they had the qualities necessary for the priesthood. Since natives were new to the faith and, because of their lack of familiarity with Western culture, did not possess the formation necessary for a priest, it is understandable that the early councils closed the way to them. However, as Amerindian converts adapted to Christian customs and gained the necessary ability and skills, there was no reason to keep them from the altar. Among the first Amerindians admitted to orders were a Dominican lay brother, Francisco de San Antonio (15851635) and a Mercedarian lay brother. A 1769 decree of Charles III encouraged prelates to admit into the seminaries one-fourth Amerindians or Mestizos so that their compatriots would strengthen themselves in the faith. However, few made use of this privilege; native vocations appeared very slowly and increased only in modern times. At the end of the 17th century, a religious house was opened for native women: the Beaterio de Copacabana in Lima, under the direction of the Concepción Order.

Independence, Decline and Revival. As the stirrings of nationalism filtered throughout South America, the Creole clergy were sympathetic to the cause of independence, which the Spanish authorities, both civil and ecclesiastic, tried in vain to combat. Among the cathedral clergy, Peninsulars were more numerous because the king filled many of the offices, and the natives of Spain took advantage of this. Many pastoral letters like those of the bishop of Arequipa La Encina (1811 and 1815) and of the bishop of Cuzco Orihuela (1821), which introduced the apostolic brief of Pius VII (Jan. 30, 1816), tended to calm dissident citizens.

The Church could not remain indifferent to the struggle that divided her followers. Royalists and insurgents each attempted to win Church leaders to their side, realizing the Church's power and influence over its subjects. Royalists knew that the Church was obligated to preserve fidelity to the sovereign and would make use of the canonical resources within its reach to repress insurrection. Insurgents knew that many of the clergy, both religious and secular, were inclined by their birth toward separatism, and they took advantage of the indirect influence these priests could exert, even if they could not intervene actively.

In 1821 José de San Martín stormed Lima and proclaimed political independence. Three years later, following the Battle of Ayachucho, Spanish troops were withdrawn from the region. After almost three hundred years of Spanish rule, Peru was now a sovereign nation. Under the dictatorship of Simón Bolívar, Peru briefly entered the alliance of Gran Colombia, but this dissolved by 1830. A period of civil war was ended with the presidency of Ramón Castillo (184462), who ended slavery in Peru and nationalized education.

Political independence caused a temporary crisis of leadership within the Peruvian Church as Spanish-born bishops, who had taken an oath of loyalty to the Spanish crown, departed the country. From 1821 until 1835 there was no resident archbishop in Lima. Gradually, however, the crisis of episcopal leadership was solved as the Peruvian Congress, exercising the patronato in the name of the Republic, named bishops that Rome eventually recognized. A large number of highly trained and politically progressive priests helped the Church survive the immediate post-independence period and forge a working relationship with the new state. 33 served as members of the first Congress that made Catholicism the state religion.

The economic resources of the Church had permitted an untroubled existence up to the beginning of the 19th century. Its patrimony had slowly increased because the monarchs fulfilled conscientiously their duty of placing at the disposal of the Church the tithe-rents that had been conceded by the Holy See. To this had been added voluntary contributions of the faithful in the form of chaplaincies, legacies and other agencies and the contribution of tithes and first fruits. In the 1830s, as the government descended into civil war, the economic contribution of the Church, demanded alternately by each political faction, sped its impoverishment, since many properties and treasures were consumed in the struggle. Both factions seized what they could, confiscating the treasures of local churches and real estate tied to charitable foundations and works. The situation grew worse as the economy faltered later in the century, and laws were introduced regarding the suppression of convents; expropriation of their properties; suppression of tithes and first fruits (1856) and of ecclesiastical entailment (1856); redemption of encumbrances and chaplaincies (1864); administration of the properties of brotherhoods (1889); abolition of mortmain (1903); and consolidation of usufruct (1911). In the law of 1856, the state provided that the public treasury give the bishops and clergy their income. The political change also negatively affected the orders: the superiors could not carry out canonical visits, the religious were divided among political parties and many left the cloisters to become secularized. Under a 1826 decree many convents were closed and towns were prohibited from having within them more than one house of the same order. The government, without consulting the Holy See or the ordinaries, took over the vacated places and mismanaged rural properties, except in the few cases in which these were converted into educational institutions.

The independence movement brought with it direct contact with the Holy See, of which the Peruvian Church had been deprived because of the patronato real, although the orphaned state suffered for many years until the mechanism for the naming of prelates could be reestablished. The right of patronage began to be exercised by the heads of state when they assumed that they had subrogated the privilege given to the kings of Spain by the popes. The Holy See did not recognize this, and although it accepted the presentation of subjects for the bishoprics, this was not mentioned in the appointment bulls that were issued motu proprio. This irregular situation was normalized, in the absence of a suitable instrument (such as a concordat), through a bull signed by Pius IX in 1874, in which the chief of state's right to patronage and to the exercise of the inherent prerogatives under certain conditions was recognized pro tempore. The regulations and prerequisites indicated in the bull were complemented by the provisions of the constitution, which fixed Peruvian birth as a requisite for an archbishop or bishop. The congress was also given the right to create new sees or to suppress them at the initiative of the executive power. The president of the republic made the selection of pastors in the Peruvian Church with the counsel of his ministers, the legislative power being excluded from any participation. The president of the republic enjoyed the privilege of also making presentations for the dignitaries and canories of the cathedrals and of conceding or denying approval to pontifical rescripts, with the consent of congress.

Clergy Suffers a Reduction. While from the 16th to the 19th century Peru had attracted more than enough priests for its growing faithful, after 1800 a progressive reduction in the number of the clergy could be seen. While the clergy was still numerous enough to serve almost all the parishes by 1850, a shortage of seminarians was already evident and vacancies were difficult to fill. The causes were varied: the poverty of the Church forced the bishops to turn away some candidates who requested scholarships; civil strife drew into the services many youths who would not normally have taken up military life; the loss of Christian spirit in the home influenced the lack of vocations. In addition, some young men who might have become priests were attracted to new careers through the opening of technical institutes, normal schools and art and trade schools. New laws also contributed to the decline in the number of religious by raising the required age for the profession and placing other impediments in the way of entrance into the cloisters.

Although the clergy began to shrink, increasing communities of religious devoted themselves to charity, teaching and the general welfare of Peru. The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Picpus dedicated themselves to teaching,

while the Sisters of Charity, Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul assumed the care of public hospitals in Lima and other cities. During the second half of the 19th century, new orders arrived to replace the old, many of which had seriously declined in numbers and some of which had disappeared completely. The Redemptorists dedicated themselves to the study of Quechua; the Jesuits returned; and the Salesians spread themselves through various parts of the country, taking charge of the education of needy children.

Contributions to Peruvian Culture. The influence of the Church in the development of Peruvian culture was significant throughout the colonial era and into the republic. Noted writers included Dominican Diego de Hojeda, author of the religious epic poem La cristiada, while mystical poetry was written by the Augustinian Fernando Valverde, the Jesuit Juan de Alloza and the Dominican Adriano de Alessio. Catholics contributed to the study of native languages: Domingo de Santo Tomás, Luis Gerónimo de orÉ, gonzÁlez holguÍn and Torres Rubio documented Quechua, while bertonio wrote on the Aymara language. Convent chroniclers reflected in their works not only internal history and events but also the daily life, customs and events of society. Among them were the Augustinians Antonio de la Calancha and Bernardo de Torres; the Franciscans Diego de cÓrdova y salinas and Fernando Rodríguez Tena; and the Dominicans Reginaldo de lizÁrraga and Juan de melÉndez. Theologians included the Jesuit Hernando de Avendaño, with his Thesaurus indicus (in six volumes) and the Augustinian Gaspar de villarroel; in mysticism and asceticism were the Jesuit Diego Alvarez de Paz, Toribio rodrÍguez demendoza, pedagogical reformer of the end of the 18th century and the bishop of Trujillo martÍnez compaÑÓn, who compiled invaluable manuscript and graphic material on the ethnology and life of his diocese (177990). The Catholic press, although limited, also had a considerable tradition, beginning with El Bien Público, which was published in 1865.

Despite the many contributions of Peru's Catholic population, by the 1850s the relationship between the government and the Church began to break down as certain members of the Peruvian oligarchy took up the causes of liberalism and positivism. Influenced by intellectual and political trends in Europe and North America, some were overtly anticlerical, accusing the Church of medievalism and questioning the patriotism of bishops because of their loyalty to Rome. Although a tiny percentage of the population, this Lima-based elite controlled national politics, often forcing the Church into a defensive position. The battle between political liberals and the Peruvian Church continued well into the 20th century.

As relations between Church and State became increasingly secular, religious fervor in Peru declined. Many priests abandoned their doctrinas, at times voluntarily, out of loyalty to political principles, at other times, forcibly, because of preference for the party out of power. Many sees remained without a bishop, and many resignations resulted from the republican government's favor of secularization. While liberal governments, to avoid wounding the religious sentiments of the people or alienating the good will of the clergy, showed themselves respectful, they were not inhibited from enacting their increasingly secular agendas. The dissemination of writings contrary to the Catholic faith was permitted, showing defections by many writers influenced by the rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment. Among them were Manuel Lorenzo Vidaurre (17731841), who won renown with his ecclesiastical code; Benito Laso;

Francisco Javier Mariátegui, the grand master of Peruvian Masonry; and above all, the heretic Vigil.

As the century continued, non-Catholic Christian influences began to appear in Peru. The constitution of 1860, in force until 1920, restricted the influence of other faiths by stating that the public exercise of any cult besides the Catholic was not permitted. Until 1895 what little Protestant propaganda existed in the country passed almost unnoticed, partly because very few Protestants preached their doctrines in Peru. After 1900, however, Protestant evangelicals appeared with increasing frequently. Owing to the lack of Catholic priests and other social factors, Protestantism would successfully infiltrate many areas of Peru during the 20th century.

Bibliography: r. vargas ugarte, Historia de la iglesia en el Perú, 5 v. (Lima 195362). r. levillier, Organización de la iglesia y órdenes religiosas en el virreinato del Perú en et siglo XVI, 2 v. (Madrid 1919). a. tibesar, Franciscan Beginnings in Colonial Peru (Washington 1953).

[g. lohmann villena]

The Modern Church

Toward the end of the 19th century an influx of missionaries from Europe and North America sparked a renaissance within the Church. Schools and hospitals were opened and rural parishes that had been abandoned due to the shortage of Peruvian priests were now staffed. Several universities were founded, among them the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru in 1917; the Universidad de San Martín de Porres, operated by the Dominicans; the Universidad de Santa María, in Arequipa, under the Marianists; and the Universidad del Pacífico, under the Jesuits. A second influx of missionaries after World War II, many from English-speaking countries, also helped the Church reestablish its presence in Peruvian society. In the 1950s a new generation of committed young Peruvian Catholics sowed the seeds of revival. Members of the Catholic Student Association (UNEC; an offshoot of Catholic Action), these students went on to assume prominent positions in both secular society and the Church in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Church after Vatican II. When the Second Vatican council opened in 1962, over 30 Peruvian bishops were present. Most returned to Peru committed to a new vision of the Church, especially the country's primate, Juan Landázuri Ricketts (19551990), who established new parishes in poor urban areas and invited foreign missionaries to work among the poor. In addition to staffing parishes, these new clergy also opened up cooperatives, schools and dispensaries to alleviate the poverty of Lima's new inhabitants, most of whom were newly arrived from the sierra. This scenario was repeated

in other urban areas, and because of this new contact between the institutional Church and the poor, lay leaders who would have a profound impact on the direction of the Peruvian Church in subsequent years began to emerge. Large parishes gave birth to small Christian communities in which committed Catholics deepened their faith through prayer, study and social action. The energy and optimism of the 1960s was reflected in the Peruvian episcopal conference, which publicly advocated economic and political justice for all Peruvians, unheardof themes from a Church once noted for its theological and political conservatism.

Despite the enthusiastic reception of Vatican II, some obstacles to liturgical reform were present in Peru, one of which was the region's great cultural and linguistic diversity. In the Andean areas, efforts to assimilate indigenous culture and language in rituals such as the eucharist progressed slowly because the number of priests who spoke fluent Quechua and Aymara was extremely small. In addition, the historic tension between the institutional Church, which in the minds of many symbolized European culture, and the indigenous society with its many languages, cosmic vision and ritual tradition, acted upon the growth of the faith. Meanwhile, liturgical reform got caught up in the more complex issues of ecclesiology and the limits of inculturation.

Political Instability. In 1968 two events took place that affected both the Church and society: the Latin American Episcopal Conference held in Medellín, Colombia, and a military revolution. The purpose of the conference was to apply the teachings of Vatican II to the reality of Latin America. The Peruvian bishops were one of the most articulate groups at the conference, their insightful contributions due to the presence of Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutiéeerz. The medellÍn conference addressed the need for structural change in Latin American society. Condemning the growing gap between the rich and the poor as contrary to the Gospel, the bishops also recognized that the Church was sometimes more concerned with maintaining its social power than with proclaiming the gospel.

Peruvian bishops returned from Medelín better prepared to face the events that would confront them beginning in October when the military coup that ousted the country's civilian government unleashed what became known as the "Peruvian Revolution." Intent on modernizing the country, the military government began to reform many facets of Peruvian society. Education was universalized and land was redistributed. The government opened up new universities and created agricultural cooperatives to help the impoverished rural population. The Church, while generally supporting these reforms and issuing pastoral letters focusing on the rights of workers and the question of land for Peru's indigenous peoples, maintained a certain distance from the government. In many respects, the Church was more visionary than the government itself, whose reforms began to bog down and generate opposition by the mid-1970s. Government leaders accused the Church of being too radical, and a period of tension ensued. In 1979 nearly all connections between the Church and the State were dissolved, although the constitution continued to recognize the special place of Catholicism in Peruvian society. When the military relinquished power and elections were held in 1980, tensions lessened.

Gustavo Gutiérrez and Liberation Theology. In 1971, following his contribution to the Medellín Conference, theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez published A Theology of Liberation, a work that gave a theological grounding to Christians involved in the transformation of Latin American society. This book became a classic text in a movement Gutiérrez helped name, liberation the ology. In 1974 he founded the Bartolomé de las Casas Center in Lima to carry out theological and social scientific investigation of Peruvian society. Staffed by young Peruvians, many of whom were members of UNEC, the center exerted great influence on the Church throughout Latin America. In the Andes, where the Church had been dominant for decades, new life emerged. The five bishops of Peru's southern dioceses took up the cause of the country's Quechua-and Aymara-speaking peasants, and helped establish the Andean Pastoral Institute in Cuzco. Known in Spanish by the acronym IPA, this institute generated theological and social scientific studies about Peru's Andean peoples that led to new pastoral strategies and training programs for indigenous lay leaders, and sparked the eventual translation of the Bible into these languages. During the 1970s and 1980s the Church of the Sur Andino, comprising the five southern dioceses of Cusco, Sicuani, Ayavira, Puno and Juli, was considered one of the most dynamic sectors of the Peruvian Church.

Not all Catholics agreed with the theological and social trends engendered by liberation theology. For more traditional Catholics, many of whom came from the upper and middle classes, liberation theology and new forms of Christian community among the poor were sources of concern. More conservative bishops were likewise alarmed at what they perceived as an excessive concern with the social and economic issues on the part of progressive Catholics. While tensions continued to exist through the end of the century, destructive polarization in the Church was avoided, in part because no one in the Church, conservative or progressive, denied the need for the Church to address social issues.

A Rising Tide of Violence. In the late 1980s, as the Peruvian economy neared collapse, the resulting political instability created a climate of violence as Peruvians found themselves engulfed in poverty. A serious political menace surfaced in the form of Sedero Luminoso, or Shining Path, a group of ultra-violent Maoist guerillas that wreaked havoc in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Nearly 30,000 deaths resulted from the campaign of violence waged by both the Shining Path and extremist members of the Peruvian military, as the radicals assassinated Church leaders and religious due to a belief that articulate, socially involved Christians threatened its goal of becoming the sole voice of the poor. Through the efforts of both the Archbishop of Lima and the government, the Shining Path surrendered to the government in 1991, leaving in its wake a group of saints and martyrs whose deaths represented a tragedy but also a tribute to the Peruvian Church. Two years later Sendero Luminoso founder Abimael Guzmán was arrested and imprisoned, although terrorist acts by other Marxist guerrilla groups would continue into the 21st century.

Through the 1990s the Church continued its efforts on behalf of the poor by responding to the continuation of a government-led austerity program of drastic economic cutbacks. In addition to feeding and otherwise caring for the millions of Peruvians made destitute by the economic collapse, bishops noted that the private sector, not just the state, was responsible for reducing poverty. In 1996 a government program of forced sterilization of poor women drew strong Church condemnation as a violation of personal freedom, and the program was disbanded in 1998. A new coalition government, which took office after a contested election in 1999, expressed its intention to sustain Peru's economic stability into the 21st century and asked for the help of the Church in addressing social issues.

Into the 21st Century. By the year 2000 there were 1,400 parishes tended by 1,300 diocesan and 1,200 religious priests, with vocations on the increase. Other religious included approximately 2,050 brothers and 5,400 sisters, many of whom operated the 514 primary and 471 secondary schools operated by the Church throughout Peru. The Church, as a significant influence on Peru's development, continued to receive benefits from the government in the areas of tax-exemption and funding for education, and most public schools devoted a portion of time to Catholic study. A move by the government to scale back religious education under a restructured secondary program was a point of concern for Lima Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, who in 1999 called religious education "not a privilege but a right that belongs to the Peruvian people."

Despite the fact that under 20 percent of Peruvian Catholics regularly attended Mass by 2000, the country retained a fervent Marian cult and a special devotion to the Crucified Christ. The latter sanctuaries included the Señor de los Milagros in Lima, which dated back to the 17th century; the Señor de Luren in Ica; the Church of Huamán in Trujillo; and the Church of Los Temblores in Cuzco. The devotion to the Mother of God opened the way for pilgrimage centers as important as the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Libertad, that of Cocharcas in Apurimac (Replica of Copacabana in Bolivia) and those of Chapi and Characato in Arequipa. Peru is the birthplace of the first South American-born saint, Rosa of Lima, a Dominican who was canonized in 1671.

Bibliography: j. hemming, The Conquest of the Incas (New York 1970). j. klaiber, The Catholic Church in Peru: 18211985 (Washington DC 1992). j. c. mariÁtegui, Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (Austin and London 1971).

[c. r. cadorette/eds.]