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A Franciscan Fighter for South American Independence: Fray Luis Beltran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Fritz L. Hoffmann
Fritz L. Hoffmann*
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
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Extract

THE SPANISH AMERICAN WARS for independence abounded in events of which novels are born. Among them is the heroic and herculean crossing of the southern Andes by the Argentine general, José de San Martín, and his army to crush Spanish rule in Chile. San Martín’s preparations in Mendoza on the eastern side of the Andes in present Argentina, in which almost insurmountable obstacles had to be overcome, merit in themselves much more attention than they have received from historians.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , January 1954 , pp. 289 - 300
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1954

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References

1 Madrazo, Guillermo A., “Tres episodios de la vida de fray Luis Beltrán, el franciscano que dió alas a los cañones de la emancipación,” El Hogar (Buenos Aires), January 26, 1945, p. 6.Google Scholar

2 “Fe de bautismo de Fray Luis Beltrán,” quoted in Luis Cordoba, Fray Luis Beltrán, Procer Argentina, Reivindicación Histórica (Mendoza, 1938), p. 33. Diego Barros Arana incorrectly states that Beltrán was born in Chile. Historia Jeneral de la Independencia de Chile (4 vols., Santiago, Chile, 1857–1863), III, 290–291. Vicente G. Quesada, in his “Fray Luis Beltrán, Teniente Coronel Graduado del Ejército de los Andes,” La Revista de Buenos Aires, I (August, 1863), 472, says mistakenly that he was born in 1785.

3 Córdoba, op. cit., p. 10.

4 Ibid., p. 11.

5 Quesada, op. cit., p. 473. Bartolomé Mitre, Historia de San Martin (second edition, 4 vols., Buenos Aires, 1890), I, 534. José Pacífico Otero, Historia del Libertador Don José de San Martín (4 vols., Buenos Aires, 1932), I, 637. Barros Arana, op. cit., Ill, 291.

6 Córdoba, op. cit., p. 12.

7 Beltrán’s name figured among those accused of causing troble in Mendoza. See “Representación de los Emigrados de Chile contra los Carrera,” Documentos del Archivo de San Martín (12 vols., Buenos Aires, 1910–1912), III, 545–554, in which Beltrán is listed with the Carreras as troublemakers. The petition is signed by a long list of signers headed by O’Higgins. See also Documentos referentes a la guerra de la independencia y emancipación política de la República Argentina y de otras secciones de América a que cooperó desde 1810 a 1828 (2 vols., of which vol. I is not so designated, Buenos Aires, 1917, 1926), [I,] 417. The Carreristas, including at that time Beltrán, asked San Martin in Mendoza on October 19, 1814, that they be allowed to aid in the reconquest of Chile, stating that they had all come from Chile to help, that the moment they crossed the mountains, factionalism had broken out, and that although they were being persecuted, they were ready to fight the Spaniards. The long list of signers of this petition is headed by Juan José de Carrera and Luis de Carrera {Documentos del Archivo de San Martín, III, 534–537.) Knowledge of Beltrán’s later close co-operation with San Martin and O’Higgins and of his close friendship with both makes this incident insignificant except perhaps to indicate that Beltrán’s main interest lay in the broader problem of South American independence and not in petty personal political squabbles among the leaders of the movement.

8 Córdoba, op. cit., p. 12. See also Mitre, op. cit., I, 534, and Barros Arana, op. cit., Ill, 291.

9 José de San Martin to Secretary of War, Francisco Xavier de Viana, March 1, 1815, Documentos referentes a la guerra de la independencia …, [I,] 346. The request was answered on March 15, 1815, granting Beltrán a monthly wage of twenty-five pesos while he was on the job. See ibid., pp. 346–347. See also Domingo Guerrero’s statement in the Aduana de Mendoza, June 30, 1815, Documentos del Archivo de San Martín, II, 432.

10 Córdoba, op. cit., p. 14.

11 Martín, San to the Secretary of War, February 14, 1816, Documentos referentes a la guerra de la independencia …, [I,] 385.Google Scholar

12 Order to the Secretary of the Treasury, February 28, 1816, and San Martin to the Secretary of War, March 13, 1816, Documentos referentes a la guerra de la independencia …, [I,] 386.

13 See his Recuerdos históricos sobre la provincia de Cuyo (2 vols., Buenos Aires, 1898), I, 96–97. See also Juan Antonio Solari, Sacerdotes liberales: Qorriti-Oro-Beltrán-Lavaysse-Esquiu (Buenos Aires, 1946), p. 106.

14 Mitre, op. cit., I, 534–535.

15 Córdoba, op. cit., p. 16.

16 Hudson, op. cit., I, 114.

17 Pedro Regalado de la Plaza to San Martin, August 15, 1816, Documentos referentes a la guerra de la independencia …, [I,] 415.

18 Josef [sic] Gazcón to Supreme Director, October 30, 1816, ibid., p. 415.

19 Diego Estanislao Zavaleta to Supreme Director, November 4, 1816, approved on November 8, 1816, ibid., pp. 415–416.

20 Mitre, op. cit., I, 585. See also Barros Arana, op. cit., III, 297.

21 Madrazo, op. cit., p. 6.

22 Mitre, op. cit., I, 622.

23 Beltrán to San Martín, February 11, 1817, Documentos del Archivo de San Martín, III, 280.

24 Dupuy, Vicente, “Hoja de servicios del Teniente Coronel de Artillería Fray Luis Beltrán,” Documentos referentes a la guerra de la independencia …, II,] 387.Google Scholar

25 Mitre, op. cit., II, 181–182; Solari op. cit., p. 106.

26 San Martin to Beltran, October 23, 1819, Documentos del Archivo de San Martín, IV, 480. See also Jacinto R. Yaben, Biografías argentinas y sudamericanas (5 vols., Buenos Aires, 1938–1940), I, 534.

27 Dupuy, op. cit., [1,] p. 387.

28 Loc. cit.

29 An undated document in Documentos del Archivo de San Martín, XII, but it is followed by a document dated June 22, 1823.

30 Solari, op. cit., p. 117. Some writers, among them Juan Carlos Zuretti in his Historia eclesiástica argentina (Buenos Aires, 1945), p. 194, contend that Beltrán committed apostasy when he took part in the campaigns of Chile. Córdoba (op. cit., pp. 21–26) in a detailed argument exonerates Beltrán of this charge, his main argument being that Beltrán was not and could not be an apostate because he changed from a religious to a soldier by permission of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and by legal means therefore. He also emphasizes the fact that Beltrán was buried as a priest, “which he was because of having renounced his military career before dying.” Córdoba, op. cit., p. 26.

31 “Partida de defunción,” signed by Tomás X. Gomensoro, quoted in Córdoba, op. cit., p. 36. Official statement of Manuel Corvalán, Beltrán’s executor, Buenos Aires, December 10, 1827, quoted in ibid., pp. 36–37. Yaben, op. cit., I, 536.

32 Córdoba, op. cit., pp. 28–29.

33 Udaondo, Enrique, Diccionario biográfico argentino (Buenos Aires, 1938), p. 146.Google Scholar

34 Quesada, loc. cit., p. 472.

35 Solari, op. cit., pp. 103–104, 110.

36 Two documents show the meticulous care with which Beltrán supervised his work. They are “Relación gral. de maestranza, y Laboratorio de mixtos que demuestra con expecificacion quanto se ha trabajado en cada uno de estos ramos desde su establecimiento, y las obras que anteriormente se han hecho desde Diciembre de 1814 hasta la fecha inclucive de 1816,” Documentos referentes a la guerra de la independencia …, [I,] 423–425; and “Relación general que manifiesta el número de cañones, municiones, juegos de armas que sacó el ejército de los Andes de la Capital de Cuyo para la reconquista del Reino de Chile,” Documentos del Archivo de San Martín, III, 346–349.

37 Quesada, loc. cit., pp. 477–478. Yaben, op. cit., I, 535.

38 Quesada, loc. cit., pp. 478–479; Solari, op. cit., p. 104; Yaben, op. cit., I, 535–536.

39 See his Historia de San Martín, I, 534–536.

40 Solari, op. cit., p. 118.

41 Ibid., p. 19.