Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the treatment of Jesuit Martyrs's sacred relics in America. Facing Rome's strict regulation of cults, Jesuits also pushed martyrs towards canonization, documenting miracles related to theirs relics

Paper long abstract:

Society of Jesus has developed a special cult of its more than 300 martyrs killed in all continents. Crime weapons and martyrs's bodily remains were objects of supreme attention by the Jesuits. This paper, focused on Jesuit sources from America, from Canada to Chile, analyses the Order's complex relations with these non-official relics. Discipline had to be shown towards Roman Regulation that strictly regulated cults. Relics could be demanded from Rome to prevent veneration. There were demands of relics from martyrs's native relatives or native towns back in Europe. Central colleges in America also kept relics: Mexico had arm and fingers of Gonzalo de Tapia, killed in Sinaloa in 1594; Bahia's kept the weapon of Francisco Pinto's murdering in Ceará in 1608. In paralel, jesuit pushed for canonization causes, preserving memory, documenting (carefully, but very decidedly) wonders such as the light shining from the place of deposition of Lucas Caballero's dead body; the conversion of a protestant who drank a tea where the bones of one of the Canadian Jesuit Martyrs had been dipped; the non-corruption of Roque Gonzalez's heart and the miraculous protection of Juan de Castillo's body from the beasts in Paraguay in 1628; the miraculous floating of Inacio de Azevedo's body in the sea after his killing in 1570. Approaches towards martyrs's relics were notably coherent, allowing us to relate documents coming form very different contexts. The cult of relics was one of the instruments that helped Jesuits to address overwhelming distances and isolation of American missions