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only 12,000. (Although it had a semiautonomous governor, through-
out most of the 18th century Paraguay was tied closely to the Río de la
Plata, economically, socially, and defensively.)
The Jesuits helped integrate Paraguay and Argentina into the econo-
mies of the rest of colonial Latin America. Besides gathering together the
frontier Guaraní and other native groups into mission settlements, the
Jesuits oversaw the planting of
yerba
trees. But, by the end of the 17th
century, the friars' business practices annoyed many secular merchants
DIRECTIVE TO THE JESUIT
MISSIONS CONCERNING
BUSINESS ACTIVITIES, 1738
I
n order to eliminate the disorders and the great discredit that the
Society of Jesus has begun to experience (and greater ones are
feared for the future), I order the Father procurators or whoever is in
their place in the Office of the Missions in virtue of Holy Obedience
under pain of mortal sin that they do not perform any act of buying for
the purpose of selling nor any other act of business even though the
goods involved belong to Indians, laymen, or clerics. Only those acts
are licit and allowed that involve goods owned by the Society as long
as they conform to the common precepts of the province and those
specifically given to the Office of the Missions.
I order these same procurators and their replacement as well as
all members of the Society in the college and Hospital of Our Lady of
Belén under Holy Obedience that gold or silver (minted or not) not
belonging to the Society or its missions, even though it arrive labeled
or with letters for any of ours, be not admitted as belonging to us but
it be manifested that it has another owner. The effect of this will be to
dispel the notion that we or the Indians are rich and that a great deal
of treasure passes through our hands.
These two precepts are to be included among those of the other
provincials and read to the community once a year. Buenos Aires,
August 24, 1738. Jaime Aguilar.
Source: Archivo General de la Nación, Buenos Aires, Compañía IX, 6-9-7.
In Cushner, Nicholas P.
Jesuit Ranches and the Agrarian Development of
Colonial Argentina, 1650-1767
(Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1983), pp. 177-178.
