Treasured chests of history.

• Author: Bach, Caleb

IT IS FITTING, as we mark the 450th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Jesus, to celebrate a little known but inspired manifestation of that order, namely the barguenos associated with the missions of southeastern Bolivia. Barguenos (also sometimes called papeleros) were portable desks with drop fronts and a grid work of drawers inside. Most were used by the priests themselves, but some may have been sold to colonists for additional income. Regardless, they were an integral part of the commerce and good organization for which the Jesuits were famous. In that way they are curiously emblematic of the practical, "corporate" spirit which sustained Ignatius of Loyala's farflung compania.

Until their expulsion from South America in 1767, the Jesuits maintained a network of fifteen missions in the Mojos and Chiquitos regions, hundreds of kilometers north and east of Santa Cruz. These hinterlands, named for the Indians of the area, were so remote that few Europeans, not even the Spanish soldiers, dared explore them. Nonetheless, at the peak of the Jesuit missionary effort, as many as 23 dedicted priests celebrated mass and taught the catechism there, while also supervising an efficient system of cattle ranches, cocoa and sugar cane plantations and artisan workshops. There was even an administrative hub, the port of Paila near Santa Cruz, with a college for novitiates, warehouses, and stockyards. Through this small window to the outside world, they exported their products and maintained contact with the Jesuit headquarters in Cordoba, Argentina.

The reducciones (the term comes from the verb, reducir, meaning to concentrate) represented the official policy of the Spanish Crown to bring the Indians into townships where they could be instructed in a Christian way of life. The Jesuits, on the front line of this effort, believed that missions in remote areas, physically separated from European settlements, offered the best defense against corrupting influences, not to mention marauding slavers. They sought to create self-sufficent communities which provided the Indians basic religious and academic education, as well as training in an array of practical skills, including stone cutting, carpentry, blacksmithing, printing, painting and calligraphy. The missions were laid out with great care, equipped with sanitation facilities that were quite advanced for their day, and defended by native militia who were carefully trained by the priests...