El discurso de la desunión: la disputa jurisdiccional por las limosnas de la virgen de Guadalupe en Nueva España, 1572-1607

Abstract

This article analyzes the conflict for Virgin of Guadalupe’s jurisdiction of alms recollection between the Franciscan friars, the procurators of Saint Jerome, and the archbishop of Mexico, since 1556 until 1606. Under the methodological presumption that all recollection of alms constituted a political act in the Spanish Monarchy, this article examines the legal procedures that took place in 1556, 1562, 1572 and 1606 regarding the establishment and administration of the cult of Guadalupe in New Spain. These juridical debates indicate that the conflict for jurisdiction was a factor for the emergence of the Virgin of Guadalupe’s sacred narrative around middle seventeenth century, not only as the result of devotion to Guadalupe, but also as a juridical and theological argument that made eventually irreducible the gap between the Virgin of Extremadura and of Tepeyac.