Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo (Royal Audiencia of Quito, February 21, 1747 – December 28, 1795) was a medical pioneer, writer and lawyer of indigenous origin in colonial Ecuador. Although he was a notable scientist and writer, he stands out as a polemicist who inspired the separatist movement in Quito. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in colonial Ecuador. He was Quito's first journalist and hygienist.
As a journalist he spread enlightened ideas in the Royal Audiencia, and as a hygienist he composed an important treatise about sanitary conditions in colonial Ecuador that included interesting remarks about microorganisms and the spreading of disease.
Espejo was noted in his time for being a satirist. His satirical works, inspired by the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment, were critical of the lack of education of the Audiencia of Quito, the way the economy was being handled in the Audiencia, the corruption of its authorities, and aspects of its culture in general. Because of these works he was persecuted and finally imprisoned shortly before his death.
Historical background
The Royal Audiencia of Quito (or Presidency of Quito) was established as part of the Spanish State by Philip II of Spain on August 29, 1563. It was a court of the Spanish Crown with jurisdiction over certain territories of the Viceroyalty of Peru (and later the Viceroyalty of New Granada) that now constitute Ecuador and parts of Peru, Colombia and Brazil. The Royal Audiencia was created to strengthen administrative control over those territories and to rule the relations between whites and the natives. Its capital was the city of Quito.Enciclopedia del Ecuador, 425
By the 18th century, the Royal Audiencia of Quito began to have economic problems; a lack of roads led to limited communications. Obrajes—a type of textile factory—had provided jobs, but now found themselves in decline, mainly due to a crackdown on smuggled European cloths and a series of natural disasters.Freile, Carlos (1997). Eugenio Espejo y su tiempo, p. 37 Obrajes were replaced by haciendas, and the dominant groups continued to exploit the indigenous population.Freile, 38
In the Royal Audiencia, the education situation worsened after of the expulsion of the Jesuit priests; too few learned people lived in Quito to be able to fill the void. The majority of the population neither read nor wrote well. On the other hand, the few who could enter the university were given an education which was heavily theoretical and used memorization as the primary learning technique.Freile, 39–40 Scholasticism, which was in decline in these times, was still taught; and the students spent their time in metaphysical discussions. As a result, the intellectual people in Quito—most of whom were clerical—had affected manners when expressing themselves, while having no new ideas. Furthermore, in 1793 only two medical doctors were available in Quito, of which one was Espejo; the majority of people who fell ill were helped by curanderos.Freile, 40 In Quito at the time, ethnic prejudice was common, and therefore most people considered society to be divided into estates of the realm, which differed by racial origin. Because of this, a person's dignity and honor could be damaged by racial prejudices.Freile, 41–46
A slackening of social customs occurred on all social levels; extramarital relationships and illegitimate children were common.Freile, 45–46 Because poverty was on the rise—especially in the lower classes—many women were forced to find lodgings quickly, for example in convents, o. This explained the abundance of the clergy in a small city like Quito; often men were ordained not because of a vocation but because it solved their economic problems and improved their community standing.Freile, 46
Biography
Early life He was baptized Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo in the El Sagrario parish on February 21, 1747. According to most historians, his father was Luis de la Cruz Chuzhig, a Quichua Indian from Cajamarca, who arrived in Quito as an assistant to the priest and physician José del Rosario, and his mother was Maria Catalina Aldás, a mulatta native to Quito. However, some historians, especially Carlos Freile Granizo, argue that contemporary documents imply that Espejo's mother was white; for instance, his parents' marriage was recorded in the book for white marriages (as they were deemed as criollos), and the birth certificates of Espejo and his siblings were entered in the same book.Freile 54Freile, Carlos (1997). Eugenio Espejo, Filósofo, p. 50
Espejo had two younger siblings, Juan Pablo and María Manuela. Juan Pablo was born in 1752; he studied with the Dominicans and served as a priest in various parts of the Audiencia of Quito. María Manuela was born in 1753, and after the death of her parents she came to be cared for by her brother Eugenio.Freile, 58 Despite his family's somewhat unstable economic situation, Espejo had a good education. He instructed himself in medicine by working alongside his father at the Hospital de la Misericordia. According to Espejo, he learned "by experience, which cannot be known without studying with pen in hand."Biblioteca de Autores Ecuatorianos de Clásicos Ariel, No. 56, Tome I, p. 12. (citation from La ciencia blancardina, pp. 333–334)
Overcoming racial discrimination, he graduated from medical school on July 10, 1767, and shortly afterwards graduated in jurisprudence and canon law (having studied law under Dr. Ramón Yépez from 1780 to 1793). On August 14, 1772, he asked for permission to practice medicine in Quito, and it was granted on November 28, 1772.Enciclopedia del Ecuador, 746 After that, no information exists about Espejo's whereabouts until 1778, when he wrote a somewhat polemical sermon.Freile, 60
Activities in the Royal Audiencia
Work as a polemicist Between 1772 and 1779, Espejo provoked the colonial authorities, who regarded him as responsible for several satirical and mocking posters. These posters were attached to the doors of churches and other buildings, and their anonymous author tended to attack the colonial authorities, the clergy or any other subject he deemed convenient. Although no surviving posters have been found, evidence from comments Espejo made in his writings suggests that he wrote them.Astuto, Philip L. (2003). Eugenio Espejo (1747–1795). Reformador ecuatoriano de la Ilustración, pp. 76-77
In 1779, a reproachful and satirical manuscript was circulated, the El nuevo Luciano de Quito (The New Lucian of Quito), signed by "don Javier de Cía, Apéstegui y Perochena," a pseudonym for Espejo. This work imitated the satire of Lucian, and was especially unsympathetic to the Jesuits. It showed the culture of its author, who lived in the isolated and intellectually backward city of Quito. El Nuevo Luciano de Quito was written in dialogues, in order to present his ideas to the common people in an easy way, instead of using tedious explanations meant for scholars.Paladines, Carlos. (2007). Juicio a Eugenio Espejo, p. 24 It satirized the many defects of the society of Quito, especially the corruption of the colonial authorities and the people's lack of education. The use of a pseudonym, a common practice in Europe and the Americas during the Age of Enlightenment, was important to Espejo. Not only did it provide anonymity, it attempted to remove any hint of his crossbreeding in a culture which granted any white person importance and prestige. His pseudonym implied that he had white or European relatives in his mother's lineage.
Beginning in 1779, Espejo continued writing satires against the government of the Audiencia, stirred by the condition of society. In June 1780, Espejo wrote Marco Porcio Catón (Marcus Porcius Cato), Once again, Espejo used a pseudonym, "Moisés Blancardo." In this work, a parodied censor's response to the Nuevo Luciano, he scorned the notions and ideas of its critics. In 1781 he wrote La ciencia blancardina, which he referred to as the second part of Nuevo Luciano, as an answer to the criticism of a Mercedarian priest from Quito.Astuto, 82 Because of his works, by 1783 he was labeled as "restive and subversive."Biblioteca de Autores Ecuatorianos de Clásicos Ariel, 15 To get rid of him, the authorities named him head physician for the scientific expedition of Francisco de Requena to the Pará and Marañon rivers to set the limits of the Audiencia. Espejo tried to decline the appointment, and after that failed, he tried unsuccessfully to flee. His arrest order details one of the few remaining physical descriptions of him. Captured, he was sent back as a "criminal of serious offense,"Paladines, 32 but he was not prosecuted and suffered no significant consequences.
Short exile
In 1785, he was asked by the cabildo (town council) to write about smallpox, the worst medical problem the Audiencia faced. Espejo used the opportunity to write his most complete and best-written work,Astuto, 177Garcés, Enrique (1996). Eugenio Espejo: Médico y duende, p. 110 Reflexiones acerca de un método para preservar a los pueblos de las viruelas (Reflections about a method to preserve the people from smallpox), denouncing the way the Audiencia handled sanitation. This work is a valuable historical source as a description of the hygienic and sanitary conditions of colonial America.
Reflexiones was sent to Madrid, where it was added as an appendix to the second edition of the medical treatise Disertación médica (1786) by Francisco Gil, a member of the Real Academia Médica de España.Paladines, 38 Instead of recognition, Espejo acquired enemies because his work criticized the physicians and priests in charge of public health in the Royal Audiencia for their negligence, and he was forced to leave Quito.
On his way to Lima, he stopped in Riobamba, where a group of priests asked him to write a reply to a report written by Ignacio Barreto, chief tax collector. The report accused the priests of Riobamba of various abuses against the Indians in order to take their money. Espejo gladly accepted the task because he wanted to settle accounts with Barreto and other citizens of Riobamba, among them José Miguel Vallejo, who had turned him in to the authorities when he tried to flee Requena's expedition to the Marañón river.Astuto, 85 He wrote Defensa de los curas de Riobamba (Defense of the clergy of Riobamba), a detailed study of the way of life of the Indians from Riobamba and a powerful attack on Barreto's report.
In March 1787, he continued his attack against his enemies from Riobamba with a series of eight satirical letters which he called Cartas riobambenses. In response, his enemies denounced Espejo before the President of the Royal Audiencia, Juan José De Villalengua. On August 24, 1787, Villalengua requested that Espejo either to go to Lima or return to Quito to occupy a post in the government,Astuto, 86 and subsequently arrested him. Espejo was accused of writing El Retrato de Golilla, a satire against King Charles III and the Marquis de la Sonora, colonial minister of the Indies. He was taken to Quito, and from prison he sent three petitions to the Court in Madrid, which decreed, on Charles III's behalf, that the case was to be taken to the Viceroy of Bogotá. President Villalengua feigned ignorance of the matter and sent Espejo to Bogotá to defend his own cause.Paladines, 39