The Legend of Fray Baltazar

We start out our story by learning about the Indian uprising in which all the missionaries and all the Spaniards in northern New Mexico were either driven our or murdered. We are now set in the time period about 15 years later after the country had been reconquered with new missionaries and Frier Baltazar Montoya is introduced as the priest of Acoma. Our story goes on to tell the story of Fay Baltazar, the corrupt priest who treats the native people of New Mexico very poorly and as if they were basically his slaves. The story shows the great example of how when people are mistreated and are attempted to be controlled how the human spirit will always come out and an uprising is sure to come. No human should be treated lesser than any other human and when pushed into a corner, all humans will fight for their rights to live their lives free from persecution and control.

We are introduced to the corrupt priest, Friar Montoya, who was known for having a tyrannical and overbearing position and showed a hard hand on the natives of New Mexico. Montoya treated the natives as second-class people. “It was his belief that the pueblo of Acoma existed chiefly to support is fine church, and that this should be the pride of the Indians as it was his. He took the best of their corn and beans and squashes for his table, and selected the choicest portion when they slaughtered a sheep, chose their best hides to carpet his dwelling. Moreover, he exacted a heavy tribute in labor.” He had no intention of treating the Indians as one of God’s children but instead he treated them as people that could do things for him and that he could benefit from. He was sent Acoma to bring peace and religion, yet he only brought greed, anger and discrimination to this already ravaged land.

Montoya had originally come to Acoma and was a very active man who traveled far to obtain fruits and other items to make his house and his garden a beautiful sanctuary, but soon his mind and heart became filled with power and greed. Montoya decided to start using the Indian people to fulfill his desires and to make his life easier, without thinking about what he was doing to the Indians. Cather states. “It was clear that the Friar at Acoma lived more after the flesh than after the spirit. “ Montoya quickly went from being a respected holy man to being a man whose only goal was to fill his own desires. He soon had multiple servant boys who he treated poorly and trained to do whatever Montoya desired. Montoya held his “magical power” over the heads of the native people who were too afraid of what the repercussions of a revolt might do. Cather states, “Baltazar’s tyranny grew little by little, and the Acoma people were sometimes at the point of revolt. But they could no estimate just how powerful the Padre’s magic might be and were afraid to put it to the test. There was no doubt that the holy picture of St. Joseph had come to them from the Kind of Spain by the request of this Padre, and that picture had been more effective in averting drought than all the native rain-makers had been.” Montoya used his position of power and the lack of education to keep the Indian people in fear and inferior to him so that they would be too afraid to have an uprising. Fear and religion have been used to control the masses for as long as man has been around, and Montoya made sure he kept this trend going.

Soon Montoya decided that he wanted some company and someone whom he could show off his amazing gardens, house, and control of the Indians to. He decided to throw an extravagant dinner party and invite other priests from around the area to join. Montoya had perfected his favorite sauce and was bragging and boasting to the other priests on how amazing it was. As the sauce became ready and was brought out, the little servant boy tripped and spilled the sauce everywhere. Montoya became enraged, threw a cup at the servant boy’s head and killed him right there on the spot. The other priests, knowing this situation would have a horrible ending, left as soon as the incident happened. Soon the Indian people found out and went and got Montoya and brought him to the top of a cliff where they hanged him and finally ended his control of the natives.

This story is about the struggles and hardships that the native people had to endure in this time period. The goal of the missionaries and priests were to bring the different groups of people together as one and to prosper together, but the human need for power and dominance continued to take over and separate the people. The Indians were constantly discriminated against for their heritage and for their lack of the Christian religion. This story shows the many attempts to bridge the gap between the people but the constant failures that keep occurring. This story shows how cultures continue to try to dominate other cultures and how this constantly causes heartache, death, discrimination, and a world full of hate. This story shows the importance of equality and how humans should work together as one single species to make the world a harmonious place. There will always be people who are trying to achieve more power and use people to get ahead in life and to control, but it is our duty to keep uprising and keep revolting against this unfair treatment so that we can one day reach or goal of a utopian society. We also need to remember to hold these figures of power to the same standards as all people. Just because a person is given a place of power doesn’t mean we shouldn’t constantly question and check them. It takes a whole community to keep peace and harmony; it only takes one person to create hate, discrimination and hardship. It is our goal as a society to make sure this doesn’t happen anymore.
--PM