Saturday, June 27, 2015

Bishop Andres and the tempting devils

Movilla (1635) contains a series of exampla translated into Timucua.  The first in the series is a story about a Bishop Andres, who was tempted by devils to molest a saintly woman living in his house.  The devils were defeated in the following way: A Jew was passing by on the road, and took shelter in a pagan shrine at night.  Before going to bed, he crossed himself for protection. While there, he saw a band of demons recounting their temptations of humans, including the demon who was tempting Andres.  The Jew is protected from the demons by the cross, and when he leaves, he find the Bishop, who after several denials, finally confesses his sin.  The Jew is then converted.



The original of this seems to be due to St Gregory, in the following passage
St Gregory Book Three Chapter 7.  (And in fact the Timucua translation cites this place.)  The Spanish that accompanies the text, however, looks more like this 1607 text: Tratado del govierno de la familia, y estado del matrimonio, by a Jesuit Gaspar Arete.  Or this version from 1597:





A few notable changes -- in the original by Gregory, the place where the Jew spends the night is a temple of Apollo.  In the Spanish 1607 version, it is a "templo de un idolo caydo" [temple of a fallen idol], and in the 1597 version it is "un templo antigua que estava alli de un idolo" [old temple where there was an idol] but in Movilla's Spanish version it is a "sepultura de infieles" [a tomb of unbelievers].  The parallel Timucua calls the place paha yanqua anopira Christianoti, nihitecare yalenolebinco = 'a house where they buried non-Christian Indians who died.'