This
method, as has since been proved, was fully justified by the colonizing
circumstances which prevailed at the time; nevertheless, it was only
natural that it should have provoked a deep anger on the part of the
Spanish settlers, in whose eyes these missions of the Jesuits had as
their chief end the enriching of the pockets of the Order at the expense
of those of the colonists.
Towards the middle of the seventeenth century matters reached a crisis
in Asuncion. The newly-appointed Bishop, Don Bernardino de Cardenas,
showed himself most actively opposed to the works of the Jesuits in
Paraguay. An open hostility soon manifested itself between the two
powers, and the strife grew more and more bitter until, not only the
entire body of the clergy, but the Governor, the officials, and the
laymen were involved as well. Whatever were the faults which the Jesuits
may have committed in Paraguay--and to what extent these have been
exaggerated is now patent--it is quite certain that Cardenas was a being
totally unfitted to be invested with the dignity and responsibility of a
Bishop's office.
It is true that his eloquence in preaching was superb; this, however,
undoubtedly arose rather from an acutely developed artistic sense than
from any profound religious convictions.
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