Marko Anton Kappus - slovenski jezuit na koncu Novega sveta

The authors of the present monograph have endeavoured to complement and build upon the material and research on Marko Anton Kappus produced thus far with new authentic documents, significant new information and interpretations, and so have aimed to provide researchers and the general public alike with Marcos Antonio Kappus’ activities in the context of the processes of Christianisation and colonisation of present-day Mexico, particularly Sonora and Lower California. The translations of texts, manuscript reproductions and other authentic documents made availablein this monograph together with new critical studies on the life and work of the Slovenian Jesuit from various angles shed light on the diverse dynamic of social and historical processes in the Western world at the turn of the 18th century and aim to help us understand them also from the perspective of the people who played a part in them. The monograph thus draws on historical sources, especially Kappus’ letters and other writings as well as on scholarly studies based on archival records written by Kappus’ contemporaries and companions as well as later historiographers, in-cluding the publications by contemporary Mexican and other scholars of colonial history and Jesuit missions. It therefore marks a new, qualitative shift in the presentation of Kappus’ life and work, as well as in the interpretation of the available documentary records. In the process, it has been shown that some of the theses or hypotheses that were formed by authors could be approached from different perspectives and or even rejected. The extensive bibliography provided in the volume will also facilitate further research. Kappus’ written legacy has been preserved in various archives in Europe, Mexico and the United States, reflecting the extent of his travels as well as his overall historical importance. The authors have collected all the available archival records (40 of them) and had them translated into Slovenian in their entirety for the first time – Kappus wrote in Latin, German and Spanish – and have also classified them according to geographical, chronological, linguistic and thematic criteria. The content of Kappus’ letters is sufficiently varied and the range of their addressees sufficiently diverse to provide a fairly complete image not only of his missionary life, but also of the broader context in which the conquest of Mexico took place, and of the role that the Jesuit missionaries played in this historical process. In the collection of Kappus’ work assembled in this book, a special place is given to the poem Enthusiasmus, which was considered lost for more than a hundred years and its content unknown. In the course of collecting the material for the present monograph, Tomaž Nabergoj found a surviving copy of this remarkable piece of writing and uncovered invaluable information not only about Kappus’ poetic abilities, but also about the global dimensions of colonisation.