ABSTRACT
Between the 1640s and the mid-1700s, the spiritual mission of Jesuits in the Rio de la Plata region of South America had coexisted with the larger Spanish imperial project. But the Spanish Crown became fearful that Jesuit sacred space was also remolding the behavior of the indigenous people in a manner that was not loyal to or compatible with the Crown’s broader political and economic aims. This Spanish perception was intensified by the Guaraní War of 1756, in which the missions had to be dismantled by force even after the Jesuits had given up control over the region. In the years that followed, new Jesuit attempts to establish sacred space in the region faced increasing hostility from the Spanish Crown, leading up to the 1767 banishment of the Society of Jesus from the entire Spanish Empire. My chapter explores this increasing dissonance between the sacred and imperial usage of Jesuit spaces in the greater Rio de la Plata region, as seen from the center of power in Madrid. In particular, it examines how the inter-imperial pressures of the period provided a major impetus for policymakers in Madrid to redefine Jesuit sacred spaces as hazardous malignancies that had to be excised to prevent further damage to the empire.
