Egy magyar jezsuita Paraguayban. Limp Ferenc 1752–1753. évi levelei
Hungarian Jesuits in Paraguay: The Letters of Ferenc Limp, SJ from the Years 1752–1753

Summary/Abstract: One of the most debated issues in the history of the Jesuits is the evaluation of their activities in their former Paraguay Province. As it is known, the Guaraní War, which followed the Spanish– Portuguese Treaty of 1750, and the Jesuit Fathers’ supposed participation in it led to their expulsion from the South American continent. One of the expelled fathers was Ferenc Limp SJ, born in 1696 in the city of Mosonmagyaróvár (now in Hungary), who took up the task of evangelizing the Indians in 1726, and after a short training course completed in Spain, he was assigned to missionary in Paraguay. From 1729 onwards he worked in several reducciones of Paraguay (Concepción, Santo Ángel and Candelaria), and in 1752–1753 he directed the mission of San Lorenzo. He was expelled from the provinces in 1768, and due to the inhuman treatment on the long journey to Spain, he died at the port of Cádiz in 1769. The aim of this paper is to shed light on his activities in 1752–1753 on the basis of a collection of letters found in the Archive of Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid. This collection consists of 24 missives dated between 30 May 1752 and 27 September 1753 from Father Limp to Luis Altamirano, representative of Jesuit General Ignazio Visconti, and three of the comisario’s responses. These letters provide convincing evidence that Father Limp, who was nominated by Altamirano as his assistant, contributed substantially to the fulfillment of the mission and to the completion of transferring people and goods to Spanish territories.

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