Fray Juan Falcon, the Dominican captive among the mapuches in the XVII century

Abstract

The priests of the Dominica order, who arrived in Chile in 1557, developed an important work of evangelization in the city of Valdivia and its surroundings from 1560. In 1600 the enclave was attacked by several indigenous reguas killing some priests of that congregation and capturing others, to later be exchanged for aborigines who were captive by the Spaniards. This was the case of Fray Juan Falcon, prisoner for fifteen years among the aborigines, who gives one of the first tests of social and political organization of the mapuches, along with some characteristics of their beliefs. The testimony provided by Falcon complements with important ethnohistorical information that given by the Jesuit priest Luis de Valdivia during the same period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is possible that the descriptions provided by the Dominican priest constitute the first record of a Catholic priest in the seventeenth century who survived a prolonged captivity, guarded by various chieftains.