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Euskalkultura.com
BASQUE
HERITAGE WORLDWIDE (BETA)
The
Brotherhood of the Virgin of Arantzazu retrieves historical archives on the
400th anniversary of its foundation
2012-11-15
On November 6
commemorative events were celebrated in Lima to mark the four hundredth
anniversary of the founding of the Brotherhood of the Virgin of Arantzazu, that
has been revived by a group of euskaltzales there after years in oblivion. The
anniversary events served to publicize the extensive process of research and
retrieval of historical documents of the brotherhood which has already begun to
bear fruit. The revived brotherhood is working to digitize these documents and
has already reissued texts of the Novena to the Virgin of Arantzazu in Lima in
Basque and the statutes of the Brotherhood originally published for the last
time in 1851.
Lima,
Peru. The renewed Brotherhood of the
Virgin of Arantzazu in Lima celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of its
foundation with a conference and presentation of a book on the history of the
entity. The events were supported by a
group Basque-Peruvian, inspired by the work of journalist Francisco Igartua
(founder of Oiga magazine). They decided to rescue this important historic
entity from oblivion.
The
events were organized with the support of the University of San Martin de
Porres in Lima, the Institute Riva Agüero of the Pontificia Catholic University
of Lima, the University of the Basque Country, the Basque club of Chile's
Santiago --who donated a sapling from the tree of Gernika-- and the Oiga
Journalistic Publishing Fund of Lima’s Oiga magazine
First Step
The
commemorative acts included the celebration of a seminar on the history of the
Brotherhood of our Lady of Arantzazu in Lima and the Basque presence in
Peru. Additionally, the work done by
the entity to rescue and bring to light the historic archives that were edited
into a book coordinated by Oscar Alvarez Gila historian from the University of
the Basque Country was also presented.
Basque
Peruvian John Bazan Aguilar, one of the supporters of the initiative, told
EuskalKultura.com that this is “the first step in rescuing the legacy that our
Basque ancestors left us in Lima.” The
entity is now working on digitizing and publishing the archival documents of
the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Arantzazu in the Peruvian capital city.
Scattered Sources
“Our
first step was to locate document sources.
These were spread out and lacking any connection one to another. After years of work we were able to access
them thanks to the help of prestigious families descended from the ancient
brethren. Later, we were able to access
other private collections, that expanded the digitized material,” he explained.
The
institutions that hold the archives are: The Society of Charity of Metropolitan
Lima, the Convent of San Francisco of Lima, the Convent of San Francisco of
Ocopa, the Convent of San Agustin of Lima, and the Archbishop of Lima, the
National Archive of Peru and the National Library of Peru.
Reclaimed land
The
research process in the archives has led to the recovery “of 1,632 hectares of
land that belonged to a mercantile society of which the Brotherhood was
co-owner until 1865. This marks a
historical fact in Lima and I think in the Basque Country,” said Bazan. The next step of the Brotherhood is to
acquire a place in the Historic Center in Lima, where the Brotherhood was run,
and to restore and convert it into the home for the digitized archives, open to
all researchers worldwide.
The
commemorative acts ended with the planting of a sapling from the Tree of
Gernika donated by the Euzko Etxea of Santiago, Chile on the University of San
Martin of Lima campus, a land that was once owned by the Brotherhood. The event was attended by officials, members
of the Brotherhood, historians and conference attendees.
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