Manuel Antonio de Rivas
Encyclopedia
Manuel Antonio de Rivas was a Franciscan
friar in Mérida
, a Spanish colonial town on the Yucatán Peninsula
. Details of his life are sketchy, though there are court documents that prove that in the 1770s he was accused of heresy
. He is best known for an account of a journey of lunar discovery, Syzygies and Lunar Quadratures, which is credited as the first science fiction
text written in the Americas.
, and criticizing the veneration of saints
. Apparently he printed leaflets critical of his fellow churchmen and distributed them. His behavior was so offensive that he was put on trial in 1775, a trial which revealed his speculative book on lunar travel. He was accused of believing in astrology
, of proposing a "branch of hell in the Sun's center," and of endorsing the heliocentrism
of Nicolaus Copernicus
. An accusation of sodomy
was dropped quickly. His Syzygies and Lunar Quadratures was one of the main pieces of evidence; fortunately for him, the court judged it to be a fable, and charges were withdrawn.
The manuscript was rediscovered in 1958 by Pablo González Casanova, "hidden among the dusty volumes of the National Archives in Mexico City"—in fact, among the documents compiled by the Inquisition
pertaining to Rivas's trial. It was referenced in a 1977 study of Mexican literature, but was not commented on or published until 1994. An extensive study of Rivas and his lunar narrative was published in 1995 by Delgado, who published a complete, critical edition of the text in 2001.
, Sir Francis Bacon's New Atlantis
, Johannes Kepler's Somnium
, Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone
, John Wilkins' Discovery of a New World, Cyrano de Bergerac's The Voyage to the Moon, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
, and Voltaire's Micromégas
.
and quadrature
are terms in astronomy) consists of two parts--the first is an account of a lunar voyage by a Frenchman, Onésimo Dutalon in epistolary form, and it precedes another letter containing an astronomical almanac
. Both are addressed to a Don Ambrosio de Echevarria (an "observer of lunar movements") and are written by "anctitones", the inhabitants of the moon.
In their first letter, the anctitones write to Echevarria about a visit they received from Onésimo Dutalon, a French astronomer, who had written them a very informative and erudite letter with data about syzygies and quadrature. They are pondering how to respond to the letter when Dutalon shows up on the moon in a flying vessel, evidently propelled by wings. Dutalon tells them his life story, and shares his astronomical information and, among others, the theories of Isaac Newton
and the philosophy of Rene Descartes
--according to Delgado, Dutalon is the "obvious mouthpiece of Rivas." While the president of the moon university is preparing a welcome speech, an interruption comes in the form of a "legion of space demons", who have stopped on their way to the Sun where they are taking the soul of a materialist
. Satan
had apparently refused this soul in order to preserve order in his domain; Dutalon explains that hell is actually placed in the Sun, a theory he based on that of an Anglican scholar. The letter is signed by the president of the moon university.
The anctitones provided fodder for the Inquisition's trial: as it happens, they have studied Earth and its inhabitants for a long time, and question various elements on earthly history. For instance, they have doubts about Biblical chronology, and about "the mythological return of the Messiah". They also recall the legend of Phaëton
, whose fiery accident burned the lunar records, forcing them to start their history anew, in "a new Lunar Era," now 7,914,522 years ago.
The second letter contains "strange" anctitone remarks on different Earthly chronologies, and ends with a detailed almanac and notes on stellar observations for the year 1775.
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar in Mérida
Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
, a Spanish colonial town on the Yucatán Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
. Details of his life are sketchy, though there are court documents that prove that in the 1770s he was accused of heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
. He is best known for an account of a journey of lunar discovery, Syzygies and Lunar Quadratures, which is credited as the first science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
text written in the Americas.
Biography
Little is known of Rivas's life outside of the trial for heresy; his birth and death dates are unknown, though it appears he was already an old man by the time he was brought to trial. According to Rivas scholar Miguel Ángel Fernández Delgado, he arrived in Yucatán in 1742, and soon started "making enemies and trouble for himself." He deviated from orthodoxy by believing, for instance, that heavenly bodies affected human behavior (denying free will), reading banned booksIndex Librorum Prohibitorum
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...
, and criticizing the veneration of saints
Veneration
Veneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: an angel, or a dead person who has been identified by a church committee as singular in the traditions of the religion. It is practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic, and Eastern Catholic Churches...
. Apparently he printed leaflets critical of his fellow churchmen and distributed them. His behavior was so offensive that he was put on trial in 1775, a trial which revealed his speculative book on lunar travel. He was accused of believing in astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, of proposing a "branch of hell in the Sun's center," and of endorsing the heliocentrism
Heliocentrism
Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism, is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a stationary Sun at the center of the universe. The word comes from the Greek . Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center...
of Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
. An accusation of sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
was dropped quickly. His Syzygies and Lunar Quadratures was one of the main pieces of evidence; fortunately for him, the court judged it to be a fable, and charges were withdrawn.
Textual history
The full title of Rivas's 11-folio booklet is translated in English as Syzygies and Lunar Quadratures Aligned to the Meridian of Mérida of the Yucatán by an Anctitone or Inhabitant of the Moon, and Addressed to the Scholar Don Ambrosio de Echevarria, Reciter of Funeral Kyries in the Parish of Jesus of Said City, and Presently Teacher of Logarithm in the Town of Mama of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Year of the Lord 1775. No actual date of composition is given in the manuscript.The manuscript was rediscovered in 1958 by Pablo González Casanova, "hidden among the dusty volumes of the National Archives in Mexico City"—in fact, among the documents compiled by the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
pertaining to Rivas's trial. It was referenced in a 1977 study of Mexican literature, but was not commented on or published until 1994. An extensive study of Rivas and his lunar narrative was published in 1995 by Delgado, who published a complete, critical edition of the text in 2001.
Genesis
Rivas was evidently influenced by European narratives of lunar exploration, including Lucian's True HistoryTrue History
True History or True Story is a travel tale by the Greek-speaking Syrian author Lucian of Samosata, the earliest known fiction about travelling to outer space, alien life-forms and interplanetary warfare. Written in the 2nd century, the novel has been referred to as "the first known text that...
, Sir Francis Bacon's New Atlantis
New Atlantis
New Atlantis and similar can mean:*New Atlantis, a novel by Sir Francis Bacon*The New Atlantis, founded in 2003, a journal about the social and political dimensions of science and technology...
, Johannes Kepler's Somnium
Somnium
Somnium is an album by the American ambient musician Robert Rich. It is a seven-hour album on a DVD-video and is based on Rich’s sleep concert series of the early 1980’s. Like those concerts, the music on this album was composed to influence the dreams and pre-REM hypnogogic visions of the listener...
, Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone
The Man in the Moone
The Man in the Moone is a book by the English divine and bishop Francis Godwin . Apparently written in the late 1620s and published posthumously in 1638 under the pseudonym Domingo Gonsales, it contains the account of a "voyage of utopian discovery"...
, John Wilkins' Discovery of a New World, Cyrano de Bergerac's The Voyage to the Moon, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds is a popular science book by French author Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, published in 1686. It offered an explanation of the heliocentric model of the Universe, suggested by Nicolaus Copernicus in his 1543 work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium...
, and Voltaire's Micromégas
Micromégas
"Micromégas" is a short story by the French philosopher and satirist Voltaire. It is a significant development in the history of literature because it originates ideas which helped create the genre of science fiction....
.
Contents
Syzygies and Lunar Quadratures (syzygySyzygy (astronomy)
In astronomy, a syzygy is a straight line configuration of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system. The word is usually used in reference to the Sun, the Earth and either the Moon or a planet, where the latter is in conjunction or opposition. Solar and lunar eclipses occur at times of...
and quadrature
Quadrature (astronomy)
In astronomy, quadrature is that aspect of a heavenly body in which it makes a right angle with the direction of the Sun. It is applied especially to the apparent position of a superior planet, or of the Moon at first and last quarters....
are terms in astronomy) consists of two parts--the first is an account of a lunar voyage by a Frenchman, Onésimo Dutalon in epistolary form, and it precedes another letter containing an astronomical almanac
Almanac
An almanac is an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, and tide tables, containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar etc...
. Both are addressed to a Don Ambrosio de Echevarria (an "observer of lunar movements") and are written by "anctitones", the inhabitants of the moon.
In their first letter, the anctitones write to Echevarria about a visit they received from Onésimo Dutalon, a French astronomer, who had written them a very informative and erudite letter with data about syzygies and quadrature. They are pondering how to respond to the letter when Dutalon shows up on the moon in a flying vessel, evidently propelled by wings. Dutalon tells them his life story, and shares his astronomical information and, among others, the theories of Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
and the philosophy of Rene Descartes
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
--according to Delgado, Dutalon is the "obvious mouthpiece of Rivas." While the president of the moon university is preparing a welcome speech, an interruption comes in the form of a "legion of space demons", who have stopped on their way to the Sun where they are taking the soul of a materialist
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
. Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
had apparently refused this soul in order to preserve order in his domain; Dutalon explains that hell is actually placed in the Sun, a theory he based on that of an Anglican scholar. The letter is signed by the president of the moon university.
The anctitones provided fodder for the Inquisition's trial: as it happens, they have studied Earth and its inhabitants for a long time, and question various elements on earthly history. For instance, they have doubts about Biblical chronology, and about "the mythological return of the Messiah". They also recall the legend of Phaëton
Phaëton
In Greek mythology, Phaëton or Phaethon was the son of Helios and the Oceanid Clymene. Alternate, less common genealogies make him a son of Clymenus by Merope, of Helios and Rhode or of Helios and Prote....
, whose fiery accident burned the lunar records, forcing them to start their history anew, in "a new Lunar Era," now 7,914,522 years ago.
The second letter contains "strange" anctitone remarks on different Earthly chronologies, and ends with a detailed almanac and notes on stellar observations for the year 1775.
Further reading
- de Rivas, Manuel Antonio. Sizigias y cuadraturas lunares ajustadas al meridiano de Mérida de Yucatán por un anctítona o habitador de la luna y dirigidas al bachiller don Ambrosio de Echeverría, entonador que ha sido de kyries funerales en la parroquia del Jesús de dicha ciudad y al presente profesor de logarítmica en el pueblo de Mama de la península de Yucatán, para el año del señor 1775: seguido de fragmentos del proceso inquisitorial (Mérida, Yucatán: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), 2001. [edited/annotated by Carolina Depetris and Adrián Curiel Rivera] ISBN 6-0702-0687-8