| Summary: | In 1802, the Discalced Franciscan Mariano López y Pimental, a missionary from the province of San Diego de México, presented an elaborate plan to the King of Spain that he said would ensure the conversion of the millions of unfaithful natives of America and Asia who were still waiting to be saved. The “College of National Missionaries” would house thousands of children from both continents and train them to be missionaries in their native languages. The project was inspired by the difficulties that he had observed in the efforts of the Franciscan missionaries in what was then known as the Internal Provinces of New Spain, as well as by the work of Claudio Francisco Letondal, procurator of the missions in China. This article’s interest in the project of López y Pimental is based on his vision of the spiritual conquest in northern New Spain, interpreted as a particular expression of the political context of censure for the results of the conversion of the natives.
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