Diego was born in Seville, but, while still young, he went to Peru, and, in 1591, he joined the Dominicans at the Covent of the Most Holy Rosary (Convento del Santísimo Rosario), in Lima. He began writing poems a few years later. In 1601, he became a professor of philosophy and head of scholastics at the monastery. In 1606, he became a doctor of theology; he was known as an avid reader of St. Thomas, as well as a charitable, yet rigorously ascetic, man, famous for his oratory and his poetry, in both Latin and Spanish. He spent many years working on his masterpiece, La Cristiada, an epic poem depicting Christ's Passion, ending with His burial; it was finally printed, in Seville, in 1611. Despite his renown, in his later years, he was embroiled in fights with his superiors due to charges lodged by a visitor, and he was eventually confined as a simple monk, first in the monastery at Cuzco, and later that at Huánuco, where he died. In 1617, after his death, he was determined to be innocent of the charges, and he was publically rehabilitated.
La Cristiada was inspired by a Latin poem of the same name, by Marco Girolamo Vida (1485-1566). Vida's poem was based on Virgil's style; de Hojeda's style was influenced by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), author of La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered), an epic Italian poem about the First Crusade. La Cristiada is divided into twelve books (it was a time-honored tradition to have the number of books or cantos in an epic be divisible by six, through Dante did not follow it); this selection is from Book XI. It begins with Simon the Cyrene assisting Jesus in taking up His Cross; Simon then sees a whole train of other cross-bearers, other Simons, "a copious band with holy crosses." These are many of the great monastic saints throughout history. The train is long, beginning with Mark (depicted here as an Essene and the founder of monasticism), down to St. Teresa of Ávila. Due to length, I am dividing this passage into parts; this part goes down to St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusians, while the second begins with St. Dominic. The original poem is written in reales (singular real), an eight-line stanza rhyming ABABABCC. In order to not force the lines too much, I decided to forego rhyme, instead translating into a loose blank verse. More well-known figures, like St. Mark the Evangelist and St. Benedict, are unnoted; I provided brief notes for the less-known saints. Part Two of this passage can be found here.
Then there went Simon, Christ him preceding, And both of them carried the sacrosanct Cross, A sacrament hidden and truthful, He admired not then, trembles at now; Then that great Wood the Gentile Church Takes up, and follows Jesus advancing: A mystery well-hidden and ordained By God, in honor of His Son beloved. So if you, vile, infame, Hebrew scoundrel, Did not want to help the King anointed, A people is not lacking who desire To serve Him, consolated by His pains; He has a pious people who believe Him, Gentile before, and now called by His Name; Now called with His illustrious and highest Name of Christ, and rightly thus called Christian. This the Word divine had known and seen, And in a figure gave Simon the Cross To bear, as one who had clearly seen That, through him, with it, He honored His Church; He gave it, he in spirit understood When it was given him with tender love; He understood and saw, walking along, A copious band with holy crosses too. Martyrs he saw, he saw confessors, Sacred virgins, noble penitents, Humble servants, famous lords and masters, And all resplendent, each with his own cross; But those generous ones, those founders Of lineages chaste and obedient Who his Cross imitated by their crosses, He saw as handsome lights among the saints. But—Oh sacred muse!, eternal science Who inspired and inspires us to praise Him, Gives the Cross, with obedience lightens us, And always looks upon His crucified; You, who grace and truth, prudence and sense And love of God with soft breath breathe about, Give me your breath and part your lips towards me, And with my rude voice, honor your sages. With his banner, then, there first of all went Mark, the virtue of the tireless Peter, Of holy monks the truthful father, And, of God, memorable chronicler; Who the institute, rigid and severe, Pleasing heaven, intolerable to world, Founded, from the Essenes, divided By the deserts, and gathered up in cells. Second went the venerable Anthony,[1] Clear in lineage, profound in wisdom, The glory of our God and demon’s fright, Being in the world with his devoted cross: He set at naught his patrimony rich, In sterile wilds, a fecund garden Of most religious plants he did produce, Where crosses infinite he caused to sprout. And then Pachomius,[2] noble soldier And radiant lad in human militia, And consecrated to Christ in great Thebes, To there pursue in peace the Christian faith, He bore a shoulder weighed down by a cross, And a soul made strong with its proud yoke, Alive to God, and dead to self and world, Holy peopler of the happy desert. And then great Basil,[3] with his smooth, light cross, As if from a cathedra eminent, Reforming the grave and rigid living Of the rustic monks of the Orient: Worthy that heaven his prudence praise, And the world eternally venerate, With religious step, he accompanied Christ; learned and holy, imitated Him. And you, the Father of count infinite Of martyrs and pontiffs and doctors, Who the sacred, ancient, yet forgotten, rite Renewed in rule and also in hot fervor; Benedict in name, with reason blessed, Among the pure, eternal, splendid ones With that infused and admirable science, You rayed out, with obedience’s cross. And Romuald,[4] the signaled gentleman, Clear in lineage, famous in virtue, And with the holy sign of the Baton, Generous, but more by blood illustrious; Obedient, solicitous, sincere, And zealous captain of obedient ones, With his heavy cross, he went behind That of his Father, and similar to Christ. And Bernard the mellifluous, great teacher Of love divine and of the perfect prayer, Whom the ancient age and our time too Respected and followed, follows and respects; Wise about the Cross, dexterous in preaching it, With style sweet and devotion discreet, He looked at Christ, by Christ enamored, And was sustained by His very own milk.[5] Bruno,[6] also, having hoisted his cross Went from the city into unkempt land, And, with the divine spirit, he founded Religion hidden in the depths of caves; And to the eremitic life he joined The most agreeable and learned monastic, With a new plot, in holy bond uniting Mute silence and religious thundering.
Footnotes: [1] St. Anthony the Great (c. 251 - 356) is often considered the founder of monasticism, along with St. Paul of Thebes. He was an Egyptian who, after hearing the Gospel, took its call strictly, sold he had to the poor, and went to live in the desert; as his fame for holiness became known, he kept trying to retreat deeper into the forest, but disciples found him all the same. Only once did he willingly leave his solitude, to preach against the Arian heresy. His life was later written by St. Athanasius, who knew him.
[2] While St. Anthony is considered the founder of the eremtical life, the life of hermits, St. Pachomius (c. 292 - 348) is considered the founder of the coenobitic life, the life of monks in community. He learned the eremitical life from a hermit named Palaemon, and he lived as a hermit in the desert near St. Anthony, until a voice told him to build a dwelling for other hermits. He followed the call, establishing the first monastery in Tabennisi, Egypt, between 318 and 323. His disciples hailed him as "Abba" (Father), and thence came the word "abbot." Written rules of the monastic life are attributed to him; his teachings were also passed down through St. Basil the Great.
[3] St. Basil the Great (329-379) is known for his example as a holy bishop, a great theologian, and a combatant against Arianism and Apollinarianism, but he is also important for spreading the influence of Egyptian monasticism. He visited St. Pachomius, and, inspired by him, formed and guided monasteries in areas under his care, leaving Rules which continue the spirit of Pachomius. These are still the basic texts for monastics among the Byzantine churches.
[4] St. Romuald (c. 951 – 1027), Italian founder of the Camaldolese Order; he was originally a Benedictine, before, when his monks resisted his reforms, he threw his abbot’s baton at the feet of Emperor Otto III, and withdrew to become a hermit. Later, he founded the Camaldolese Order, which combined the solitary life of a hermit (eremitical life) with the communal life of a monk in a monastery (coenobitic life).
[5] There is a famous story of St. Bernard of Clairvaux having a vision of Mary sprinkling milk from her breasts upon his lips, the same milk which Jesus drank as an infant; this is called the Lactation of St. Bernard. In regards to monasticism, Bernard was a major figure among the early Cistercians, who worked to reform Benedictine monasticism.
[6] St. Bruno of Cologne (c. 1030 - 1101) was the founder of the Carthusian Order. He was, first, a well- regarded teacher in the area of Reims; he became the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Reims, but he refused to be ordained bishop. Instead, he retreated to monastic life; he first thought of joining the Cistercians, but such was not his calling. Rather, he and six companions were given a spot in the Chartreuse Mountains, where they formed an oratory; this became Grand Chartreuse, the motherhouse of the Carthusian Order. Technically, Bruno was never canonized; the Carthusians, in humility, refuse to allow any of their members to be canonized, and all their writings are ascribed simply to "A Carthusian"; nevertheless, St. Bruno was added to the liturgical calendar.
Source: Diego de Hojeda, La Cristiada, ed. Manuel Ribé (Barcelona: Sociedad Editorial La Maravilla, 1867), 359-362.