The Depopulation

Literary Hub shares an excerpt from a historical novel set in the Guayrá, a Jesuit mission region in what is now Paraguay. It centers on Father Antonio Ruiz, a mystic given to visions of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and his companion Father Jesús Maceta, who transcribes and interprets those experiences. The passage details Ruiz's habit of keeping his eyes closed, following a Jesuit principle that light is unnecessary except for prayer, reading, or eating, alongside glimpses of daily mission life among the Guaraní. As Literary Hub presents it, the excerpt weaves colonial-era religious devotion with intense physical and spiritual suffering.

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