author
Pedro Sánchez de Aguilar
1555–1648
A colonial-era cleric and writer from Yucatán, he is remembered for a rare and revealing account of Maya religious practices in the early 1600s. His surviving work has become an important source for readers interested in the history of New Spain, evangelization, and Indigenous belief.
1 Audiobook
Reports on the Maya Indians of Yucatan
by Antonio García Cubas, Francisco Hernández, Santiago Mendez, Pedro Sánchez de Aguilar
About the author
Born in Valladolid, Yucatán, in 1555, Pedro Sánchez de Aguilar came from a family linked to the early Spanish colonial world. Sources describe him as learning the Maya language from Gaspar Antonio Xiu and later studying in Mexico City at the Colegio de San Ildefonso, where he continued his ecclesiastical education and earned a doctorate.
He returned to Yucatán and served in church leadership, with accounts identifying him as a parish priest and later a vicar and provisor in the region. In 1613 he became dean of the cathedral of Yucatán, and later held a canonry at Los Charcas in Peru or Upper Peru, showing that his career reached beyond his native province.
He is best known for Informe contra los adoradores de ídolos del obispado de Yucatán, printed in Madrid in 1639. The book, written from a colonial church perspective, describes Maya rites, idol worship, and religious practices that Spanish authorities sought to suppress; today it is read both as a document of its time and as a valuable historical source. He died in 1648.