Alejandro Romano (missionary)
Alejandro Romano (1664–1724) was a Jesuit missionary in New Spain.
Biography
Romano was born in Naples in 1664, entered the Society of Jesus in 1680, and took his final vows in 1699.{{cite book |last1=Polzer |first1=Charles W. |title=Rules and Precepts of the Jesuit Missions of Northwestern New Spain |date=18 October 2016 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-3480-7 |page=117 |language=en}} In 1700, Romano succeeded Juan de Ugarte as procurator of the Jesuit missions in New Spain.{{cite book |last1=Dunne |first1=Peter Masten |title=Black Robes in Lower California |date=28 April 2023 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-31674-4 |pages=98,174,464 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Crosby |first1=Harry W. |title=Antigua California: Mission and Colony on the Peninsular Frontier, 1697-1768 |date=1994 |publisher=UNM Press |isbn=978-0-8263-1495-6 |pages=57,138 |language=en}} In 1719, he was promoted to provincial superior, an office he held until 1722.
Romano opposed the founding of the Convent of Corpus Christi in Mexico City for indigenous women. In a 1723 letter, he argued that native women were disinclined to live in community, had a short attention span, and were incapable of keeping a vow of chastity.{{cite book |last1=Díaz |first1=Mónica |title=Indigenous Writings from the Convent: Negotiating Ethnic Autonomy in Colonial Mexico |date=1 December 2017 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-3849-2 |page=53 |language=en}}
At the time of his death in 1724, Romano was serving as rector of the Casa Profesa.{{cite book |last1=Gagliano |first1=Joseph A. |last2=Ronan |first2=Charles E. |title=Jesuit Encounters in the New World: Jesuit Chroniclers, Geographers, Educators and Missionaries in the Americas, 1549-1767 |date=1997 |publisher=Institutum Historicum S.I. |isbn=978-88-7041-350-2 |page=73 |language=en}}