QUIÑONES, FRANCISCO DE

Also called Francisco de los Angeles; Spanish cardinal and reformer, originator of the expedition of the "Twelve Apostles" to Mexico; b. 1480; d. Veroli, Oct. 27, 1540. Quiñones became a Franciscan before 1507, taking the name of Francisco de los Angeles. He was minister general of the order (1523–28), was named cardinal (Dec. 7, 1527), and was bishop of Coria (1531–33). Quiñones was a representative of the Catholic reformation prior to the Council of Trent. As a superior, he stimulated studies, the training of Franciscan youth, and the use of retreat houses as centers of intense spiritual life. His missionary vocation bore fruit in 1523 when he sent the mission of the Twelve Apostles to New Spain. In the obedience and instructions, which have been called the Magna Carta of Mexican civilization, he stressed the qualities of the missionary and referred to the standards of missionary methods.

In 1526 he conceived the project of going to Mexico, with faculties as nuncio and viceroy, to promote evangelization. He did not attain his objective, however, because Clement VII sent him on secret missions to the Emperor between 1526 and 1528. By his representations, he won the freedom of the Pope and prepared the Treaty of Barcelona of 1529. As a cardinal, he defended the interests of Spain and the reform of the Church. In Rome he surrounded himself with humanists and scholars.

Asked by Clement VII to prepare a new breviary, he distributed the Psalms over the days of the week, reduced the Matins to one nocturn consisting of three Psalms and three lessons, and eliminated all elements of a choral character, such as antiphons, responsories, versicles, and hymns. Between 1535 and 1558, 100 editions of that Breviary were issued, amounting to about 100,000 copies. It influenced the book of common prayer and was the precursor of 20th-century reforms. The Breviary was vigorously attacked by theologians and suppressed by the Council of Trent.

In 1536 Cardinal Quiñones commissioned Sansovino to make his sepulchral monument in his titular church, the church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. He also built a palace in Veroli.

Bibliography: f. quiÑones de leÓn y de francisco martin [Marquis d'Alcedo], Le Cardinal Quiñones et la Sainte-Ligue (Bayonne 1910). j. m. lenhart, "Quiñones' Breviary, a Best Seller," Franciscan Studies NS 6 (1946) 468. j. meseguer fernÁndez, "Contenido misionológico de la Obediencia e Instrucción de Fray Francisco do los Angeles a los Doce Apóstoles de México," Americas 11 (1954–55) 473–500.

[j. meseguer fernÁndez]