ARMENTÍA, NICOLÁS

ARMENTÍA, NICOLÁS. — Friar Minor, missionary, explorer, and bishop in Bolivia, b. in Bermedo (Spain) on 6 Dec. 1845, d. in La Paz on 24 Dec. 1919. He completed his humanities studies in Eborrio. As a young man he had an interview with the future Dominican martyr Berriochoa, to whom he subsequently attributed his vocation. Having left Spain because of the suppression of the religious Orders, he took the Franciscan habit at the convent of Amiens in 1860; in 1864 he departed for Bolivia, where, having joined the missionary college of La Paz, he was ordained a priest on 29 Apr. 1869. In addition to theological studies, he had already cultivated astronomy, mathematics, geography, and geology; then, devoting himself to linguistic studies, he soon learned the Quichua, Aymara, and Guaraní languages. Wishing to make contact with the Araonas and Pacaguaras, he undertook an expedition from June 1881 until 1883; thus he was the first to navigate the Beni and the Madre de Dios along their entire length. The report of this expedition was published in La Paz in 1883. Asked by the government to continue his explorations, he was again on his way in May 1884. From this he produced an accurate map of the course of the Madre de Dios, the Taramanu, and other rivers of lesser importance, as well as a complete knowledge of regions hitherto unknown and of the conditions of the tribes and groups of Araonas, Paraguaras, and Cavinas. Forced by a great flood to return, A. did not wish to leave his explorations incomplete; therefore he descended the Madre de Dios in order subsequently to reach Pará, in Brazil (6 March 1886), and, in August, the city of La Paz, where he wrote his diary, simple and modest but of great scientific value. A.’s merits in geography, ethnology, and linguistics were recognized everywhere. In 1888 A. was elected vicar and in 1891 guardian of the missionary college of La Paz; subsequently, general commissary and visitor of all the missionary colleges of Bolivia and of the religious province of S. Antonio de las Charcas. At the desire of the President of the Bolivian Republic, Pius X appointed him bishop of La Paz in 1911. The consecration took place in Sucre on 24 Feb. 1912, with the imposing participation of the civil authorities and the entire population. On the occasion of his death, the scientific world offered praise and tributes to his memory. An almost complete list of A.’s published works is found in S. Mendizábal, Acción Franciscana en Sucre, Sucre 1921.