BARZANA (BARCENA), ALONSO. — Missionary, born ca. 1529 at Baeza (according to others, at Cordova, Vélez Malaga, or Velinchón). A disciple of b. Giovanni D'Avila, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1565 and subsequently (1569) went to the missions of Peru. He took an active part in various foundations, at Cuzco, Arequipa, etc.; in 1585 he went to Tucumán (Argentina), and in 1584–85 to the region of the Paraná. Returning to Peru, he died at Cuzco on 1 January 1598.
B. devoted himself first of all to the instruction of the indigenous peoples, distinguishing himself particularly in the study of languages, but there is considerable confusion in the bibliographies concerning his literary production. He seems to have been the principal translator into Aymara and Quichua, the two general languages of Peru, of the Doctrina cristiana y cathecismo para instrucción de los Indios... con un confesionario (Lima 1584, the first book printed in South America), prepared in Spanish by Fr. José Acosta; and subsequently of the Tercero Cathecismo y exposición de la doctrina cristiana por sermones (ibid. 1585). He also seems to have been the principal author of an Arte y vocabulario en la lengua general del Peru llamada Quichua (ibid. 1586) and of a Confesionario para las curas de Indios (ibid. 1586, in Aymara and Quichua). S. A. Lafone y Quevedo published, under B.’s name, an Arte de la lengua Toba (La Plata 1893), but the attribution remains doubtful. We know with certainty that he wrote various other lexicons and grammars, but they remained unpublished (despite the assertions of certain bibliographers), and probably were lost.