BARZANA (BARCENA), ALONSO. - Missionary, b. ca. 1529 at Baeza (according to others at Córdoba, Vélez Málaga or Vellincho). A disciple of Bl. John of Ávila, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1565 and later (1569) went to the missions in 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 Paraná region. Returning to Peru, he died at Cuzco on 1 Jan. 1598.
He devoted himself first to the instruction of the natives, distinguishing himself particularly in the study of languages, but there is much confusion in the bibliographies regarding his literary output. He seems to have been the principal translator into Yámara and Quechua, the two general languages of Peru, of the *Dottrina cristiana y catechismo para instrucción de los Indios... con un confessionario* (Lima 1584, the first book printed in South America), prepared in Spanish by Fr. José Acosta; and then of the *Tercero Cathecismo y exposición de la doctrina cristiana por sermones* (ibid. 1585). He also appears to have been the principal author of an *Arte y vocabulario en la lengua general del Perú llamada Quichua* (ibid. 1585) and of a *Confessionario para las curas de Indios* (ibid. 1586, in Yámara and Quechua). S. A. Lafone y Quevedo published under Barzana’s name an *Arte de la lengua Toba* (La Plata 1893), but the attribution remains doubtful. We know for certain that he wrote various other lexicons and grammars, but these remained unpublished (despite the claims of some bibliographers) and were probably lost.