12/11/2014

Xavier Baró Publishes Book on Evangelization at the Edge of the New World

The Vice Dean of the UIC's Faculty of Humanities, Dr. Xavier Baró, has published a book titled En los confines del Nuevo Mundo. Cartas y documentos de Filipina Duchesne (1769-1852) ("At the Edge of the New World: the Letters and Documents of Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852)"). It is a history book and a hagiography that tells the life story of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne.

The book is published by Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC) and sets out the historical context for the figure of Rosa Philippine Duchesne, a missionary from the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who dedicated her life to evangelical work in the United States.

Dr. Baró’s work also includes the translation into Spanish of more than 80 documents about Duchesne’s life and work, which reveal the human as well as the spiritual side of the woman who was canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1988. The documents also contain descriptions of American society at the time.

Dr. Baró holds a doctorate in Modern History from the Universitat de Barcelona and has focused his interests on historiography, the Baroque and Spanish missions to the Pacific between the 16th and 18th centuries.