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Reseña de La Santa Sede y La Emancipacion Mexicana. Realizada Por W. Eugene Schiels PDF
Reseña de La Santa Sede y La Emancipacion Mexicana. Realizada Por W. Eugene Schiels PDF
them with those printed in the Ius Pontificium de Propaganda Fide (7 vols.
Rome, 1888-1897).
M i c h a e l B. M c C l o s k e y
Washington, D. C.
to have its message reversed.) It will be recalled that this bull eulogized
King Ferdinand VII as the protector of virtue and liberty, and called upon
the bishops to bring back their American subjects to his allegiance. The
bull did come from Rome, and though its effect was brief, it was, indeed,
disheartening to the loyal Catholics of Latin America.
The work closes with the papal act that settled the whole episcopal
problem. In 1831, Gregory X V I decided to override any fear of Spain
and the previously denounced patronato real, and to consecrate proprietary
bishops. Shortly thereafter Rome recognized the independence of the Latin
American countries.
During the development of affairs that led to this solution, a number
of human factors emerged strongly at variance with the cause of freedom
for religion, for which the revolution—as was said above—-had largely
been fought. First among these were the reborn regalists; their program,
to make the State one with, and thus over, the Church, in accord with
their idea of a “sovereignty” that embraces every power within the state.
In this group were all too many ecclesiastics, ambitious for reform or
promotion, devoid of episcopal control, fond of their new ideas on the state
of pure nature and the social contract. They were the makers of the system
which succeeded the temporary settlement signified by the consecration
of Vásquez in 1831. Allied with them, though lacking in a hypercritical
profession of religion, were the members of the freshly-formed lodges, who
had come to substitute nature for the God of nature in their worship and
in their moral code. Then there was the adventurer who would so often
capture the presidency during his mercurial career. This combination soon
did away with the peaceful settlement, and brought in a new patronato
so far below its parent as the new politician was overshadowed by his
professional forebear.
One who studies a monograph of this kind realizes that it opens the way
to a larger field, namely, the manifold effect of the independence move
ments in as far as they reflect the effort to cast off the patronato. To Rómulo
Carbia this was the proto-question for every serious student of Latin
America. What did the twenty year interim do to the clergy, in inde
pendence of spirit, in discipline, in physical and mental preparedness for
the priestly function? What did it do to government, which from this
time on would often use religion as the base of revenue for civic purposes
and as the great political football in campaigns and administrative strategy ?
What did it do to encourage the positivist in Latin America? Medina
Ascensio has not furnished us with answers to these problems. He has
paved the road to their investigation.
W. E u g e n e S h i e l s
Xavier University
' Cincinnati