Los archivos secretos vaticanos y la masonería: Motivos políticos de una condena pontificia by

José Antonio Ferrer Benimeli

Review by: Irish M. Zavaia
The American Historical Review, Vol. 82, No. 4 (Oct., 1977), pp. 950-951
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
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950 Reviewsof Books
secular and governmental interests. Despite his
critical stance toward Catholicism and his warn-
ing of the dangers arising from the state's use of
religion as an instrument of political control, Mi-
rabeau believed that Christianity had real poten-
tial in the service of an enlightened cause; yet its
potential could not be realized without the con-
fiscation of Church property, the gradual elimina-
tion of monasteries, and the independence of the
Gallican Church from Rome.
As a leading exponent of enlightened Catholi-
cism, Lamourette glorified the image of the rural
parish where priest and parishioner shared pov-
erty and sacrifice in the tradition of the early
Church. If Lamourette was once ardent in his
defense of some institutions of the Church against
the attacks of the philosophes (as with mon-
asticism), he came in time to moderate his views of
the philosophes in works like the Delicesde la reli-
gion, in which he praised Rousseau for his goal of
making men happy. For him the Christian religion
was to play a major role in determining the criteria
of a new society, and, at the onset of the Revolu-
tion, he believed that even in a society based on
popular sovereignty a Rousseauist social contract
would be operative.
Having met at the salon of Madame de Sillery,
Mirabeau and Lamourette became close friends
and in 1789-go collaborated on political and reli-
gious matters. Initially wary both of violence and
its advocates and of a militia which might control
popular uprisings, they supported the, abolition of
the tithe and the articles of religious freedom. Fail-
ing to produce a political theology for the revolu-
tionary state, they concentrated on the process of
reforming the Church. Lamourette emerged as an
advocate of the Church as a "democralie "
chretienne,
which would guard the ideals of liberty and spirit-
ual happiness promised by God. Since its excessive
wealth and temporal power were the sources of its
weakness, the new Church must accept the loss of
its property and temporal influence and expand its
social role.
Alfonso Prandi's study focuses on the reaction in
France and Italy to the book Examencritiquedes
apologisteschretiens,which appeared in 1766 attrib-
uted to Nicolas Freret (i688-1749), permanent sec-
retary of the Academiedes Inscriptions et BellesLettres
of Paris. This book became the center of a literary
polemic because the author presented himself not
as a sarcastic commentator but as a friend of virtue
and healthy morality. The French theologian Ni-
cole Bergier, author of a previous book in reply to
Rousseau, was the first to reawaken interest in
Freret in refuting the Examen.
Italian apologists for Christianity found Ber-
gier's refutation unconvincing and wrote their own
critiques after academic discussions at the univer-
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sities of Padua and Pisa. The bulk of Prandi's
study is devoted to these Italians: Antonino Val-
secchio, professor of theology at Padua; Vicenzo
Fassini, whose erudite reply in Latin clbsely fol-
lowed Valsecchio's thought; and, the ablest of the
apologists, Nicola Spedalieri, a theologian who ex-
panded on Valsecchio's ideas in offering a closely
reasoned response to Fr&retwhich took particular
exception to his logic in interpreting the Gospels.
Certainly these studies are a testimony to the
vitality of Italian religious historiography. The
specialist will find in Donati's monograph an il-
luminating and detailed account of much value for
comparative purposes; Menozzi's work provides
valuable insights into the religious policies in the
early years of the Revolution; and Prandi's ac-
count, although a more conventional literary his-
tory, underscores the seminal quality of French
religious thought in the eighteenth century.
WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS
of Maryland,
UJniversity
CollegePark
JOS ANTONIO FERRER BENIMELI. Los archivossecretos
vatlcanosy la masoneria: Motivospoliticosde anacondena
pontifcica.Caracas: Universidad Catolica "Andres
Bello," Instituto de Investigaciones Hist6ricas.
1976. Pp. 870.
Scholars are sure to welcome this new book by
Jose Antonio Ferrer Benimeli, who has been
studying for years the evasive role of masonry in
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century political life.
This volume-divided into seven parts with several
chapters in each-traces both the falsified and the
true images of the masons. The main sources of his
research are the documents in the Vatican, but the
author also makes wide use of other archival
material. Throughout eighteenth-century Europe
groups of persons dissatisfied with the Church
created a new religion based on philanthropic
ideas. The new code of ethics was not only forbid-
den by the Church through rules issued by Cle-
ment XII (1 738) and Benedict XIV (I 751), but also
by the state: Holland in 1736, Geneva in 1737;
France, Germany, and Sweden in I 738; Vienna,
Naples, Spain, Madeira, and Prussia in 1743.
Throughout the siecledeslumieresprohibitions were
issued against the newly founded groups of philos-
ophes, which met clandestinely and whose mem-
bers were supposed to overturn the political bal-
ance of every country.
European governments accused masons of her-
esy and of subverting the security of the state. Both
masons and masonry were harshly persecuted, in
universities, academies, and intellectual centers.
Ferrer Benimeli studies in detail various trials
from 1740 to 1751. For example, Dr. Crudeli in
 ModernEurope
Florence; Baptista Richart and Lamberto Bolan-
ger in Lisbon; the voluntary denunciations of Le
Roy and Clawes in Spain; and the famous, al-
though now little known, case of the Frenchman
Tournor in Madrid ('757). Among the most noto-
rious trials are those of the Count of Cagliostro
and Domenic Fontana (Italy) and Burdales and
Lausel in Mexico. North America does not escape
his scrutiny; he analyzes the trials here from 1791
to 1794.
Finally, the author studies the religious attitude,
rites, and philosophical background of masonry.
He also deals at length with the membership of
priests in the various lodges. The last chapter of
the book gives a general catalog of the members of
the clergy who were masons. The list includes few
Spaniards, whereas Italians and Frenchmen
abound, a fact that shows the very traditional atti-
tude of the Peninsular Church.
Ferrer Benimeli is to be highly commended on
his research; however, some questions arise as to
the role of masonry in the development of egalita-
rian ideas in the eighteenth century. He is abso-
lutely right in stressing that masonry did not flour-
ish in Spain at this time except for a few isolated
cases. I disagree, however, with his conclusion that
masonry is not linked to secret societies (for ex-
ample, carbonariand comuneros).My own research
in the field has shown that since the early nine-
teenth century there has been a schism among
masonic groups, and the more politically and so-
cially minded have created their own sects. Ma-
sonry's legacy to progressive and radical groups is
manifold, but its use of secret organization and
oaths has been most important in providing a
model for clandestine political movements. It is
not coincidental that Michael Bakunin used the
masonic organization to create his secret alliance
in 1864,and he confessed that he had belonged to a
lodge in Italy and had been a mason from 1845to
i848.
I still believe that the relationship between ma-
sonry and secret societies cannot be explained in a
mere digression, as Ferrer Benimeli tries to do.
The scrutiny of archives has convinced me to the
contrary. The still-Christian formulas and rituals
of the masons point to the fact that they reserved
for the elite the right to decide political issues. The
coTmunerfos and carbonarios adapted these rituals to a
more politicized and democratic movement. Al-
though masons hoped to liberalize the Church and
favored philanthropy, they left little activity for the
political majority-the pueblo, an ever-changing
and ill-defined entity-which the secret societies,
and first political parties, hoped to win. Masonry
thus remained an elitist body of learned men, af-
raid of the masses.
These last comments notwithstanding, Ferrer
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95'
Benimeli has written by far the best book in Span-
ish on eighteenth-century masonry. It will surely
emend many of the standard prejudices of ill-in-
formed historians.
IRIS M. ZAVALA
ofNew rork,
StateUniversity
StonyBrook
PAUL BAIROCH. Commerceexterzeur el developpement
economique de I'Europe au XIXe siecle. (Ecole des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Centre de
Recherches Historiques, Civilisations et Societs,
number 53.) Paris: Mouton. 1976. Pp. 355. 92 fr.
The content of this ambitious study is even
broader than the title indicates. It is, in effect, a
general economic history of Europe in the nine-
teenth century with special emphasis on foreign
commerce and rates of economic growth. Readers
untrained in statistical methods should not be de-
terred by the book's basically quantitative orienta-
tion; they should, however, be warned against ac-
cepting its conclusions as definitive or even highly
probable.
The volume is divided into two parts. The first, a
"global analysis" of European commerce and eco-
nomic development, contains seven chapters: "the
place of the nineteenth century and of Europe in
the process of development" (a general in-
troduction); demography, technology, transporta-
tion, and precious metals; a brief survey of com-
mercial policy from I8I5 to 1914;the "evolution of
European foreign trade," containing the basic sta-
tistical tables on that subject; foreign investment
and international migration; "industrialization";
and "economic growth." The two last-mentioned
present important, if debatable, original indices of
industrial production and tables of gross national
product, respectively. The second part, comprised
of case studies, opens with two brief chapters on
the general economic situation around i86o (Great
Britain is pictured as a "super dominant economic
power") and contemporary and later thought
about the merits of free trade. Separate chapters
are devoted to commerce and economic develop-
ment in Great Britain and France; Germany,
Italy, and the other "large countries" (Austria-
Hungary, Spain, and Russia) are treated more
briefly; and, refreshingly for a book of this nature, a
separate chapter deals with the smaller countries
(Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, and
Sweden). This part ends with a chapter of con-
clusions from the case studies. A general con-
clusion, a statistical and methodological appendix,
and a bibliography complete the volume.
Throughout his analysis the author divides the
nineteenth century (up to 1914) into three some-
what uneven segments: a period of protectionism
in commercial (especially tariff) policy up to about