Title: Church and state in Bourbon Mexico : the diocese of Michoacán, 1749-1810 /
Authors: Brading, D. A.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press,
Year: 1994
Subjects: Catholic Church. Church history; Catholicism history; Government history; Michoacán de Ocampo (Mexico) Church history; Mexico Church history; Mexico History
Abstract: In the eighteenth century the Mexican Church experienced spiritual renewal and intellectual reform. The establishment of Franciscan missionary colleges, of the Oratory and of convents and sisterhoods greatly enlivened devotion in the diocese of Michoacán. Thriving confraternities demonstrated the vigour of parochial life. But the secular clergy remained divided between a wealthy elite and an impecunious mass of curates and country vicars, with the cathedral chapter dominated by a group of enlightened peninsular canons. Charles III and his successor expelled the Jesuits, secularised mendicant parishes, closely invigilated popular religion, stripped the clergy of their immunity from royal courts and then seized their wealth. In 1810 priests from the Michoacán diocese led the popular Insurgency which challenged Spanish rule. Here is a rounded portrait of the Mexican Church at its meridian, which touches upon virtually all aspects of religious life and highlights the clash between post-Tridentine baroque Catholicism and enlightened despotism.
Contents: pt. 1. The religious orders. 1. Jesuit expulsion. 2. Mendicant chronicles. 3. Oratorians. 4. Secularisation. 5. Nuns -- pt. 2. Priests and laity. 6. Priests. 7. Confraternities and parochial income. 8. Devotion and deviance -- pt. 3. Bishops and chapter. 9. Cathedral and chapter. 10. A bishop and his canons. 11. Tithes and chantries. 12. Liberal prelate.