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Spanish Origins of the Social-Political Ideology of the Catholic Church in Nineteenth-Century Spanish America*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Frederick B. Pike
Frederick B. Pike*
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
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Extract

In order to have avoided the criticism of most writers priding themselves on their progressive and modern spirit, the Catholic Church in the nineteenth-century Hispanic world would have had to accept religious toleration, would have had to surrender much of its material goods, and would have had to reconcile itself to secularism by relinquishing influence in the temporal order. Various circumstances, many of them arising as much from social conditions as from theological viewpoints, caused the Church first in nineteenth-century Spain and somewhat later in Spanish America to set itself resolutely and militantly against these three desiderata of its liberal critics.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , July 1972 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1972

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Footnotes

*

The author, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, conducted most of the research on which this paper is based in Spain during the 1968-69 academic year when he held a Guggenheim Foundation grant. A preliminary version was presented at the December 1970 meeting of the American Historical Association held in Boston. Background material and extensive sources for some of the points introduced in this year are found in the author's Hispanismo, 1898-1936: Spanish Conservatives and Liberals and their Relations with Spanish America (Notre Dame, Ind., 1971).

References

1 Rodríguez, Sáinz, “Interpretación histórica de la España contemporánea,” Revista de las Españas, nos. 22–23 (June-July, 1928), pp. 247–49.Google Scholar On the Madrid periodical Revista de las Españas see note 38.

2 On Balmes see, among other works, Martínez, Maximiliano Arboleya, Los orígenes de un movimiento social: Balmes, precursor de Ketteler (Barcelona, 1912),Google Scholar Iribarne, Manuel Fraga, Balmes, fundador de la sociología positiva en España (Vich, 1955),Google Scholar García Escudero, José María, Política española y política de Balmes (Madrid, 1950),Google Scholar and Izquierdo, Miguel Sancho, Filosofía política de Balmes (Madrid, 1949).Google Scholar Unless otherwise specified, all works cited hereafter are published in Madrid.

3 The principal work by Cortés, Donoso is Ensayo sobre el Catolicismo, el liberalismo, y el socialismo (1851).Google Scholar On his preoccupation with the menace of social revolution in Spain see Schmitt, Carl, Donoso Cortés, su posición en la historia de la filosofía del estado (1930), esp. p. 5.Google Scholar

4 Aparisi y Guajarro, quoted in de Tapia, Enrique, Francisco Silvela, gobernante austero (1968), p. 30.Google Scholar A poet and dramatist as well as a Thomistic philosopher and politically active Carlist, Aparisi published prolifically. A five-volume set of his Obras completas appeared 1873–1877. Even as Balmes and Donoso Cortés, Aparisi continued well into the twentieth century to influence Spanish conservatism and through the years many anthologies of his works have appeared.

5 See Moret, Lorenzo y Remisa, , Del cristianismo en España como elemento de nacionalidad (1898), p. 124.Google Scholar

6 Pelayo, Marcelino Menéndez, Historia de los heterodoxos españoles (7 vols., 1928–1933), 7, pp. 232–33.Google Scholar The work was originally published in 3 vols., 1880–1882. Menéndez Pelayo (1856–1912) was perhaps the greatest late nineteenth-century idealogue of Spanish conservatism. An edition of his Obras completas, under the direction of Miguel Artigas, was published in Santander in 44 vols., 1941–1947. Among the more perceptive recent studies on him are two works by Entralgo, Pedro Laín: Menéndez Pelayo (Buenos Aires, 1955)Google Scholar and Menéndez Pelayo, historia de sus problemas intelectuales (1944). Authorities seem about equally divided as to whether the name should be rendered Menéndez Pelayo or Menéndez y Pelayo.

7 Pelayo, Menéndez, Historia de los heterodoxos, 7, pp. 233, passim.Google Scholar

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9 See de Encinas, Joaquín, La tradición española y la revolución (1958), p. 126,Google Scholar and Gomá, Isidro y Tomás, , preconized Archbishop of Toledo in 1933 and named a Cardinal in 1935, Antilaicismo (2 vols., Barcelona, 1935), 50 pp. 3–5.Google Scholar Both works strongly endorse the Church’s position. For a more objective appraisal see Gil Cremades, Juan José, El reformisme español: Krausismo, escuela histórica, neotomismo (Barcelona, 1969), esp. pp. 323–37.Google Scholar

10 Moreno Nieto, quoted by Juan Manuel Ortí y Lara in his introduction to the Spanish edition of Hitze, Franz, El problema social y su solución (1880).Google Scholar Ortí, y Lara, (1826–1904), director and editor of La Ciencia Cristiana: Revista Quincenal (1877–1882),Google Scholar a leading spokesman of Catholic conservatism and along with the Dominican bishop Ceferino González and Antonio Aparisi y Guajarro a key figure in the Spanish Thomistic revival, for years held a chair of metaphysics at the University of Madrid. A laudatory treatment of him is found in Isern, Damián, Ortí y Lara y su época (1904).Google Scholar

11 On this important Jesuit see Llorens, M., “El P. Antonio Vicent, S. J.,” in Vol. 4 of Estudios de Historia Moderna (Barcelona, 1954),Google Scholar and del Valle, Florentino S.J., El P. Antonio Vicente y la Acción Social Católica en España (1947).Google Scholar Carr, Raymond, Spain, 1808–1939 (Oxford, Eng., 1966), p. 456,Google Scholar correctly describes the Vicent approach to the social problem as being: “Restore charity and abnegation in the employer and patience and resignation in the worker.”

12 Vicent, , Socialismo y anarquismo (Valencia, 1892), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar

13 This message was anticipated by, among others, FatherSalamero, José (1835–1895), known as “El Padre de los Pobres,” in La crisis religiosa, cause principalísimo de la crisis social, tiene en el Catolicismo su remedio mas eficas: discurso leido ante la Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas en la recepción pública del … (1890).Google Scholar

14 Vicent, op. cit., pp. 26–7.

15 Ibid., p. 81.

16 Ibid., p. 16.

17 See, for example, de Echevarri, José María González, Ruina de la falsa civilización de liberalismo: la caridad cristiana, fórmula de conciliación social (Valladolid, 1933),Google Scholar and Nieto, Eustaquio y Martín, , Si la sociedad quiere salvarse, ha de ser en Cristo y por Cristo: carta pastoral que el limo, y Rvmo. Sr. Dr. …, Obispo de Sigüenza, dirige al clero y fieles de su diócesis en el adviento de 1919 (Sigüenza, 1919).Google Scholar

18 Sanz, Pedro y Escartín, , the de Lizárraga, Conde, El estado y la reforma social (1892), p. 248.Google Scholar A Conservative Party Senator, Sanz y Escartín served for many years as secretary general of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas.

19 Ibid., p. 249.

20 Monedero, Antonio, La Confederación Nacional Católica-Agraria en 1920: su espíritu, su organización y porvenir (1921), pp. 64–5.Google Scholar

21 Fernández, Teodoro Rodríguez, El problema social y las derechas: nuevas orientaciones (El Escorial, 1935), p. 124.Google Scholar The staunchly conservative Rodríguez published one of his first of many studies on the social problem in 1912: Estudios sociales. On the Rodriguez notion that a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy, which had duped even many Catholics, was responsible for Spain’s social ferment see his Infiltraciones judío-masónicas en la educación Católica (El Escorial, 1934).

22 Sanz, y Escartín, (see note 18), La cuestión económica: nuevas doctrinas; socialismo del estado (1890), pp. 64–5.Google Scholar

23 Latapié, Eugenio Vegas, Romanticismo y democracia (Santander, 1938), p. 91.Google Scholar The author was active in the founding of Acción Española, a far-right Catholic group organized to oppose the policies of the second republic in the turbulent early and mid-1930s.

24 Estebanés, Maximiliano Father “Pro patria,” España y América, Año I, no. 4 (February, 1903), pp. 209–16.Google Scholar The Madrid periodical España y América was published by the Spanish Augusdnians.

25 Negrete, Eusebio Father, “Crónica de la quincena,” ibid., 7 (January-March, 1907), pp. 465–66.Google Scholar

26 FatherVélez, Pedro Martínez, “Pro patria,” ibid., Año I, no. 10 (May, 1903), pp. 99–100.Google Scholar

27 Leading Catholic advocates of the corporative social-political structure included Ramiro de Maeztu (1875–1936), Juan Vázquez de Mella (1861–1928), Antonio Maura (1813–1925), and Víctor Pradera (1872–1936).

28 See Nevares, Sisinio, El porqué de la sindicación obrera Católica (1930), p. 52.Google Scholar A one-time friend of Father Vicent, Jesuit priest Nevares played an important part in Catholic social action programs. Along with Antonio Monedero (see note 20) he was particularly active in the work of forming agrarian syndicates.

29 On Ortí y Lara see note 10. For a work of his in which he expresses opposition to universal suffrage and other democratic concepts, see La sofistería democrática (1861).

30 Works of de Cepeda, Rodríguez include Las clases conservadores y la cuestión social (1891), Concepto cristiano del derecho de propiedad (Valencia, 1895),Google Scholar and Organización del movimiento Católico contemporáneo (Valencia, 1897). His Tratado de derecho natural, purporting to advance the social doctrines of St. Thomas and Pope Leo XIII, first appeared in a two-volume Valencia edition of 1887–1888. Already in its seventh edition in 1918, it was for a third of a century a popular university textbook.

31 Vázquez de Mella’s most significant work is considered the Filosofía de la eucarista. A 29-volume edition of his Obras completas, including many previously unpublished articles, appeared in 1946. Various anthologies of his publications have also been compiled. On him see Aznar, Severino, an important Catholic layman in the Church’s social action program, “El pensamiento social de Vázquez de Mella,” in Vol. 24 of the Obras completas (1946),Google Scholar and García, Rafael y de Castro, García, Vázquez de Mella, sus ideas y su persona (Granada, 1940).Google Scholar

32 Sanz, y Escartín, , El estado y la reforma social, p. 201.Google Scholar

33 The Vicent work was Socialismo y anarquismo.

34 Two of the best expositions of this viewpoint are found in Aznar, Severino, Las encíclicas “Rerum Novarum” y “Quadragesimo Anno:” precedentes y repercusiones en España (1941),Google Scholar and Martínez, Maximiliano Arboleya, XL aniversario de la “Rerum Novarum” La Carta Magna de la justicia social (Barcelona, 1931).Google Scholar A prolific author and for a time director of the periodical Renovación Social, Arboleya was one of the most active clergymen in the Catholic social justice movement of the early twentieth century. Like Aznar, he was also an important member of the Grupo de la Democracia Cristiano. For other indications of the enthusiastic Catholic reception of Rerum Novarum in Spain see: Albo, Ramón y Martí, , La caridad, su acción y organización en Barcelona (Barcelona, 1901),Google Scholar Aller, Domingo Enrique, El estado y las clases obreras (1894),Google Scholar Armengol, Pedro y Cornet, , La participación de beneficios, bases de armonía entre capital y trabajo (1896),Google Scholar Artajo, Alberto Martín and Cuervo, Máximo, Doctrina social Católica de León XIII y Pio XI (1939, 2nd ed.),Google Scholar Vigil, Ramón Martínez, Bishop of Quevedo, Pastorales (3 vols., 1898),Google Scholar Maura, Juan y Gelabert, , Bishop of Orihuela, La cuestión social: pastorales (1902),Google Scholar Pidal, Alejandro y Mon, , La Iglesia y los problemas políticos y sociales (1893),Google Scholar and Hervás, Ciriaco Sancha, Bishop of Madrid-Alcalá, La cuestión social: discursos y opiniones (1891).Google Scholar A few Catholics grumbled that Rerum Novarum was too advanced and therefore dangerous in its social thought, as Martínez, Arboleya, XL aniversario, esp., pp. 30, 126 points outGoogle Scholar; but this was a decidedly minority position.

35 See Jiménez, Miguel Fernández, El problema obrera y los partidos españoles: estudio de política contemporánea (Granada, 1904), pp. 117–20.Google Scholar

36 See Aznar, , Las encíclicas, p. 36.Google Scholar

37 The best coverage of this congress is provided by de Labra, Rafael María, El congreso pedagógico hispano-portugués-americano de 1892 (1893).Google Scholar As most members of the Spanish liberal school, Labra was just as concerned as conservatives with preserving and safeguarding the established social order. On this matter see Pike, F.B., “Making the Hispanic World Safe from Democracy: Spanish Liberals and Hispanismo” The Review of Politics, 33, no. 3 (July, 1971), pp. 307–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

38 See Unión Ibero-Americana, Número Extraordinario, March 1, 1904, p. 17. Unión Ibero-Americana was the official organ of the Unión Ibero-Americana, a Madrid organization founded in 1885 to advance the cause of close cultural, spiritual, and economic ties between Spain and Spanish America. In 1926 the periodical changed its title and format, appearing from that time on as Revista de las Españas.

39 See Pando, Jesús y Valle, , “El problema de la raza,” Unión Ibero-Americana, Año 21 (November, 1907), pp. 3–6.Google Scholar

40 See “Discurso del Señor Obispo titular de Temos, Monseñor [Miguel de] Andrea,” ibid., Año XXXVI (May-June, 1922), p. 25.

41 See del Castillo, Benjamín E., president of the Consejo Superior de Mutualidad y Previsión Social de Buenos Aires, “La cuestión social en España y América,” ibid., Año 37 (April, 1924), pp. 54–55.Google Scholar

42 Tibesar, Antonine O.F.M., “The Peruvian Church at the Time of Independence in the Light of Vatican II,” The Americas, 26, no. 4 (April, 1970), pp. 349–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar