Between the State and the Church in Spain
A Review of William Callahan's "Church, Politics, and Society in Spain, 1750-1874." (1984)
William J. Callahan, Church, Politics, and Society in Spain, 1750-1874 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984), pgs. 325.
Tourists headed to Spain will more than likely spend a significant amount of their time visiting old Roman Catholic cathedrals scattered through the country. Spain’s official tourism site’s publication “10 Essential Sights” has five old Catholic cathedrals listed as must see destinations when visiting Spain.1 Throughout Spain are scattered evidences of Spain’s Catholic past. But, today only fifty-two percent of the population claim to be Catholic. An even smaller percentage claim to be active in the faith.2 In a nation whose historical past is most famously remembered for the Inquisition, the expulsion of the Islam practicing Moors, and the Conquistadores, the deemphasis of religion may seem startling to outside observers. One could be forgiven for asking, “What happened that lead to the decline of the Catholic state and rise of the current modern liberal state?”
William J. Callahan, a professor emeritus of History at the University of Toronto, does not fully seek to answer these questions of Spain’s religious transformation. Yet, his work does provide some of the answer. He frequently suggests throughout his work Church, Politics, and Society (1984) that the roots of tension between the Spanish Catholic church and liberalism (in a classical sense) stem from a period of revolutionary change and transformation from the 1750s to the 1870s. He suggests further that Spanish Catholic support for the Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco in the 1920s onward stems from a much longer conflict between the Church and Spain’s various liberal governments over the course of the nineteenth century. Thus it was in a constant conflict between reformers and Church leaders that the power and strength of Catholicism began to be broken in 19th century Spain.
In tracing these conflicts Callahan notes the importance of reforming “Enlightened” rulers in setting the stage for conflicts between Church and State. For centuries the Catholic Church and the Spanish crown had been joined at the hip, each supporting one another and creating a mostly stable relationship that emphasized a hierarchical world of deference. Following the ascension of the Bourbons to the Spanish thrown in the early 18th century, reformers both in and out of the Catholic church began working to emphasize a more rational church, however traditional religious Catholic practices proved a difficult root of Spanish culture to remove as popular culture embraced the traditional forms of religion following the mass evangelization by Catholic priests. Despite Catholic revivalism, the power of the Catholic Church continued to decline as the Napoleonic Wars, famines, and efforts by liberal reformers to push the Church towards a more middle class style of religion chipped away at the financial power of the Church (which in turn hurt charity in addition to its political power).
Conflicts with liberal reformers were not inherently antireligion versus religion. The majority of liberal reformers wanted to maintain Catholicism as a central part of society. However, in attempts to break the Church’s reliance on Papal authority, as well laws breaking up the male religious orders and seizing their land, these reformers only deepened Catholic resentment for government overreach. Furthermore, radical anti-religious liberal reformers did little to help calm traditional Catholic leaders as they pressed to remove Catholic control of education. Traditional Catholics increasingly pinned their hopes on a radical religious revolution that would return the Church to its place as a core aspect of Spanish society. It was in the last half of the 19th century this continual conflict with liberal governments that planted the deep rooted hostility towards liberalism among Spanish Catholic leadership. This hostility led to many Catholic leaders in Spain supporting Francisco Franco, the Spanish Fascist dictator who seemed to support a return to a more traditional world.
Overall, this was an interesting read. While a bit dry at times and also lacking engagement with the theology of Catholic leaders (everything is framed in political and economic terms), there is much that is valuable still to students of the role of the Spanish Catholic Church as Enlightenment based reformers attempted to break apart what they saw as an antiquated holdover from an absolutist era. The consequences however resulted in deep social divisions and also in a decrease in charity work by the Spanish Catholic Church as funds and assets were seized in the name of reform. While expanding voting and civil rights, this book is an excellent reminder that liberalism/reform has its darker sides.
Robert Swanson
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