Historia de la Iglesia - History Lab

Map of the ecclesiastical division of Spain at the end of the 18th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:59 +0000

During the Modern Age, Spain acquired numerous regional and provincial divisions. The different eras and reigns, especially in the 18th century, modified the jurisdictional divisions of the civil administration. The Enlightenment sought a more rationalised structure of Spain with criteria of convergence of interests. However, there was another division, parallel to the civil division, and equally important. This was the ecclesiastical division into archbishoprics. The Spanish ecclesiastical structure took shape during the Reconquest, with the archbishopric of Toledo being the greatest beneficiary on a territorial level due to its central location. Like the civil structure, it underwent changes, arriving at the end of the 18th century with the structures shown on the map. The archbishopric of Toledo was still the most important in the Peninsula and one of the largest, along with the archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela. These large areas were subdivided into dioceses and bishoprics and these, in turn, into vicariates, archpriestships and parishes. The complicated interweaving of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions meant that they did not coincide with each other until well into the contemporary period. Even some provinces, such as Albacete, did not have civil-religious concordance until the creation of its diocese in 1949.

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Geographical origin of the seminarians of San Pelagio (Cordoba, 17th century)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

Session XXIII of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) agreed to the creation of centres dedicated exclusively to priestly formation. The centres were to be controlled by the bishops of each diocese and the financial endowment was to come from episcopal and capitular revenues. The loss of income on the part of the diocesan councils, and the opposition of the existing colleges and universities that also trained the clergy, meant that the new seminaries were only slightly established. In the case of the diocese of Cordoba, the Seminary of San Pelagio was established between 1583 and 1600. Where did the new seminarians come from? Of the 352 students that the institution had in the 17th century, the vast majority, 315, were born in the diocese and province of Cordoba (89.49%), followed by the towns also belonging to the bishopric of Cordoba, but not to the civil province (23, 6.54%). A further 13 pupils (3.69%) were born in neither the jurisdiction of the bishopric nor the civil province of Cordoba, and only 1 pupil (0.28%) was from a town in the province, but whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction differed. By origin, the vast majority came from rural areas (294 pupils, 86.73%), and 13.27% were from the city of Cordoba. The author notes that, although the capital of Córdoba accounted for 13.27% of the total, the 45 pupils from that city constituted the largest number of pupils from the same nucleus, followed by rural areas such as Castro del Río (21) and Pozoblanco (18).

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Typology of the dedications of the confraternities of the province of Valladolid in 1773

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

The Counter-Reformation period, inaugurated by the Council of Trent (1545-1563) in response to the Protestant Reformation, underpinned the public manifestation of Catholicism through popular religiosity: the confraternities. These associations of lay people, although initially of a guild nature, became sacramental, and by the end of the modern period they were the most common. The resource deals with the devotions of the confraternities in the province of Valladolid, by judicial districts, which existed in 1773, the year in which the Enlightenment government was immersed in the development of the Expediente General de Cofradías in order to count them and, if necessary, suppress them. In general terms, devotions to Saints were the most common in the province (26.97%), with the districts of Rueda del Almirante, Simancas and Mayorga standing out as those with the highest rates. The dedications to Christ constituted 23.01% of the total, being more established in quantitative terms in Puebla de Sanabria, Benavente and Palenzuela. The Marian confraternities, promoted by the Catholic Church, accounted for 21.85%, with a more homogeneous distribution throughout the province. Finally, devotions to the Blessed Sacrament (10.61%), the Ánimas (9.92%), Third Orders (0.84%), Mixed (4.27%) and Others (2.53%) completed the popular devotions. The different degree of implantation of the devotional typology by the population centres of Valladolid was conditioned by local affinities to Saints, Patrons or Miracles that took place in the municipalities.

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Typology of offences committed by the clergy of the diocese of Barcelona (1570-1650)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:07 +0000

The diocese of Barcelona was the second most important and oldest ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the ecclesiastical province of Tarragona during the modern period. The bishops of Barcelona, like their counterparts in other parts of the monarchy, were important agents of cohesion and loyalty to the Crown. The good harmony between the throne and the altar fostered social order, an order in which litigation and crime were not exempt. Analysing the latter, we place ourselves in the period of the Counter-Reformation, after the Council of Trent (1545-1563). The author specifies 873 diocesan processes between 1570 and 1650, of which 106 belonged to the clergy of the diocese of Barcelona. The majority of the offences were for physical aggression (21.69%), followed by adultery (15.09%), carrying weapons (14.15%) and verbal aggression (8.49%). The typological distribution of offences may be related to the structural nature of violence in the Principality of Catalonia in the early modern period. The clergy, no stranger to these dynamics, trained and sometimes collaborated with bandits. This led to the appearance of crimes of assault, rape, fraud and robbery. Also, within the clergy themselves, they had disputes over issues related to parish benefices or the non-return of ornaments and sacred vestments left on loan. Despite the provisions promulgated at Trent, the parish clergy were more immersed in local than doctrinal issues.

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