A Cuban Convent in the Age of Enlightened Reform: the Observant Franciscan Community of Santa Clara of Havana, 1768-1808

Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1997 A Cuban Convent in the Age of Enlightened Reform: The Observant Franciscan Community of Santa Clara of Havana, 1768-1808. John James Clune Jr Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Clune, John James Jr, "A Cuban Convent in the Age of Enlightened Reform: The Observant Franciscan Community of Santa Clara of Havana, 1768-1808." (1997). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6473. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6473 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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A CUBAN CONVENT IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENED REFORM: THE OBSERVANT FRANCISCAN COMMUNITY OF SANTA CLARA OF HAVANA, 1768-1808 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by John James Clune, Jr. B.S., Nicholls State University, 1986 M.A., University of Alabama, 1990 August 1997 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9808730 Copyright 1997 by Clune, John James, Jr. Ail rights reserved. UMI Microform 9808730 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ©Copyright 1997 John James Clune, Jr. All rights reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To Allison iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the Fulbright Commission and the History Department at Louisiana State University for funding this study. I owe a debt of gratitude to a great many people. To my major professor, Paul E. Hoffman, for his encouragement and helpful criticism. To the other members of my examining committee— professors Stanley E. Hilton, Victor L. Stater, William V. Davidson— for their comments and criticisms. To the secretaries in the History Department at Louisiana State University, Peggy Seale and Keuren Pinkney, for their patient assistance. To scholars and friends on both sides of the Atlantic— Sherry Johnson, Jane Landers, Douglis Inglis, Justina Sarabia and Paulino Castaneda— who opened their doors to me and shared their wisdom. To my parents, John and Gretchen Clune, and my sisters, Kerry, Bridget and Jenny, for their immeasurable love and support through the years. To my wife's parents, Emmett and Regina Morel, for treating me like their son. To my daughter, Gabrielle, who in nineteen short months of life has logged more air miles and lived in more places than many people do in a lifetime. Finally, to my loving wife, Allison, without whom none of this would have been possible. This work is iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. as much the fruit of her labors as it is mine. Her sacrifices have gone far beyond giving moral and financial support. Seven months pregnant she followed me to Spain so that I could see the birth of my first child. Far from home, she lost her father only days before Gabrielle was born. Enduring it all with courage and grace, she has been my rock and my inspiration. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................ iv ABBREVIATIONS......................................... vii ABSTRACT............................................. viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION........................................ 1 II A HISTORY OF FAILED REFORMS....................... 24 III THE REGLAMENTO OF 1768............................ 41 IV A RESPITE FROM COMMUNAL LIFE, 1770-1782........... 66 V SUPERNUMERARY ADMISSIONS AND DOUBLE DOWRIES...... 100 VI THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNAL LIFE, 1783...... 120 VII SLOW BUT CERTAIN PROGRESS, 1784-1796............. 147 VIII REDEFINING THE ROLE OF THE CONVENT, 1796......... 160 IX THE MORATORIUM OF 1797........................... 196 X CONCLUSION........................................213 EPILOGUE.............................................. 221 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................... 225 APPENDIX A THE REGLAMENTO OF 1768........................... 242 B WEALTH OF FEMALE ORDERS IN 1837.................. 255 C RELIGIOUS POPULATION OF SANTA CLARA, 1768-1811...256 VITA.................................................. 257 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABBREVIATIONS AGI Archivo General de Indias SD Audiencia de Santo Domingo vii i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT The reform of Mexican convents in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century generally has been shown to have been ineffective. I suggest that reform at the Observant Franciscan community of Santa Clara of Havana achieved much better results. While conventual reform in Cuba did not attain perfection, it followed the pattern of administrative, economic and military reform in that it was more effective on the island than it was elsewhere in the Spanish empire. The success of conventual reform in Havana must be attributed to the diligence of the Spanish Crown. Whereas the reform of convents in Mexico became a local concern after 1780, its counterpart at Santa Clara garnered the attention of Madrid down to the abdication of Charles IV in 1808, and beyond. It must be recognized, however, that effective reform did not always equate to beneficial reform. The same reforms that reduced the number of religious and secular females living at Santa Clara and re-established communal life at the convent also divided the community and robbed it of its vibrancy. viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In. 1807 the Commissary General of the Indies for The Franciscan Order, Pablo de Moya, appealed to the Spanish Crown to lift its ban on the admission of novices at the Observant Franciscan community of Nuestra Senora de Santa Clara of Havana. Moya said that the majority of the nuns at the once vibrant community were over the age of sixty, that more them a dozen were over the age of seventy, and that one was over 100. Adding that four were crippled, one was blind, and almost all were afflicted by some infirmity or another, he concluded that "hardly one could be declared healthy." The few who had not been disabled by age, sickness, or handicaps withered under the burden of holding three or four conventual offices simultaneously.1 The sad state of affairs at the convent was the result of almost four decades of reform. Since 1768, the Crown had restricted Santa Clara's right to 1 AGI, Ultramar 396, Pablo de Moya to Antonio Porcel, November 10, 1807, copied from book 8, folio 197 of the Secretariat General of the Indies for The Franciscan Order by Bonifacio Gonz&lez, Secretary General of the Indies for The Franciscan Order, attached to a report of Pablo de Moya to Esteban Varea, March 9, 1815. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright

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