A History of the Church in Venezuela, 1810-1930

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARY THIS Vv'u]3^niA5 bttN REVIEWED FOR PRESERVATION. Date: A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN VENEZUELA 1810-1930 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN VENEZUELA 1810-1930 BY Mary Watters, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT ARKANSAS STATE COLLEGE *^^^%^ Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press 1933 COPYRIGHT, 1933, BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE SEEMAN PRESS, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA ^ ^ TO MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER 119387 PREFACE An interesting and significant feature of the history of the states that resulted from the dissolution of the Spanish Empire in America is found in the differences they present in the evolution of the church. The diversity in the history of this institution is one of the striking evidences of the individuality and differentiation of these Hispanic- American groups. It is suggestive, too, of the decentralization and consequent variations in operation now recognized to have been fundamental characteristics of the Spanish colonial system; for in the colonial background, racial, social, and political, lie the roots of this institutional evolution, whatever may have been the contributions of the national period. Although the progress of anti-clericalism and the operation of other forces have weakened in varying degrees the hold of the church in all Hispanic-American states, in none did the loss of influence fall so early ,^ in none was it so complete as in Venezuela. Indeed, the virtual impotence of the church has been recognized as a peculiar feature of the history of this people which distinguishes it from all other Hispanic-American groups. In Colombia, for example, a state with which Venezuela had special connections both in the colonial period and in the struggle for independence, the church today is a prominent social and political force. In Venezuela the institution has no political power, in spite of the fact that it is still established; and outside a few centers, notably Merida and Valencia, its social effectiveness is slight. A satisfactory explanation of this difference has been offered neither by native nor foreign students of the institution. The author of this study does not attempt to offer a definitive explanation, but presents certain events, forces, and developments as having contributed to it. For an interest in the politico-ecclesiastical history of Hispanic- America I am indebted to my teacher, Dr. William Whatley Pierson. From him came the suggestion that I undertake the particular study of the church in Venezuela—a work begun in his seminar in Ven- [vii] Vm PREFACE ezuelan history in the University of North CaroHna. The instruc- tion received through his general courses in Hispanic-American civilization and his special lectures on the church have been fundamental in my approach to the interpretation of this institutional history. His counsel and direction have been means by which I have been able to effect this preliminary study. I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to him. For the privilege of the use of his library on Venezuelan history, I am very grateful. In the course of my research on this study in Venezuela I have received kindly advice and assistance from Dr. Vicente Davila, director of the Archivo Nacional in Caracas, and Mr. J. C. Bolet, his colleague in that institution; from Dr. Luis Correa, Dr. Vicente Lecuna, and Dr. Manuel Segundo Sanchez, members of the Acad- emia de la Historia; from Dr. Jose Machado and his assistants in the Biblioteca Nacional; and from Monsenor Nicolas E. Navarro, dean of the chapter of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Caracas and historian of the church. Before going to Caracas, I had the privilege of counsel from Dr. Pedro Arcaya, Venezuelan minister to the United States; from Dr. L. S. Rowe, director of the Pan-American Union, and Dr. Esteban Gil Borges, the vice-director; and from Dr. James A. Robertson, editor of the Hlsfanic American Historical Review. For the guidance and assistance of these I should like to make grateful acknowledgment. I wish to thank the administrators of the Li- brary of the University of North Carolina, especially Miss Georgia Faison, the Reference Librarian, for aid in securing material. Mary Watters Jonesboro, Arkansas January 24, 1933 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION: THE COLONIAL Bx'VCKGROUND OF THE CHURCH IN VENEZUELA 3 I. THE CHURCH IN THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 53 II. CHURCH AND STATE IN THE BOLIVARIAN ERA, 18 10-1830 71 HI. THE CHURCH UNDER THE CONSERVATIVE OLIGARCHY, 1830-1848 125 IV. THE CHURCH UNDER THE MONAGAS REGIME AND IN THE CIVIL WAR, 1848-1870 163 V. GUZMAN BLANCO AND THE CHURCH 183 VI. SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE CHURCH IN VENEZUELA 214 APPENDIX 222 BIBLIOGRAPHY 238 INDEX 253 [Ix] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN VENEZUELA 1810-1930 INTRODUCTION THE COLONIAL BACKGROUND OF THE CHURCH IN VENEZUELA The position of the church in Venezuela may be accounted for in part by the course of its history in the colonial period. This view would seem to have a sufficient justification to warrant a careful, even though summary, survey of the colonial church in a study con- cerned primarily with the history of the institution from the beginning of the War for Independence.^ Any attempt to define the status of the church in Venezuela during the colonial period involves the investigator in contradictions. Apparently the church had much the same preponderance of social power in this country that it had in other divisions of the Spanish Empire in America. Conditions within the institution and contests with the civil authorities along with intellectual currents from Europe and the United States had, indeed, relaxed its control before the end of the eighteenth century. In the writer's opinion, it was, neverthe- less, still dominant over the minds of the great majority of the people at the outbreak of the War for Independence. On the other hand, the institution, it is believed, never took such deep roots in Venezuela In the Archive Nacional of Caracas there are documents on the colonial church, collected under the title, Asunlos eclesidsticos. ~These are more considerable and valuable for the period after 1786, due to the inclusion of the records of the Audiencia of Venezuela on the institution. The rich archives of the church in the records of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo are to be found only in the Archives of the Indies in Seville. It is the purpose of the Venezuelan government to secure copies of these that have reference to ecclesiastical matters. Although an examination of these documents is necessary to a definitive study of the colonial church, which the writer would like to undertake later, a study of them has not been deemed essential to the present work on the church since 18 10. The archives of the Archbishopric of Caracas contain much documentary material on the church from the beginning of the seventeenth century. That of the sixteenth has been largely lost. The Libros de edictos of the bishops and the capitular records of the later centuries are there. Among these documents is the monumental work of Bishop Marti, the records of his visit of 1771 to 1784. A copy of it is found also in the Asuntos eclesidsticos in the Archive Nacional. There has been no publication undertaken of the documents of the Archbishopric of Caracas, such as that of Silva for the diocese of Merida. The Venezuelan government has recently published, however, the valuable work of Marti. [3] 4 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN VENEZUELA, 181O-I93O as in other parts of the Empire. The church was subject to conditions that weakened all institutional control in this part of Tierra Firme. The long-continued anarchy of the conquest and the reckless indi- vidualism of the conquerors left here a greater heritage of disorder and of factionalism, disruptive forces that the isolation of this section and its neglect by Spain left unchecked. Geographic conditions made communication slow and hazardous. The slight advancement of the Venezuelan Indian in social organization defeated eflForts toward his conquest and civilization. The noted French traveller, Depons, in his excellent survey of Spanish rule in eastern Tierra Firme, made at the beginning of the nineteenth century, gave eloquent testimony to these baffling difflculties: Of all the conquests which have been achieved in the New _, World in the name of the Spanish monarch, that of those parts which we are now treating (Venezuela) was the longest, the most toilsome, and, we may add, the most imperfect. The mountains with which the country is covered, the multitude of rivers whose inundations interrupt the communications for a great part of the year; the lakes, marshes, and deserts opposed diiflculties which only those men violently goaded by ambition could brave; but what must have contributed still more to retard the progress of the conquerors in several parts of America was the multiplication of Indian govern-^K^ ments, which, not being incorporated so as to form one nation like those of Mexico and Peru, rendered the victories of the Spanish less decisive and their negotiations more difficult. Every cacique waged a separate war, a war of stratagem and ambuscade; the ciciques seldom entered into leagues and seldomer still either ofTered or received battle in open field. A conquered nation gave sometimes no more than four leagues of additional territory to the conquerors; the country was disputed by inches, and its contest effected by dint of courage, patience, privation, and dangers." Depons, Francois, Voyage to the Eastern Part of Tierra Firme, translation by "An American Gentleman," (Washington Irving), 3 vols., (New York, 1806), vol.

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