Colombia The Colonial Church
Inquisitor's desk and rack, Cartagena
Courtesy Lloyd W. Mansfield
The Roman Catholic Church served as both agent and
opponent of
the colonial government. The church desired a system,
supported by
the state, within which it might proselytize; at the same
time, it
opposed many of the secular aims of government that
appeared to be
in conflict with Christian morality. The church acted to
restrain
secular excesses and despotism, particularly those of the
early
conquistadors.
From the outset, the clergy became a vital element of
colonial
life. Missionaries and conquistadors arrived
simultaneously in the
New World during the late 1400s. From 1520 to 1550, the
church
began methodical evangelization among the Indians. The
Franciscans,
Dominicans, Capuchins (members of the Order of Mercy), and
later
the Jesuits and Augustinians were all important in the
country's
colonial history. The first two orders arrived in Bogotá
with the
first judges: the Franciscans established monasteries in
Vélez and
Cartagena, and the Dominicans established them in Bogotá,
Pamplona,
and Popayán. In 1534 the church established the dioceses
of Santa
Marta and Cartagena, and in 1546 it established the
diocese of
Popayán--the first such dioceses in the New World. The
church
organized further between 1550 and 1620, creating the
diocese of
Bogotá in 1562. The Tribunal of the Inquisition, installed
in
Cartagena in 1611, sought to ensure that African culture
did not
contaminate Spanish culture in the colonies as a result of
the
importation of African slaves. The Jesuits, who formally
were
allowed to enter the colonies in 1604, sought to improve
the
economic standing of the Indians with whom they worked and
established self-sufficient villages for Indians in the
eastern
plains.
In addition to bringing the Christian religion to the
Indians,
the church spread the ideas and institutions of Western
civilization and had responsibility for establishing and
maintaining almost all of the schools of the colonial
period. In
1580 a monastery founded the University of General
Studies, the
first in the territory. The Jesuits established two
additional
universities in 1622 and 1653.
In its role as the patron of education, the church made
an
unintended but significant contribution to developing a
local
spirit of independence among the colonists. Church and
state
attempted to control the intellectual life of the New
World.
Throughout the eighteenth century, the church engaged in
controversy with the country's leading intellectuals, who
were
influenced by the political ideas of the Enlightenment in
Europe
and by the concepts of positivism and empirical scientific
investigation. The education system also fostered
opposition to
Spain's sovereignty over its American empire and provided
the
groundwork for the intellectuals whose activities the
church
opposed.
Although the Roman Catholic Church influenced
educational and
intellectual development in the colonies, the crown
ensured its own
influence over the colonial church. Several papal bulls in
the
1490s and in the first decade of the 1500s strengthened
the ability
of the Spanish kings to influence church affairs in the
New World.
In addition, the Holy See granted to the Spanish state the
papal
rights governing the administration and the personnel of
the church
and of bishoprics being created in the New World. In
addition to
common economic interests, this closely bound the church
to the
state during the colonial period.
Data as of December 1988
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