The Church and the Overthrow of the Brazilian Monarchy
Author(s)
Boehrer, George C. A.
Abstract
Refutes the traditional position that the Church – hierarchy, clergy, and laity, alienated in the church-state controversy of 1872-75, withdrew its support of the monarchy thereby allowing it to be overthrown in 1889. Instead, the author dates the beginning of church-state difficulties back to the Pombaline period (18th century). Tensions between the Vatican and the State continued after independence. Gradually a “political priest” type was produced in Brazil: priests who violated their vows of chastity, were preoccupied with material matters, were politically extremely active, and who supported the monarchy. Pedro II recognized the importance of selecting good ecclesiastics for bishops; however, if a candidate’s political philosophy was acceptable, his morals probably were not. More and more Pedro II found himself turning to the ultramontane clergy. By the middle of the 19th century, the Brazilian church hierarchy had become as conservative as Rome’s. It clashed with the liberal clergy, politicians, and laymen. Brazilian Republicans (who advocated among other things separation of church and state) were too liberal for the hierarchy even though it did want to be free of regalist control. “As the Religious Question developed, the Catholics found themselves opposed to the ministry in power but not the Monarchy itself.” Concludes that if the Church did not want the Monarchy of Pedro II, it wanted even less a government headed by its implacable Republican enemies. “Historians should regard it as a support rather than an enemy of the Monarchy.”
