The Catholic Liberalism in the Mexican press from the first

half of the nineteenth century (1833-1857)

 

I. Introduction

In recent years an interest has been growing in studying the

bonds between Church and State in the Mexico of nineteenth-

century from a different perspective to that conceived

during the Restored Republic, the Porfiriato and the

Revolution. Nowadays, the traditional historiographical

discourse, representing Church as an institution that was

the enemy of liberalism, remaining static and fanatical, is

far from convincing, given the failure of this vision to

provide answers to new questionings that we, historians,

pose on the subject.

During the twentieth century, this topic was studied

through different perspectives. Carlos Alvear, Mariano

Cuevas and José Gutiérrez Casillas [1] looked into it from a

perspective that was related to that of the Church, standing

out at times for its apologetic character. On the other

hand, Jorge Adame, Roberto Blancarte, Manuel Ceballos,

Carlos Martínez Assad and Jean Meyer,[2] among others, have

written papers from the standpoint of history and sociology

in order to provide a layman’s view of this bond. Recently,

the works of Brian Conaughton, William Fowler and Humberto

Morales, and Erika Pani [3] make up a strong evidence in the

effort to break the stereotyped vision of the conservative

1

and liberal groups, reckoning the existence of several

"conservatisms" and "liberalisms", some of them with close

similarities between each other, and they further portray

Church as a dynamic institution with members who didn't

refuse to join to the more moderate version of liberalism.

[4]

This work stems from the existence of an openly-

declared Catholic political liberalism between 1833 –when

the first liberal laws were passed in Mexico [5]– and 1857 –

date when the first liberal constitution was promulgated in

the country–. This liberalism reframed the bond between

Church and State that was inherited from the Viceregal era,

given the advancement of a concept of government that, in

the words of Connaughton, would "disregard confessionals in

an efforts to govern society", [6] which in turn would cause

a confrontation between civil and ecclesiastical powers,

Catholics and radical Liberals, around two closely-related

questions: was it the political or the religious power which

had the right to define the proper limits of the republic?

And, was the Church a sphere of power autonomous from the

sphere of the State?

Since 1848, as a result of the end of the war against

the United States, [7] a strong desire to answer these

questions was to be found within the Liberals. The years

that followed this conflict represented a time of peace and

2

stability that, far from being the outcome of government’s

strength, resulted, as a matter of fact, from of "the

complete decomposition and fragmentation of the political

system and the consequential loss of any benchmark or centre

of power that would oppose to it."[8] The crisis of the

system led to the development of political projects that

were faced during the second half of the nineteenth century:

the moderate and pure liberalism, the conservatism and the

monarchism. Thus, Suárez de la Torre explains that, in 1850,

the more radical liberals had a small representation in the

Congress, while moderate liberals occupied the major public

offices, whereas the monarchists controlled the Mexico City

Council.[9]

Similarly, the situation favoured the appearance of an

active public opinion

–leading us to continue our research based on the press as

an important documentary source for this discussion–, which

was notable for debating the foundations of Mexican

politics; for questioning or defending, on a case-by-case

basis, the nature of social institutions and especially the

religious bodies [10], and for having created an environment

of increasingly polarised confrontations. Although the

radical liberals proposed to exercise an essentially ethical

faith while rejecting any and all external manifestations of

worship, and although Church continued to maintain its

"vision of a vertical society and a corporate worldview"

3

while refusing to "reduce its role to the mere individual

sphere of people", [11] it is also true that certain

convergence can be found between the two opposing groups.

Since the beginning of the fifties, and despite the

arrival of radical liberalism to power in 1855,[12] both

Church and some avowedly liberal Catholics tried to "speak

the same language" and as far as possible, attempted to take

over the principles of the other faction [13], while

reckoning that “the visions, languages and values of

Catholicism significantly contributed to shape the

perceptions and reactions of political actors."[14] Further,

they aimed at maintaining national unity above all ,[15]

and, ultimately, they both knew that, in practice, it was

impossible to separate religion from politics because

Catholicism was a lifestyle as well as a moral authority on

which the civil power still depended. [16]

This Catholic liberalism that we refer to, found in the

media an ideal space to express itself and to demonstrate

that, contrary to what most extreme conservatives claimed,

there was no contradiction in being a Catholic in religious

matters and a liberal in the political ground. This helps to

explain the fact that, regardless of how moderate or radical

the tendency of the editors and writers may have been, the

four newspapers that were analysed for this paper –El

Demócrata, El Monitor Republicano, El Siglo XIX and El Zurriago– included

4

content that were clearly anticlerical, but never anti-

religious.

In view of the foregoing, two questions that will be

answered in the following pages should be posed: what

arguments were used in the liberal press to link liberalism

to religion? And, what was the purpose of the above? We

believe that the answers to these questions should be

subjected to the analysis of certain religious concepts used

by the journalists, as well as to the revision of some

religious texts included in the journals that have been

analysed herein below.

II. The space of concepts

Liberalism took terms and values from Catholicism to be

integrated into a speech proposing a change, whether radical

or moderate, in the relationship between Church and State –

as human-created institutions– but at all times still

protecting religion as a dogmatic body.

One of the first concepts used was the "reason." While

the Middle Age Christian philosophers defended reason as an

important ally of faith in order for men to gain the

knowledge of the natural and supernatural worlds, in the

seventeenth century Rene Descartes made the separation

between philosophy and religion, between reason and faith,

in a process that would reach its climax during the French

Enlightenment, where reason "[...] becomes the only centre

5

and reference point, thereby becoming an absolute concept.

All other ruptures arose from this idea –for instance, the

separation between faith and morals–."[17]

Although Mexican liberalism was inspired by the

Enlightenment, and contrary to the publications of Catholic

newspapers in the first half of the nineteenth century, the

fact is that there were liberals that did not dismiss God

from the realm of reason. In 1839, El Zurriago [18] took the

opportunity to think about the topic. Its authors,

unfortunately anonymous, defended the idea that this was the

medium that allowed men to meet in society and in compliance

with the divine, to dominate all existing beings;

furthermore, they recognised spirituality as a manifestation

of that product of pure or logic reason called metaphysics,

which they defined as the "science of spiritual beings, and

therefore the examination of the mutual union of the

thinking principle, with the extensive and divisible

material principle [...]".[19]

We also found, in the words of the authors and editors

of El Monitor Republicano, a radical liberalist newspaper, the

bond between liberalism and religion with statements

implying that journalists exercised the magistracy and

priesthood of reason, [20] or that man was liable before God

to illustrate his understanding. To strengthen this point,

they even went as far as quoting the famous words of St.

6

Augustine: "Get to know me and get to know Him", while

asking their readers "How many of you comply with this

command?"[21]

Years later, in the context of a country wherein the

differences between the most radical conservatives and

liberals was inevitably leading to the outbreak of a war –

the Three-Years War– the editors of El Monitor claimed that

Jesus Christ was the Messiah and the mysteries that He had

revealed to mankind were to be believed in by reason of

having passed through the filter of reason, so that:

Therefore, examining the wholeness, looking foranswers to explain why in everything andsubjecting all the foregoing to the judgment ofreason, far from an act of impiety, is all an act inaccordance with the consent of the Divine, is allan act of not restricting one of the bestcapacities that the Creator has given us, all inthe search of perfecting ourselves, ultimately, toapproach divinity.[22]

The use of the term “act of impiety” was a key weapon

in the speech that the most conservative factions of Church

used to qualify the liberal statements that, from their

point of view, were unorthodox or contrary to dogma. The

latter, on their end, were concerned to clarify that

liberalism was not a synonymous of “acts of impiety” and,

much less, of atheism.

Since 1839, the writers of El Zurriago showed this

concern and appealed for a dialogue between a deliveryman

7

and a journalist –a resource widely used at the time to

facilitate the understanding of complex issues– with the

idea of defending the position referred to herein. Thus,

when the deliveryman explains the concerns that have Friar

Pedro and Dr. Pablo on the orientation of the newspaper, the

journalist, who represents the collective voice of the

newspaper, replied: "Please, say to those reverend gentlemen

that they should not be worried; that El Zurriago will not be

wicked or anti-religious or anything that you could be

afraid of, because, Heaven be praised, I am a journalist, I

still have some sanity within me [...] ".[23]

Just as liberal journalists were still "sane enough" to

remain un-wicked and not enemies of religion, they were also

concerned with having spaces in their newspapers for

politicians to do the same. For example, in the section on

"Parliamentary Chronicle," El Siglo XIX transcribed some lines

of the speech that the journalist and politician Guillermo

Prieto improvised in the session of the House of

Representatives on July 30, 1856: "[...] The Democratic

Party refuting Christian reason! [...]. The party defender

of fraternity, contradicting the dogma of He who said: 'All

men are brothers and should love each other.' This,

gentlemen, would be more than a delirium, it would be

impossible."[24]

8

Just as happened with the reason, liberal journalists

also bonded freedom with God –but not with Church, this

should be noted– by arguing that it did not come from the

people, nor from the ruler, or from law; on the contrary, it

was a gift that God had given to mankind through the

volition and freedom of will and whereas the Lord gave men

the power to prevent abuses in the name of the law, He never

gave them the power to suffocate them. [25] The argument was

strong because it established the divine origin of freedom

as a right of men, while reckoning that God granted the

temporal power, represented by the law, the power to fight

abuses against man.

This defence of freedom was not only the product of a

strict adherence to liberal ideology,[26] it was also part

of a political agenda that, within the set of human

liberties, it recognised that the freedom of worship was the

most important. Although this position resulted in a

declared confrontation between liberals and Church, still

defending the unique and compulsory character of Catholicism

in Mexico –for being the only force that kept the unity of

the Mexican people–, this did not prevent the first from

endeavouring to prove that this principle was not contrary

to dogma.

Moreover, the issue of freedom of worship was present

in the press and politics since 1821 after the consummation

9

of Mexican independence. In 1833, the year in which this

paper began, representatives Escudero, Riveroll and Riva

Palacio presented to the Congress a project that promoted

full liberty in religious matters, [27] but it was rejected

by most of their peers.

The previous failure could be an incentive for some

liberals to seek a different strategy, based now in the

press and the use of a more conciliatory tone. El Indicador de la

Federación Mexicana (The Indicator of the Mexican Federation,) dealt with

the matter on a text which, despite being anonymous, had the

style of José María Luis Mora. Said text appealed to

principles such as reason and justice to defend tolerance of

worship. Moreover, he even went so far as to refer to:

[...] true piety, illustrated piety, always tenderand compassionate, simply can not quit to itssweet, peaceful and sensitive nature to indulgewith the misfortunes of their fellows and to re-graze with the moans and cries of despair; itsinterest is also that humanity is not needlesslytormented and afflicted by opinions that do notdepend on them. [28]

It is interesting to notice that the above argument

appeals to "piety" in order to defend freedom of worship, as

it is a term so closely related to the religious and which,

as mentioned before, was a common resource of the liberal

press.

10

The liberal editors and writers also entered in the

field of theology to prove the validity of their point. El

Demócrata published an article explaining that theologians

agreed that if an individual or a nation professed the true

religion, this was a consequence of the grace given freely

by God's goodness and that He was the only one who could

grant it to other individuals and nations that may have been

more worthy of such grace.[29]

El Indicador de la Federación Mexicana gave continuity to this

strategy, referring to the life of Jesus Christ and

consequently to the Gospel, as a token of love, kindness and

tolerance. This journal argued that if religious tolerance

were recorded in the Scriptures, as it "obviously" was, then

it could be assumed that its implementation in Mexico should

not put an end to Catholic religion or destroy the internal

peace and order, which did not appear to be a Christian

attitude; this way, the opposition shown by the clergy to

such provision seemed to be consequence of earthly interests

and not of their attachment to the Gospel.[30]

In the fifties, while El Siglo XIX supported religious

tolerance by publishing the debates that were taking place

in the Spanish parliament, El Monitor Republicano resumed the

previous debate as it linked Christianity with liberty

"because [Christian] religion is for those who love liberty,

and are willing to give the blood in their veins for their

11

brothers; as its main foundation is this provision, in which

all morality is summarised: love your brother as yourself, and what

you do not want for yourself, do not want it for him."[31]

Finally, in 1856, and in light of the discussions that

took place in the Mexican Chamber of Representatives about

whether the new Constitution contemplates the freedom of

religion or not, the liberal José J. Gonzalez published an

article in El Monitor Republicano in which he proclaimed himself

a devout Catholic and explained that religious tolerance was

not contrary to Catholicism, but stressed its character of

true religion based on reason and philosophy.[32]

III. Religious literature and its advertising

Beyond the primary functions that liberal newspapers had to

meet by vocation, i.e., spread their precepts, transform

society and fend off their detractors, they also dedicated

spaces, sometimes important ones, to disseminate religious

books.

It was usual in the liberal press, albeit somewhat

irregularly, [33] to advertise books that would soon be for

sale or had just been published. Usually texts were produced

in the printing houses of newspapers or in those owned by

whoever was in charge of printing them. This practice

started in the early periodical publications of independent

Mexico; by the late forties and throughout the fifties, it

became quite common.

12

We can mention the following examples of the above:

1.        Small Lent or sermons of Massillon, Bishop of Clermont.

First published in France in 1744, the book compiled

the homilies that Bishop Massillon gave to King Louis

XV on the Lent of 1718. His intention was to make a

different homily to the usual of his time, less

erudite, more direct and entertaining and with "great

and sublime ideas that elevate the soul [and]

manifest the religion with the character of grandeur

and majesty that are inherent to it [...]."[34]

2.        Religious and political discourses on the origin, nature,

immunities, and true investment of ecclesiastical property. Posthumous

work of Most Reverend Father Friar Paolo, translated from Italian into

French and thence to Castilian by a Mexican. The text, which was

printed in the printing house of Juan Ojeda, was a

critical analysis that Friar Paolo, a priest of the

Italian peninsula, performed on church property. He

explained the means by which Church collected a great

wealth for the maintenance of the priesthood, and how

this wealth, instead of being used for the support of

the clergy and the relief of the poor, led to the

corruption of the clergy. [35]

3.       The authority of the powers and limits of civil and ecclesiastical

authority, written by Henry-François D'Ageusseau in the

mid eighteenth century and published in Spain in

13

1845. In this publication, D'Ageusseau defended

absolutism but, more importantly, the complementarity

of the civil and religious rights and the supremacy

of the latter over the first.[36]

4.        Life of Saint Joseph, worthy husband of Virgin Mary and foster

father of Jesus. Written by New Spanish Jesuit Jose

Ignacio Vallejo, the book was published in 1774 and

re-edited for a third time in 1845 in the press of

Lara, one of the most important of Mexico City in the

first half of the nineteenth century. It was actually

an apologia for Saint Joseph, figure "to which

special cults have paid tribute" in Mexico "since the

true religion was founded" in the sixteenth century.

[37]

5.        Protestantism compared with Catholicism in its relations with

the European civilisation of the Spanish priest Jaime

Balmes, whose works were widely read in Latin America

and Spain by the most conservative groups. In this

book, published in Mexico City by prominent printer

Rafael de Rafael in 1846, he challenged the

rationalism and social studies, saying that the

reason was in crisis during the nineteenth century

and claimed that while some people attributed the

development of civilisation to the Protestant

14

Reformation, it actually left the societies "with the

head in the clouds and feet on the abyss".[38]

The above examples contain a wide diversity of

religious points of view– some conservative and attached to

Catholic orthodoxy; others critical and liberal–. This

variety reflects the absence of a strong, or at least

obvious, editorial line which could reflect a process of

discrimination when advertising books. In other words, it

seemed that the liberal editors had no problem publishing

indiscriminate advertising of all kinds of texts.

One explanation for this phenomenon may lie in the

interest of the people in charge of the liberal press to

promote pious works in order to achieve two purposes: to

explain the religiousness mentioned pages above, and to

defend a freedom that was very important to them, but so

rare in Mexico at the time: the freedom of the press.

Beyond this mere speculation, we can find another

reason in the economic interests of the owners of the

printing houses and newspapers.

Carmona asserts that "during the nineteenth century,

journalism had a very active ideological role; the press was

not conceived as an enterprise or a business, but as a

spokesperson for those fighting for an ideology or those who

represented power (Church, parties, politicians and interest

groups)."[39] This statement is partially correct since,

15

despite the interests which motivated the creation of

newspapers were ideological and not economic (at least until

the Porfiriato), this did not exclude that the editors of

the journals lacked concern for their finances.

The operation of a newspaper, says Vieyra, required

economic resources to buy goods and to pay the salaries of

the typesetters, printers, writers and distributors; [40]

all these expenses were not covered by the income from the

sales of newspapers, forcing its managers to resort to other

means like the membership systems, government grants and

selling advertising spaces. Regarding this last resource, an

important part was the insertion of advertisements in which

printers and booksellers informed the public of the books

they had for sale. Seen this way, liberal editors did not

care to announce sacred literature as long as it generated

income to carry on with the publications, and thus they

joined to what Roman Emperor Vespasian had said centuries

ago: Pecunia non olet (money does not smell).

Something similar happened with the book printers and

publishers. Between 1821 and 1830 there were so few people

willing to invest their resources in a business as risky for

the time as it was the publication of a book. However, from

the 1930’s, the printer Mariano Galván broke this scheme

investing his capital in importing and printing religious

works, including the Bible (which he serialised). Over the

16

years, the prices of the books became cheaper and the number

of people interested in buying them increased, and so did

the competition between booksellers, who were forced to use

various strategies to be ahead of other competitors; one of

the most used by conservative and liberal editors was the

use of new typographical fonts "to frame their

advertisements" in the press and to describe "in detail, the

works for sale, their original design, their novel

presentation, low price [... ] ".[41]

IV. As a conclusion

We have presented some of the manifestations of Mexican

liberalism which did not make a distinction between

Christianity and Catholicism and, despite sometimes

manifesting an anti-clerical character, they were always

respectful of religion.

              Besides, we also may conclude that Catholic

liberalism of educated press was developed at in least three

dimensions:

1. The personal dimension: it consists in acknowledging

oneself as a Catholic before being considered liberal. This

is a private matter that the individual voluntarily used to

externalise when writing in a newspaper, speaking in the

House of Representatives ..., and not as a legal obligation

since it should be recalled that the laws issued before 1857

17

stated that the Catholic religion was the only permitted in

Mexico.

2. The conceptual-discursive dimension: is a public strategy

that responds to criticism made by the more conservative

Catholic groups, while it worked to show that reason and

truth assist liberals in their argumentation.

3. The financial dimension: is a sphere in which the

importance of religious affairs is determined by an economic

logic of subsistence that may or may not be dissociated from

other aspects such as the ideological and political. 

              The coexistence of this three levels of

commitment with the Catholicism of liberal writers,

publishers and printers, should not be taken as evidence of

an inconsistent attitude from them; on the contrary, it can

be seen as a testimony of the beginning of the

secularisation process of some sectors of the Mexican

society which, once having acknowledged that systems such as

economy and politics could work with their own logic, found

the answers to the questions we posed at the beginning of

this paper: In México the political power was in charge of

defining the limits of the republic and, in this sense,

Church should not be considered as a sphere of autonomous

power. This was the Country that Mexican Catholic liberals

wanted to build.

V. Sources:

18

Newspapers:

El Demócrata, Mexico City. El Monitor Republicano, Mexico City. El Zurriago, Mexico City. La Voz de la Religión, Mexico City. 

Bibliographic References:

Adame Goddard, Jorge. El pensamiento político y social de los católicos mexicanos,1867-1914, IMDOSOC/UNAM, México, 1991.

Alvear Acevedo, Carlos. La Iglesia en la historia de México, Jus, México,1975; Cuevas, Mariano, S. J. Historia de la Iglesia en México, Imprenta delAsilo y Editorial Revista Católica, México y El Paso, Texas, 1921-1924.

Balmes, Jaime. El protestantismo comparado con el catolicismo en sus relaciones conla civilización europea, México, 1846.

Blancarte, Roberto. Historia de la Iglesia católica en México, FCE, México,1992. Ceballos Ramírez Manuel. El catolicismo social: un tercero en discordia.Rerum Novarum la "cuestión social" y la movilización de los católicos mexicanos 1891-1911, El Colegio de México, México, 1991.

Conaughton, Brian. “De la tensión de compromiso al compromiso degobernabilidad. Las leyes de reforma en el entramado de laconciencia política nacional”, en Connaughton, Brian (coord.). Méxicodurante la guerra de reforma. Tomo I. Iglesia, religión y Leyes de Reforma, México,Universidad Veracruzana, 2011.

Conaughton, Brian. Entre la voz de Dios y el llamado de la patria. Religión, identidad yciudadanía en México, siglo XIX, FCE/UAM-Iztapalapa, México, 2010.

Connaughton, Brian. “Forjando el cuerpo político a partir del corpusmisticum: la búsqueda de la opinión pública en el Méxicoindependiente, 1821-1854”, en Connaughton, Brian. Entre la voz de Dios y elllamado de la Patria, México, FCE/UAM, 2010.

Escalante Gonzalbo, Fernando. Ciudadanos imaginarios, México, El Colegiode México, 1992.

Fowler, William y Humberto Morales. El conservadurismo mexicano del siglo XIX,Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla y Universidad de St.Andrews, México, 1999.

Gutiérrez Casillas, José, S. J. Historia de la Iglesia en México, Porrúa,México, 1984.

Henry-François, D’Ageusseau. La autoridad de los poderes o límites de la potestadcivil y eclesiástica, Barcelona, Imprenta de José Torner, 1845.

López Lopera, Liliana María. Las ataduras de la libertad: autoridad, igualdad yderechos, Antioquia, Colombia, Universidad Eafit, 2007.

Marssillon, Jean Baptiste. Pequeña cuaresma o sermones de Massillon, obispo deClermont, París, Librería de Cormon y Blanc, 1827.

Martínez Assad, Carlos. Religiosidad y política en México, Universidad

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Iberoamericana, Programa Institucional de Investigación en Cultura yReligión, México, 1992.

Meyer, Jean. La Cristiada, Siglo XXI, México, 1973-1975, 3 vols., Palti, José Elías. La invención de una legitimidad, México, FCE, 2005. Pani. Erika. Conservadurismo y derechas en México, FCE, México, 2010, vol.

1. Paolo, Fra. Discursos religioso y político sobre el origen, naturaleza, inmunidades y

verdadera inversión de los bienes eclesiásticos. Obra póstuma del Reverentísimo Padre FraPaolo, traducida del italiano al francés y de éste al castellano por un mexicano, México,imprenta de Juan Ojeda, 1833.

Solares Robles, Laura. “La aventura editorial de Mariano GalvánRivera. Un empresario del siglo XIX”, en Suárez de la Torre, Laura(coordinadora). Construcciones de un cambio cultural: impresores-editores y librerosen la ciudad de México. 1830-1855. México, Instituto de Investigaciones Dr.José María Luis Mora, 2003.

Suárez de la Torre, Laura. “En circunstancias críticas. 1849-1850.Selección de cartas del archivo Valentín Gómez Farías”, en Rojas,Beatriz (coord.). Mecánica política: para una relectura del siglo XIX mexicano.Antología de correspondencia política, México, U. de G./Instituto deInvestigaciones Históricas Dr. José María Luis Mora, 2006.

Vallejo, José Ignacio. Vida del Señor San José, dignísimo esposo de la Virgen Maríay padre putativo de Jesús, México Imprenta de J. M. Lara, 1845.

Vieyra Sánchez, Lilia. “La frecuencia de las publicacionesperiódicas, 1822-1855”, en Suárez de la Torre, Laura (coordinadorageneral). Empresa y cultura en tinta y papel, México, UNAM/Instituto deInvestigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, 2001.

 

Journals

Bastian, Jean Pierre. “El impacto regional de las sociedadesreligiosas no católicas en México”, en Relaciones, Relaciones. Estudios deHistoria y Sociedad, México, El Colegio de Michoacán, Vol. XI, núm. 42,primavera, 1990.

Carmona, Doralicia. “Juárez lamenta la suspensión del periódico ‘Siglo XIX’”, en Memoria política de México, México, S. F., <http://memoriapoliticademexico.org/Efemerides/9/20091858.html>, recuperado el 22 de mayo de 2013.

Pani, Erika. “Si atiendo preferentemente al bien De mi alma...". Elenfrentamiento Iglesia-Estado, 1855-1858”, en Signos históricos, México,Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, año I, vol. 1, núm.2, diciembre de 1999.

Renedo, Guillermo. “La relación fe-razón en el uso de las fuentes dela teología moral”, en Ecclesia, Roma, Volumen XX, número 1, 2006,<http://www.upra.org/archivio_pdf/ec61-renedo.pdf>, recuperado el 10de mayo de 2013.

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[1] Alvear Acevedo, Carlos. La Iglesia en la historia de México, Jus, México,1975; Cuevas, Mariano, S. J. Historia de la Iglesia en México, Imprenta del Asiloand Editorial Revista Católica, México y El Paso, Texas, 1921-1924, andGutiérrez Casillas, José, S. J. Historia de la Iglesia en México, Porrúa, México,1984.[2] Adame Goddard, Jorge. El pensamiento político y social de los católicos mexicanos,1867-1914, IMDOSOC/UNAM, México,1991; Blancarte, Roberto. Historia de laIglesia católica en México, FCE, México, 1992; Ceballos Ramírez Manuel. Elcatolicismo social: un tercero en discordia. Rerum Novarum la "cuestión social" y la movilizaciónde los católicos mexicanos 1891-1911, El Colegio de México, México, 1991;Martínez Assad, Carlos. Religiosidad y política en México, UniversidadIberoamericana, Programa Institucional de Investigación en Cultura yReligión, México, 1992; Meyer, Jean. La Cristiada, Siglo XXI, México, 3vols., 1973-1975.[3] Conaughton, Brian, Entre la voz de Dios y el llamado de la patria. Religión, identidad yciudadanía en México, siglo XIX, FCE/UAM-Iztapalapa, México, 2010; Fowler,William y Humberto Morales, El conservadurismo mexicano del siglo XIX, BeneméritaUniversidad Autónoma de Puebla y Universidad de St. Andrews, México,1999 y Pani. Erika, Conservadurismo y derechas en México, FCE, México, 2010,vol. 1.[4] To the previous texts should be added the doctoral thesis of ManuelOlimón Nolasco, Clemente de Jesús Munguía y el incipiente liberalismo de Estado en México,and of Pablo Mijangos, The Lawyer of the Church: Bishop Clemente de Jesús Munguía andthe Ecclesiastical Response to the Liberal Revolution in Mexico (1810-1868) defended in 2005and 2009, respectively.[5] This was the result to the arrival to power of Valentín GómezFarías, member of the Progress Party. Founded by José María Luis Mora in1833, this organisation was inspired by the ideals of the FrenchEnlightenment and was the first to propose a structural reform of thecountry which provided, inter alia, freedom of the press, the abolition ofmilitary courts and Church, the suppression of the religious orders, theinternal circulation of wealth, the elimination of ecclesiasticalmonopoly on education, the opening of public libraries, and theelimination of the death penalty. Cfr. Mora, José María Luis. Obras sueltasde José María Luis Mora, ciudadano mexicano. París, Librería de Rosa, 1837, t. 1,p. 56.[6] Conaughton, Brian, “De la tensión de compromiso al compromiso degobernabilidad. Las leyes de reforma en el entramado de la concienciapolítica nacional”, in Connaughton, Brian (coord.), México durante la guerrade reforma. Tomo I. Iglesia, religión y Leyes de Reforma, México, UniversidadVeracruzana, 2011, p. 76.[7] The War took place from 1846 to 1848 and among its causes includes:the structural weakness of Mexico, the annexation of Texas to the UnitedStates, the doctrine of the American The Manifest Destiny defended by

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President James Polk and the American project to build a railroad thatconnected the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.[8] Palti, José Elías. La invención de una legitimidad, México, FCE, 2005, p.219.[9] Suárez de la Torre, Laura. “En circunstancias críticas. 1849-1850.Selección de cartas del archivo Valentín Gómez Farías”, in Rojas,Beatriz (coord.). Mecánica política: para una relectura del siglo XIX mexicano. Antologíade correspondencia política, México, U. de G./Instituto de InvestigacionesHistóricas Dr. José María Luis Mora, 2006, p. 217.[10] Palti, José Elías. Op. cit., p. 328.[11] Bastian, Jean Pierre. “El impacto regional de las sociedadesreligiosas no católicas en México”, in Relaciones, Relaciones. Estudios de Historiay Sociedad, México, El Colegio de Michoacán, Vol. XI, núm. 42, primavera,1990, p. 50.[12] In 1855 the Ayutla Revolution triumphed. With it came to power agroup of politicians headed by Ponciano Arriaga, José María Iglesias,Benito Juarez, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, Melchor Ocampo, etc., whorepresented the second generation of Mexican liberals. Heirs of theProgress Party, they intended to modernise the country through, asalready said, the replica of the American model, in respecting therights of individuals, the instruction of the people, the recognition ofthe right to property, the separation between Church and State and,consequently, the creation of a secular state. The highlight of theirlegislative work was the Constitution of 1857, the first in Mexico thatprefaced the rights of citizens to state organisation, although it didnot recognise the freedom of religion, it was also the first that didnot addressed the subject of the Catholic religion.[13] Pani, Erika. “Si atiendo preferentemente al bien De mi alma...". Elenfrentamiento Iglesia-Estado, 1855-1858”, in Signos históricos, México,Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, año I, vol. 1, núm. 2,diciembre de 1999, p. 41.[14] Pani, Erika. “’Las fuerzas oscuras’. El problema delconservadurismo en la historia de México”, in Conservadurismo y derechas en lahistoria de México, México, FCE/CONACULTA, 2010, p. 31[15] Bastian, Jean Pierre. Op. cit., p. 51.[16] Connaughton, Brian. “Forjando el cuerpo político a partir delcorpus misticum: la búsqueda de la opinión pública en el Méxicoindependiente, 1821-1854”, in Connaughton, Brian. Entre la voz de Dios y elllamado de la Patria, México, FCE/UAM, p. 107 and Escalante Gonzalbo,Fernando. Ciudadanos imaginarios, México, El Colegio de México, 1992, p.160. [17] Renedo, Guillermo. “La relación fe-razón en el uso de las fuentesde la teología moral”, in Ecclesia, Roma, Volumen XX, número 1, 2006,<http://www.upra.org/archivio_pdf/ec61-renedo.pdf>, retrieved on May 10,2013.[18] In the nineteenth century, the term “Zurriago” had the meanings of“whip” and consisted of a “strongly satirical writing”.

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[19] “Idea general de la ciencia”, in El Zurriago, periódico científico, literario eindustrial, México, 30 de noviembre de 1839, t. 1, núm. 12, p. 109.[20] “Desenfreno de la prensa”, in El Monitor Republicano, México, 21 deseptiembre de 1852, año VIII, núm. 2680 p.3.[21] “Instrucción popular”, El Monitor Republicano, México, 27 de agosto de1852, año octavo núm. 2655, p.3.[22] “Editorial. Lo pasado y el por venir”, in El Monitor Republicano,México, 23 de noviembre de 1857, año XII, núm. 3738, p. 1. [23] “El repartido y el periodista”, in El Zurriago, periódico científico, literario eindustrial, México, 13 de septiembre de 1839, t. 1, núm. 3, p. 24. [24] “Crónica parlamentaria”, in El Siglo XIX, México, jueves 31 de juliode 1856, año XVI, núm. 2773, p. 2.[25] “Parte científica. Libertad de imprenta”, in El Siglo XIX, México,jueves 20 de febrero de 1845, t. 3, núm. 1180.[26] Lopez Lopera said that “if there is a value that fully identifiesthe modern political thought, this is certainly freedom. Liberalismassumed his name pinned to its defence, regardless of its nuances[...]”. Vid Las ataduras de la libertad: autoridad, igualdad y derechos, Antioquia,Colombia, Universidad Eafit, 2007, p. 8.[27] “El Demócrata. México 31 de agosto de 1833”, in El Demócrata, México,2 de noviembre de 1833, t. 2, núm. 190, p 3.[28] “Tolerancia”, in El Indicador de la Federación Mexicana, México, miércoles 1de enero de 1834, t. 2, núm. 5, p. 194.[29] “Tolerancia”, in El Demócrata México, 7 de noviembre de 1833, t. 2,núm. 195, p. 3.[30] “Tolerancia”, in El Indicador de la Federación Mexicana, México, 1 de enerode 1834, t. 2, núm. 5, p. 185.[31] “Reflexiones”, in El Monitor Republicano, México, 18 de abril de 1851,año 7, núm. 2158, p. 4.[32] José J. González. “Necesidad de la paz para que la naciónprospere”, in El Monitor Republicano, México, 22 de abril de 1856, año XI,núm. 3150, p. 1.[33] This irregularity was due to factors as diverse as the cost ofpaper and ink, buying the foreign texts, translation... [34] Marssillon, Jean Baptiste. Pequeña cuaresma o sermones de Massillon, obispode Clermont, París, Librería de Cormon y Blanc, 1827, p. X.[35] Paolo, Fra. Discursos religioso y político sobre el origen, naturaleza, inmunidades yverdadera inversión de los bienes eclesiásticos. Obra póstuma del Reverentísimo Padre FraPaolo, traducida del italiano al francés y de éste al castellano por un mexicano, México,imprenta de Juan Ojeda, 1833, p. 3.[36] Henry-François, D’Ageusseau. La autoridad de los poderes o límites de lapotestad civil y eclesiástica, Barcelona, Imprenta de José Torner, 1845, pp. I-V.[37] Vallejo, José Ignacio. Vida del Señor San José, dignísimo esposo de la VirgenMaría y padre putativo de Jesús, México Imprenta de J. M. Lara, 1845, pp. I-III.[38] Balmes, Jaime. El protestantismo comparado con el catolicismo en sus relaciones conla civilización europea, México, 1846, p. III.

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[39] Carmona, Doralicia. “Juárez lamenta la suspensión del periódico ‘Siglo XIX’”, in Memoria política de México, México, S. F., <http://memoriapoliticademexico.org/Efemerides/9/20091858.html>, recuperado el 22 de mayo de 2013.[40] Vieyra Sánchez, Lilia. “La frecuencia de las publicacionesperiódicas, 1822-1855”, in Suárez de la Torre, Laura (coordinadorageneral). Empresa y cultura en tinta y papel, México, UNAM/Instituto deInvestigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, 2001, p. 451[41] Solares Robles, Laura. “La aventura editorial de Mariano GalvánRivera. Un empresario del siglo XIX”, in Suárez de la Torre, Laura(coordinadora). Construcciones de un cambio cultural: impresores-editores y libreros en laciudad de México. 1830-1855. México, Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. JoséMaría Luis Mora, 2003, p. 41.

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