Anticlericalism And Religion
Why did the urban popular classes attack religious property and personnel so often between 1808 and 1874?
Anticlericalism is defined by resentment against the clergy and a change in values where man is considered to be able to understand his own existence and the world that surrounds him (Sebastian J & J.F Fuentes). In 1808, thanks to the French military invasion, Spain was, for the first time, able to introduce liberalism into Spanish politics, a form of government embracing the idea of change and modernity while severely diminishing the traditional social and economic monopoly of the Church. However, liberalism is not the only factor which explains the outbreak of attacks against religious personnel and property among the urban working …show more content…
(Perez Ledesma, year). Descriptions of priests being “lecherous, gluttonous, mean, hypocritical, frauds and unscrupulous” (Perez Ledesma, p.234) were common and the sexual abuse of children was blamed on the Church’s unnatural demand for chastity among members of the Clergy (Perez Ledesma, p.)
Furthermore, some writers argued that hatred towards the Church was due to the influence of pious, frustrated and overprotective mothers (source)
Moreover, the rapid increase in the number of deaths during the 17th and 18th of July 1834 in Madrid because of a cholera outbreak left a population feeling helpless and impotent. Medical personnel were unable to provide an adequate physical explanation for the disease and this lack of knowledge ultimately led to absurd reasoning (Gonzalez, p.195). The rumour that Jesuits had poisoned the wells supposedly came from their energetic and disciplined nature. Also, since “clericals and anticlericals alike came to believe that the Jesuits could do everything […] they also held them responsible for everything” (Sanchez, year cited in Mitchell, year). Blaming a religious order for the sudden death of loved ones provided a reasonable justification for “slum residents who had lost their children in the epidemic” (Mitchell, p.34) and created an acceptable platform for an urban revolution (Gonzalez,
Anticlericalism is defined by resentment against the clergy and a change in values where man is considered to be able to understand his own existence and the world that surrounds him (Sebastian J & J.F Fuentes). In 1808, thanks to the French military invasion, Spain was, for the first time, able to introduce liberalism into Spanish politics, a form of government embracing the idea of change and modernity while severely diminishing the traditional social and economic monopoly of the Church. However, liberalism is not the only factor which explains the outbreak of attacks against religious personnel and property among the urban working …show more content…
(Perez Ledesma, year). Descriptions of priests being “lecherous, gluttonous, mean, hypocritical, frauds and unscrupulous” (Perez Ledesma, p.234) were common and the sexual abuse of children was blamed on the Church’s unnatural demand for chastity among members of the Clergy (Perez Ledesma, p.)
Furthermore, some writers argued that hatred towards the Church was due to the influence of pious, frustrated and overprotective mothers (source)
Moreover, the rapid increase in the number of deaths during the 17th and 18th of July 1834 in Madrid because of a cholera outbreak left a population feeling helpless and impotent. Medical personnel were unable to provide an adequate physical explanation for the disease and this lack of knowledge ultimately led to absurd reasoning (Gonzalez, p.195). The rumour that Jesuits had poisoned the wells supposedly came from their energetic and disciplined nature. Also, since “clericals and anticlericals alike came to believe that the Jesuits could do everything […] they also held them responsible for everything” (Sanchez, year cited in Mitchell, year). Blaming a religious order for the sudden death of loved ones provided a reasonable justification for “slum residents who had lost their children in the epidemic” (Mitchell, p.34) and created an acceptable platform for an urban revolution (Gonzalez,