Literary Contributions of Catholics in Nineteenth-Century Mexico

Abstract

A New era in the history of nineteenth-century Mexico began with the collapse of the Second Empire in 1867 and the re-founding of the Republic. Naturally, the first decade or so of this new era were years of transition. Then followed what is correctly termed the Díaz era, ending in 1910 with the overthrow of President Porfirio Díaz who for so many years, beginning in 1876, controlled the political affairs of Mexico and by his policy of peace, as González Peña points out, made it possible for Mexican literature to flower as it never had flowered before. For the Church, too, despite the existing “Reform” laws, the policy of Diaz meant comparative peace and greater freedom of action in promoting the common good of the nation. Correspondingly, as might be expected, Catholic “conservatives” in matters of religion began to feel more at ease also in the temple of Mexican culture and participated with renewed enthusiasm in the literary life of their native land.