The Church in Spanish America and the «Catholic Historical Review»

Abstract

The Catholic Historical Review is a journal edited by the American Catholic Historical Association and published by The Catholic University Press of America. It has been published since 1915 with quarterly editions. The primary aim of the Catholic Historical Review from its start was, and continues to be, the study of the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. The American Historical Association was started in 1884, one year after Pope Leo XIII gave a strong support to historical research of Church life by opening the Vatican Archives. In the face of ideological historiography he wrote «that the first law of history is, not to dare to utter falsehood; the second, not to fear speak the truth; and moreover, no room must be left for suspicion of partiality or prejudice» 1 . Many Catholic scholars felt the need for this type of publication following a host of European journals that had began to provide abundant ecclesiastical historiography 2 . A bibliography of texts on Church History, published between 1918 and 1920 indicates the absence of books on American Church History in general. It shows that the majority of books published during this period were on early Church History, Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene Church History, the early Middle Ages and the High Middle Ages, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. The bibliography suggests that the history of the Church in America