The Rights of Royal Patronage and the Legitimacy of anti-Clericalism after the Independence of Mexico

Abstract

The Church-State statutory institutional relationship is particularly significant apropos the debate of cultural tolerance. Here, I review the mechanisms by which this relation circumscribes to an ethno-centric pattern in the reading of Mexican history, and examine the discursive atmosphere the Church and the State institutional struggle to master the symbols of nationhood, and account for the ethnic images ratified by institutional narratives with liberal pragmatic postulates. In particular, I focus on the complex netting of political demarcations between religious and civil institutions, and its distinctive tone they acquired under Hispanic Patronage; all of which set the background upon which the Church’s antagonism to official lay discourses on Mexican identity appears futile.