When the Priest Does Not Sympathize with el Pueblo: Clergy and Society in El Oriente Venezolano, 1843-1873

Abstract

When 22 Capuchin friars landed in Barcelona in 1843, they could not anticipate the troubles they faced in the years to come. As refugees from the Spanish Carlista wars, Gallegos and Catalans who did not even speak much Spanish, the friars must have been happy enough to serve a nation that did not want them dead—yet. In their contract with the Venezuelan government, the 22 Capuchin friars who labored in Venezuela'sOrientepromised to stay in Venezuela for at least ten years. In return, the Venezuelan government promised to pay them 400 pesos annually, to leave all spiritual matters in the hands of the missionaries, and to cede to the missionaries all authority in Indian mission matters.If only things worked out that well. The Capuchin friars found themselves inextricably bound in complex relationships of race and class, often intertwined with matters of land and labor. Poverty and politics (or the politics of poverty) did not allow clergy to use their position as parish priests to maintain any degree of neutrality in the tug of war between the white elite and the poor, primarily Indians, ex-slaves, and the mixed race descendants of all groups. To the contrary, poverty and politics made clergy important players in the ongoing high stakes game of chess between the elite and the masses.