Callahan states clearly at the outset that “the purpose of this book is to reveal the origins of the problem of the Church in modern Spain” (p. 1). He believes that this problem is best put in perspective by contrasting the organization, economic base, and mentality of the church of the antiguo régimen with its changed circumstances in the nineteenth century and after, rather than by looking at the period from the Catholic Kings to the Civil War of 1936-39 as one long continuum. The author argues that “it was, indeed, the collapse of the Church of the eighteenth century, identified with absolute monarchy and possessed of immense privileges within a hierarchical and agrarian society, that transformed the role of the Church and made it a focus of conflict until our own time” (p. 1). Making full and judicious use of a wide range of secondary works, especially recent research by both Spanish ecclesiastical and socioeconomic historians, in addition to his own discoveries in Spanish archival and primary printed sources, Callahan has put together a valuable work of synthesis on the period 1750-1874. Inevitably, given the state of research, some aspects of his subject are better covered than others: as he points out in the useful bibliographic essay, studies of, inter alia, popular religion, the social history of the lower clergy, and the church’s educational and charitable functions are, in the case of Spain, still in their infancy. Even if some of the generalizations ventured by Callahan are perforce based on conjecture, he is nevertheless correct in claiming that his account represents a more rational assessment of the church’s role than would have been possible only a few years ago.
The organization of the work is chronological. In the first two chapters the organization and organizations of the church in Spain in the second half of the eighteenth century are ably described and analyzed. The author notes the omnipresence of the church and its continuing hold on the population despite a certain lack of vitality and inequality in the distribution of ecclesiastical resources. The great wealth of the church is emphasized as is the massive scale of its charity. The third chapter, on the crucial years 1790-1814, is the most vivid; it is from this period that the church’s institutional decline should be dated. The last five chapters chart the church’s losing battle against liberalism and here, as elsewhere, the subject matter is lucidly and thoughtfully treated. In particular, the significance of disamortization and the destruction of the religious orders is well evaluated. Callahan suggests that the relative demise of the church was as much due to ecclesiastical shortcomings as to the ravages of reformers and opponents. He notes the rise of anticlericalism, but is as cautious in indicating explanations for this as he is about estimating the extent of religious practice. Nevertheless, his book will be required reading for all interested in modern Spanish history, as in the comparative historical study of Catholicism in Europe and Latin America.
