Piety, Power, and Politics: Religion and Nation Formation in Guatemala, 1821-1871 (review)

Between 1839 and his death in 1865, Rafael Carrera dominated Guatemala. Carrera came to power through a revolution that overthrew a liberal regime affiliated with the Central American Federation. The Catholic church fared poorly under liberal rule. Carrera, described by author Sullivan-Gonzalez as a conservative, established an uneasy relationship with the church, and for its part the Catholic Church did not give Carrera complete support during his entire tenure in Guatemala. During his initial revolt in the late 1830s, the church hierarchy in Guatemala did not support Carrera, and at the time of one military campaign in 1844 many clerics refused to provide Carrera financial support he had requested. Carrera enjoyed more support from the Church after a successful campaign against Honduran and Salvadoran troops in 1851 following a long civil war.

According to Sullivan-Gonzalez, Carrera needed the Catholic Church, and did take steps to re-enforce the position and status of the church. Following the seizure of power, Carrera insisted that parish priests be appointed to certain parishes to help pacify the districts. In 1841, Carrera restored the tithe, a decade later allowed the Jesuits to return to Guatemala, and in the 1850s negotiated a concordat with the Vatican. For its part the Catholic Church provided Carrera with greater support during his last years in power, as for example during his 1863 invasion of El Salvador. Carrera’s defeat of foreigners (Hondurans and Salvadorans) in 1851 united the country behind him to a greater extent. Through an examination of sermons preached at celebrations of public events such as Guatemalan independence, Sullivan-Gonzalez suggests that the Church established a covenant with Carrera.

Carrera did face resistance during his tenure in Guatemala. Sullivan-Gonzalez discusses several forms of resistance that were also related to the Church, such as cemetery revolts, disputes over the relocation of cemeteries, and the rise of Man-Gods who challenged the Church. Between 1847 and 1851, a long civil war temporarily forced Carrera to leave Guatemala for exile in Mexico. Cholera also played a role in political instability. The 1837 cholera epidemic had been a catalyst for Carrera’s revolt, and many blamed the government or foreigners for having poisoned wells. A second cholera epidemic in 1857, however, did not lead to popular unrest, showing the consolidation of Carrera’s authority.

The Catholic Church itself had to rebuild following nearly two decades of liberal rule and anti-clerical policies. There was a shortage of priests during the fifty years following Guatemalan independence, and most appointments were interim and not permanent. This meant considerable turnover in personnel. Church officials made a decision to make mostly interim appointments. Moreover, there continued to be problems between the secular and regular clergy. The Church also faced financial difficulties, although Sullivan-Gonzalez does not explore these in much detail.

While there is good information and some insightful interpretation here, this book has not overcome the limitations of a dissertation. Sullivan-Gonzalez uses the terms liberal and conservative to describe different politicians and political coalitions, but has not defined what they stood for. Moreover, the author’s historigraphic analysis is too narrowly focused on Guatemala. Much has been written in recent years about ideological debate in the aftermath of independence in Spanish America, but Sullivan-Gonzalez fails to incorporate his findings into that literature or to place Guatemalan liberals and conservatives into the larger context. The overly narrow focus is evident in other areas of the book, such as the discussion of popular resistance to Carrera. For example, the author’s examination of the phenomenon of Men-Gods challenging the Catholic Church does not even cite studies of similar movements in neighboring Chiapas, such as the 1712 Tzetzal revolt or the caste war of the 1860s.

Sullivan-Gonzalez also fails to develop important issues directly related to his topic. The author alludes to financial difficulties and the abolition and later re-establishment of the tithe...