Visitas Pastorales y Relaciones Ad Limina. Fuentes para la Geografía Eclesiástica (review)

Exhaustive: this is the best word to describe the work of María Milagros Cárcel. In effect, this publication examines all the possibilities that are provided for such a rich episcopal documentation: the pastoral visitations and the relationes ad limina. Without a doubt, the author's wide knowledge of these types of historical sources contributes to this, for she has accomplished numerous projects on this ecclesiastic documentation related to several Mediterranean dioceses of the Iberian Peninsula.

As is well known, the pastoral visitations and the relationes ad limina are reports, more or less periodical, in which the bishops give information on the condition of their dioceses. Although the pastoral visitations were already carried on before the Council of Trent, the relationes ad limina were created by the Council: in 1585, Pope Sixtus V issued the main rule and norm for them. In any case, both types of report experienced a notable increase after the close of the Tridentine sessions. Historians can make an advantageous use of these texts because many times they are not only about the ecclesiastic reality but also provide news of a varied nature. This publication can be considered a real historical-geographical work. María Milagros Cárcel gives much data on the ecclesiastic geography of Spain between the fifteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. To carry out her work the author has used the publications of many scholars in which these episcopal documents have been partially or completely transcribed.

The book is divided into three large chapters: physical, human, and economic issues. Each one of them is articulated in numerous epigraphs organized by geographical and chronological criteria. The result is a huge amount of information. The text is organized following an alphabetical and chronological order of the dioceses. This choice is debatable because it makes the narrative difficult; however, it is useful because it allows easy location of the different territories. One of the successful aspects of the book is that it shows the territorial complexity of the diocesan organization of Spain. The two last paragraphs provide the more important information. In the chapter on human issues she deals with the administrative organization, ecclesiastic demography, and population. While dealing with the economic issues she focuses on natural and ecclesiastic resources. These subjects are where the large difficulties, tensions, and contradictions of Spanish ecclesiastical organization can be appreciated.

The publication also includes very useful appendices. The first one consists of twenty-two pages with an abundant bibliography on pastoral visitations and relationes ad limina. Second, there is a table of names and places that facilitates the search for information in the text. Last but not least, the lithographies of four maps (of the dioceses of Granada, Santiago de Compostela, and Valencia) are attached, carefully edited in a file. This is an extra feature that the reader will surely appreciate.

However, a higher degree of analysis and reflection about the consequences that the geographical reality described above had for the Spanish Church would have been desirable. But it seems that this is a conscious neglect. The author has given some pointers, but it is the readers who must discover the picture and extract their own conclusions. But this task could be really difficult without some notion of the complex historical reality of Spain and of the Spanish Church. In any case, thanks to the large quantity of information contained, this work precisely can help one to know better the history of the Spanish Church.