Church and state in Bourbon Mexico: the Diocese of Michoacán, 1749-1810

This book describes virtually all aspects of religious life in a Mexican diocese in the eighteenth century. It covers the Franciscan missionary colleges, the new Oratory at San Miguel, new convents and sisterhoods, confraternities and popular religion, the composition and earnings of the secular clergy, conflicts in the cathedral chapter, and the involvement of the clergy in the 1810 Insurgency. A central issue is the conflicts between Church and state and between the culture of baroque Catholicism and enlightened despotism.