The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico by Nevin O. Winter

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 16, 1908

The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico

By Nevin O. Winter

THE dim traditionary history of Mexico shows us shadowy tribes and nations passing across the stage, acting each its part, and then disappearing to make room for other actors. Each tribe and nation had its gods, and some were handed down from one nation to another. The mythology of Mexico is very much mixed, and as much might be said of the saintology of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico to-day. They have saints who were, only four centuries ago, celebrated as Aztec gods. The Aztecs, when they took possession of the Toltec country, adopted many of the Toltec gods and demigods. The Toltecs were nature worshipers, and made offerings of fruits, grains, and flowers to their gods. This peaceful god of the Toltecs, who took pleasure in the offerings of the fruits of the soil, soon took a place by the side of the terrible god of war of the Aztecs, and shared with him the rite of human sacrifices.

Finally many of the Aztec gods became Christian saints soon after the conquest. They brought with them into the Christian Church their characteristic virtues as gods. The goddess of the rains became Our Lady of the Mists, or Our Lady of the Rains. The saints retained the same power over the elements which they, as Aztec or Toltec gods, were supposed to have. In many places there are shrines to some Christian saint who is supposed to have power over the clouds, mists, or rain. It is shown that in most instances, in Aztec times, a temple or shrine existed on the

same spot dedicated to the goddess of the rains or mists, as the case might be.

It is no infrequent occurrence to see a bouquet of flowers before the image of the virgin in the churches or wayside shrines. Sometimes even offerings of wheat or fruits are found. There is one feast celebrated on the Viga Canal, on April 16, called “the Feast of the Poppies,” which is but a survival of an ancient Aztec feast day, which was adopted from the nature-loving Toltecs. It is now simply a day for a lavish display of the bright, many-colored poppies, which are arranged in wreaths and bouquets of many artistic forms. Indian women and girls in their well-befitting costumes, with wreaths of poppies on their heads, and garlands around their necks, sing in every imaginable key the madrigals of their people, dancing as they go. It is a day of merriment and pleasure. It has now lost its religious significance, but is a survival of one of the most solemn religious festivals of the Aztecs and Toltecs.

The transition from the native ceremonies to the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church was easy to a people who loved outward show and symbolism. The striking ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church, its grand language in an unknown tongue, its mysterious symbolism, the rich vestments of its priests, its lights, incense, and strange unearthly chants of the priests served to harmonize with the singular rites of the Aztecs, and it was not hard for Cortez to force his religion upon the simple and superstitious mind of the Mexican Indian. Their religion is not free from pagan features yet. Form and display mean more than spiritual elevation and humane sentiments with the more ignorant who constitute a very large proportion of the population. One can still discern in the rites of Catholicity as practised to-day in Mexico a tinge of the Indian worship of the Aztecs. In remote caves of mountain regions it is claimed the ancient deities are still worshiped.

The Roman Catholic Church used to be all-powerful in Mexico. It held the wealth and the learning, and the priests preyed upon the people. They were taxed to the utmost. “Pay or pray,” is the inspiring motto affixed to the cross. Rich men gave freely of their substance. Poor peons—and they are vastly in the majority—went clothed in rags that the church might be benefited. They even refrained from using soap that the money might be devoted to the virgin. Shrines and chapels were so numerous that the true believer passed through the streets with head uncovered and hat in hand in fear that he might pass one unobserved. During the latter years of Spanish rule in Mexico, the church became so enormously rich that it was reported to have in its possession one third of all the wealth in Mexico. In addition to the power the church naturally held, this immense wealth gave the leaders of the church great prestige in governmental affairs. At one time the clergy held property to the value of about one hundred eighty million dollars, yielding an annual income of twelve million dollars.

It had secured control not only of the wealth, but also of much of the best agricultural land within the republic. All this was tied up and became useless. The church used its great wealth to oppose all progress. When opposition finally broke forth, the immense wealth of convents, shrines, and monasteries was poured forth with unstinted hand in what the church considered a holy war against heretical ideas and persons. Reformers set envious eyes upon this wealth, and numerous attempts were made to dispossess the church of it. The great Indian reformer and president, Juarez, was the first to accomplish the separation of church and state. The establishment of the empire with Maximilian as emperor was simply a reaction and an attempt to establish an empire in which the interests of the church would be permanent.

This and other attempts failed. The reform, or anti-clerical movement, prevailed. The greater portion of the property once owned by the church has been lost. The country abounds in ruined churches and convents. The law went so far as to prohibit the church from holding property, and if it wished to hold property, it must be in the names of individuals. Priests were forbidden, under penalty of fine and imprisonment, to appear on the streets in their clerical dress. Religious processions outside the walls of the church or church yard were prohibited. Civil marriages were made obligatory to render a marriage valid. Sisters of Charity and the Jesuits were sent out of the country, and even the ringing of bells was regulated by law.

For many years Mexico has thus gone along the line of reform. The ambition of the church has been held in check, but not killed. It is regaining some of its former power, and recovering much of its former property. The average Mexican is superstitious. He is boastful and bold in times of peace, but craven when the time of trial comes. Consequently when sick and about to die, he will send for the priest, no matter how he may have fought the church when in health. The priest, claiming that the Roman Catholic Church, as the chosen of the Lord, has a lien on all earthly goods, refuses to administer the sacrament without some restitution. If the dying man owns confiscated church property, he must restore its value before he can get a clear title to a home in heaven. With the persistence characteristic of Catholic priests, they are ferreting out their former property, and again accumulating vast wealth.

They are also openly disregarding the established laws. I traveled for two days on the railroad with the bishop of Tehuantepec, who wore his purple robes of office all the time. At nearly every station priests met him, and he was given a continuous ovation. A few months ago a well-known priest, in defiance of the law which prohibits public religious processions, authorized such a procession, and blessed at the altar those who arrived with the procession. In many districts the law requiring marriage ceremonies to be made by civil authorities is completely disregarded. The priests tell the people that the religious ceremony is all that is necessary. Although the church upholds such marriages, in law they are absolutely null and void. Some priests go so far as to tell their people that the civil marriage is positively impious. And yet nothing is done to punish these violations of the established laws.

If the Roman Catholic Church of Mexico to-day, with its wealth confiscated, its public voice muzzled, its political powers annulled, has still such power that it can openly violate some of the fundamental laws of the country, we can have some faint idea of its power when it ruled the country with an iron hand.—Nevin O. Winter, in The Christian Advocate.