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DR. A. PAGANEL,
MEXICO, D. F.
.*
Bancroft Library
What the Catholic Church has done to Mexico.
A short historical sketch of the work and influence wrought by the
Catholic Church in Mexico since 1521, will not be found uninteresting
to the Catholics, Protestants, Jews and even the Mormons of this
country. American Catholics claim they do not tamper with politics;
that this is one of the reasons for their high standing in the com-
munity. Lately, however, there has been a change in this policy ; high
dignitaries of the Church have come out in the press with worldly
opinions on subjects such as suffrage and Mexican affairs. They have
attacked the representatives of the different parties in Mexico and
members of the Wilson administration have not escaped, but this same
Church and friends have consistently defended Huerta and his regime,
and have initiated a campaign of agitation against the Constitutional-
ists in favor of American Intervention.
If the high dignitaries of the Catholic Church want to meddle in
politics then they surely must not claim immunity from counter attacks
or hide under the cloak of religion or of their own sacred personalities.
Besides, the American Catholic laymen want to be informed of both
sides of the controversy.
When Hernando Cortez had conquered Mexico in 1521, he sooir
realized that soldiers alone could not control the millions of Indians
which had come under the rule of the Spanish king. Thousands of
priests, nuns and friars were, therefore, imported from Spain; the
priests soon settled in the cities and the monks in the country. They
established and built monasteries and churches from Uruguay to Cali-
fornia. In 1524, four Bishoprics were founded, in 1571 the Holv
\ Inquisition was established by the Dominicans and two years later the
w first "auto d^ fe" act of faith took place. The Jesuits arrived in Mex-
ico in 1572. It can be safely asserted that the colonization of New
Spain was achieved by the different religious orders ; they christianized
the Indians and made them work on churches, monasteries and on their
farms for their own benefit.
The Jesuits and the Franciscans did endeavor to foster learning in
the new land, but with limited success, owing to the fact that they
taught only the sons of Spaniards and the Indians they taught to
memorize the prayers in their own language. Although they were ex-
pelled in 1767, their work was very useful and they made themselves
conspicuous from the other orders in the zeal with which they noticed
the observances of their own rules. They were the teachers of the
Creoles and mestizos of New Spain, and dominated by their science,
sobriety, chastity and their insinuating spirit.
It is a strange commentary on the logic of Catholics that they
consider the expulsion of religious orders from Mexico under the
Laws of the Reform (1859) for meddling in politics, as an unjust
measure and an attack on religious liberty, when as a fact, they never
protested when that most Catholic majesty, the king of Spain, Charles
3
Ill, expelled the Jesuits from Spain and from New Spain because they
were accused of playing politics. Besides, they were suspected of enter-
taining certain doctrines on regicide; that is*to say, the right to kill
rulers when they were tyrants. There was an attempt on the life of the
Portuguese sovereign and as the Jesuits were accused as being re-
sponsible for it, they were exiled from Portugal. The same measures
were taken against them in France. Not only were the Jesuits ex-
pelled from Spain and the whole of New Spain, but their property and
real estate were confiscated. They possessed great capitals, outstand-
ing loans, haciendas, houses and churches.
In the three hundred years of Spanish rule in Mexico there were
sixty-two viceroys, out of these, ten prelates, mostly of the Dominican
order, held office as viceroys ad interim. The Dominicans had been
the dominating power in Mexico. The influence of the religious
orders was beneficial until the end of the sixteenth century. Their
religious zeal went so far in the beginning, that all vestige of Aztec
and other pre-Spanish civilization was destroyed by order of the friars.
Thus many very valuable historical documents, such as old parch-
ments, books, maps, Aztec statuary, teaocallis or temples, were lost to
the world.
Among the most prominent representatives of the Church we must
mention such men as Fray Vasco de Quiroga, a real saint who was
venerated for his Christian virtues. Fray Pedro de Gante, re-
lated to Charles V of Spain, known as a teacher and an organizer of
schools of industrial arts, Fray Bernardino de Sahugan, author of
books on pre-Spanish history, as well as Fray Javier de Alegre and the
famous Fray F. J. Clavijero.
These names, as well as others, should be inscribed on the golden
scroll of pre-Spanish history ; nevertheless there is a seamy side to this
silver lining.
As soon as this religious order became wealthy, the spiritual part of
its work was neglected and a majority of the clergy became imbued
with the idea that their power over the colonists would be increased
with their wealth and their political importance. Many prelates con-
sidered themselves superior to the military and civil authorities as was
the case with the Archbishop Don Juan Perez de la Serna.
The then viceroy, Marquis de Gelnes, incurred the enmity of this
strong-willed prelate, who rebelled against this authority of the viceroy
and was arrested. Thereupon De la Serna excommunicated all his
military guards and later even the viceroy. Things came to a point
when the Archbishop's friends incited the people to real munity; con-
victs were liberated from prisons and attacked and looted the royal
palace. The viceroy had to flee for his life, from Mexico to Spain and
when another viceroy was sent to Mexico, Archbishop De la Serna was
asked to appear before the King of Spain, who punished him by mak-
ing him Bishop of Zamor in Spain.
During Spanish rule in Mexico a discussion arose in the mother
country by a council of theologians as to whether the Indians had a
soul and if they were "gente de razon," that is to say, reasoning beings.
It must be remembered that a question similar to this came up for
discussion in Europe in A. D. 585, at the Council of Macon, as to
whether woman possessed a soul. It was finally decided that she had
all the possibilities of one. In the case of the Indian, they cut the
gordian knot by saying that the Indians were men, but not quite fin-
ished or complete, more like children or minors and that, therefore,
they should be subject to their masters and protected by their king and
the Church. It can be readily imagined what kind of protection the
poor Indian received, especially with monks as masters. When the
Indians were told that they were under the protection of the king and
the Church ,they answered resignedly : "The king is in Spain and God
is in Heaven."
The Inquisition or the Tribunal of the Faith.
The Holy Inquisition inquired with all available means into the
thoughts and actions of men in religious matters. Not only the
accused but likewise the informer were forced under penalty of torture
to reveal family secrets. The tribunal was secret; therein resided
its power. Its authority was unlimited as it did not depend upon any
other court. In its absolutism it disposed without scruples of the
liberty, honor, wealth and even life of any person. It imprisoned,
defamed, confiscated, condemned to the "garrote" (strangulation by
means of an iron collar), and it burned at the stake. Those accused
of heresy were not confronted by their accuser. They were kept in
solitary confinement, sometimes for years, until they underwent the
torture to compel confession.
Judgment usually ended in exile, by imprisonment to the gallows,
public whipping or death. Not even the dead or the absent escaped
punishment ; the bones of the former were incinerated, the latter were
burned in effigy. There were special and general "autos da fe.". In
1596 ten heretics were burned at the stake in Mexico City, mostly Jews
and Protestants. An "auto da fe" was considered an excuse for a
feast day.
During the ten years of the struggle for Independence the Inquisi-
tion persecuted the revolutionists and the inquisitors were called the
agents of despotism. Hidalgo and Morelos were the most conspicuous
victims and martyrs of the Inquisition. Abad y Queipo, Bishop of
Michoacan excommunicated Hidalgo in September, 1810 and in De-
cember of the same year received him under a pall in Valladolid
(Morelia) and celebrated his victories against the Spanish troops with
a solemn "Te Deum" in the cathedral. A few years later the clergy
became the alleged ally and protector of the successful revolutionists.
After the restoration of the Constitution (of 1812) in Spam, in the
year 1820, the Inquisition was abolished in Mexico where it had enacted
its judgments for the space of 294 years. The building of the Inquisi-
tion in Mexico City is now used as the Academy of Medicine.
When the Inquisitorial office was abolished in 1820, in its dungeons
was discovered, according to the account of an eyewitness "the Jew
Chrisantos Granados, called El Guatemalteco, true descendant of the
Jews, who had been expelled from Portugal in the eighteenth century.
He had on the crown of his hat a treatise on logic, which was his
heresy. Another dungeon was unsealed and from it was taken out,
5
one who looked like a skeleton, with a long beard. His crime consisted
in speaking in favor of the Independence. He had also some lines on
heresy, because he defined logic as the faculty of the human mind to
direct all action in order to discover the truth. Faint cries in another
dungeon brought the searchers to a naked, old man, who had his hands
and feet in iron rings attached to a wooden cross. He had been
there thirty years. The captain left the janitor like Adam, in order to
clothe the skeleton of this martyr.
"There were thirty-nine prisoners and they, thinking that they were
all going to be burned, asked : 'What is going to happen to us ?' and the
captain answered: 'Nothing, you are going to be free, for the Con-
stitution of the year 1812 has been sworn by his majesty, the King of
Spain and in virtue of that, this cursed tribunal is abolished.' The
prisoners were taken before the viceroy, Don Juan de Apodaca, Count
of Venadito, who gave them some money. Some had been in prison
so many years they knew nobody living in the world. None knew
which way to turn from the palace of the viceroy.
For three hundred years New Spain was surrounded by a Chinese
wall of exclusion ; exclusion of foreigners, of all education which was
not religious and all commercial intercourse which did not come direct-
ly from Spain. A dozen ships which sailed twice a year from Sevilla
to Mexico brought all the necessities and luxuries needed for a popu-
lation of several millions and sailed back to the old country laden with
the gold and silver of Mexico. The Index Expurgatorius of the
Roman See saw to it that no books except inocuous religious treaties
reached New Spain. This encouraged smuggling, intellectual as well
as commercial.
A few years before the struggle for Independence the population of
New Spain was about 5,300,000 inhabitants which were divided in this
manner :
European (Spanish) 60,000
Creoles 900,000
Mestizos 1,500,000
Indians 2,850,000
Total 5,310,000
So there will be observed that in three hundred years the population
had increased from a few million Indians and a handful of Spaniards
to 900,000 Creoles and a million and a half mestizos.
Decrees abolishing slavery were very numerous, but did not prevent
this system of oppression from continuing.
The contempt for the mestizos was a great factor in the feeling of
rebellion engendered against Spanish rule. So great was the contempt
for the mestizos and even the Creoles by the born Spaniards, that one
of the later viceroys, after the question of home rule had arisen, de-
clared "that as long as a Castilian remained in the country, though he
were no more than a cobbler, he ought to rule in New Spain."
Most of the Spaniards who became wealthy, returned to Spain, a
great many of those who remained behind did so because they were
poor. The Church took deep roots in Mexico, over four-fifths of the
land in Mexico was in the hands of the religious orders and the Church,
growing richer, lost its spiritual hold on the people.
As a proof of the ascendancy of the clergy in political matters, the
case of Mexican deputies to the Cortez in Cadiz in 1810, who were
almost all canons, may be cited.
The Dominicans alone might be said to have furnished a powerful
cause for the overthrow of Spanish rule, at the very time that they
were laboring hardest to uphold it as it manifested signs of tottering.
And all the orders by seizing and holding vast amounts of property,
by building churches and monasteries in times when the people were
suffering the most abject poverty, and by enforcing the laws of tithes
and gaining control of wealth which should have been applied to en-
courage industry and relieving the needs of the people, conspired to
stimulate the popular discontent which finally broke out into the open
revolt. A Creole priest raised the standard of revolt in Mexico on
September 16th, 1810. His name was Hidalgo, or by his full name
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. He was caught, sentenced to death by the
Inquisition and his head with that of four of his lieutenants was stuck
on pikes on the four corners of the public square, in Guanajuato in
1811, where they remained until 1821. The greatest military genius of
the revolution was another mestizos priest, Jose Maria Morelos ; there
were other patriot priests, Mariano Matamoros, Dr. Cos, Navarrete,
and Torres.
The Church excommunicated the partisans and authors of Mexican
Independence.
It must be known that the clergy violated the secret of the confes-
sional to denounce its enemies, which is one of the reasons for the
burning of the confessionals during the ten years' struggle for Inde-
pendence, in the war of the Reform and during the Constitutionalist
revolution.
There is historical proof of this. Don Manuel Iturriaga, canon of
Valladolid, who was affiliated with the revolutionary movement, on his
deathbed, confessed everything and the conspiracy was discovered be-
cause the father confessor violated the secret of the confessional.
Liberalism in Spain threatened the great interests of the Catholic
Church in Mexico and therefore it demanded "an absolute separation
from Spain and its radicalism."
The clergy began to hold secret consultations with their closest
adherents among the "Old Spaniards," and to devise means whereby
the rights and prerogatives of the religious orders might be conserved,
the immense revenues of the Church saved, and the co-operation of
the people of Mexico (whom they had previously estranged) secured
in their interests. Augustin de Iturbide was chosen as the tool by the
clergy to effect a union between the Mexican revolutionists and the
native army under the orders of the viceroy.
On the 21st of February, 1821, Iturbide succeeded in having the
plan of Iguala adopted by the revolutionists. The first Constitution
was given the name of the "Three Guarantees," because Religion, In-
dependence and Union were to be symbolized in the national flag, with
the colors red, green and white.
Iturbide's defection broke Spanish resistance and he was appointed
president of the five regents who represented the government ad
interim. In a turbulent meeting of the Congress, from which the re-
publican members were in a measure excluded, Iturbide was elected
Emperor of Mexico. He abdicated on the 20th of March, 1823.
Thirty-six articles were adopted in January to serve as a basis for a
future Constitution. The third article of the Constitution read as
follows : "The Religion of the Mexican nation is, and will perpetually
be the Roman Catholic Apostolic. The nation will protect it by wise
and just laws, and prohibit the exercise of any other whatever."
Lucas Alaman was the intellectual leader of the clerical party and
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was its military tool.
In 1832, Gomez Farias, Vice-President, with Santa Anna, proposed
the first reforms, that is to say, the abolition of the "fueros" or privi-
leges (1) of the clergy and army, the separation of the Church and
State, including the suppression of the monastic orders and more par-
ticularly the abolition of the right of the ecclesiastics to interfere in
secular affairs.
In 1833, Gomez Farias began a system of government reforms which
were only put into execution in 1859, after the three years' war.
Santa Anna played the part of the traitor and tool of the Church
until at last he was driven from the country in 1854, but not until he
had led his country into two disastrous wars which lost Mexico as
much territory as is contained in the whole of Mexico today.
In 1847, when Santa Anna was in the field organizing an army to
fight the Americans, "Gomez Farias, who was in charge of the gov-
ernment, proposed a loan of four million dollars from the Church
which was practically in possession of all the available wealth of the
country. The Church refused and the clericals created dissensions
among the troops for the defense of the country." For a month the
streets of the capital were scenes of wild confusion and violence.
The efforts of Gomez Farias to obtain assistance* of the Church in
the prosecution of the war was resisted by the "Polkos" (clericals and
gilded youths). While the squadron of the United States was in the
Gulf of Mexico, the "Polkos" were seeking to make terms of peace
with the United States, without attempting to preserve the integrity
of the national territory.
It was the action of the "Polkos" that made the war, on the part of
the army of the United States, a mere military progress through
Mexico from the borders of the land to the capital.
"The systematic encouragement of desertion from Scott's army was
another device in which much reliance was placed, and the plan was
so far successful that a certain number, principally Irish Catholics, did
desert at Jalapa and Puebla."
The war with Texas, with the United States, French Intervention,
were all deliberately planned by the reactionary party so as to avoid
a civil war and unite all factions under its flag. As we have said be-
fore, Santa Anna was the tool of the Church. The master mind of the
clerical party was Lucas Alaman. Some extracts from a letter of
Lucas Alaman, to the President-elect Santa Anna, follow:
"We are absolutely opposed to the federal system in the matter of
elections which has obtained hitherto and the elective city council
(municipal home rule), and to everything which bears any relation to
popular elections. . . . And we are persuaded that any and all of
these things can be satisfactorily carried out without Congress. We
desire, however, that you proceed under the counsel of a few advisers
who will outline your executive action. . . . We have the moral
strength of the united clergy, and likewise the land owners. . . .
For the rest we do not care, no matter what your personal convictions
may be, to see you surrounded by flatterers who will influence you
. . . you are already possessed of our desires, of the strength and the
support which is ours, and we presume you have the same ideas. //
it should happen not to prove so, it will be bad for the nation and
you. ..."
LUCAS ALAMAN.
The advanced liberals in Mexico promulgated on the 21st of Novem-
ber, 1855, what is known as the "Ley Juarez." The ecclesiastical
authorities saw at once, in the passage of the "Ley Juarez" an attack
upon the rights of the Church, their petted fueros and they pro-
tested most vigorously against the passage of the law.
The clerical opposition brought into prominence the Bishop of
Puebla, the Rt. Rev. Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Davalos, who
had been but recently advanced to the Episcopate. In March, 1854, he
anathemized from the pulpit, as heretical, the doctrines of Oc'ampo and
Miguel Lerdo. His zeal in that regard was rewarded by his elevation
to the Episcopate. "Each proposition regarding the new Constitution
was an attack upon some abuse that had existed, perhaps for three
centuries, and involved the wealth or the influence of some powerful
class. It was proposed, for example, to prohibit forced labor,
monopolies, alacabalas (or interstate custom duties), the acquisition
of property by religious communities. These prohibitions were sug-
gested not as mere doctrinaire theories, but as solutions of some of the
social problems presented to the reformers of the Constitution. In
opposition to the proceedings of Congress, the Bishops throughout the
country issued pastoral letters denouncing the reform propositions and
the entire Constituent Congress. They went so far as to excommuni-
cate certain officials in the City of Mexico, who had been active in ex-
ecuting the "Ley Lerdo" as well as all the government officials and
even the clerks in the offices."
In January, 1856, the revolt broke out full force. The garrisons of
Morelia, Michoacan, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Guadadajara and
San Juan de Ulloa started "cuartelazos" mutinies, with the war cry:
"Religion y Fueros," religion and privileges, while in Oaxaca, the
curates Carlos Parro, Jose Gabriel Castellanos and Jose Maria Garcia,
together with Captain Bonifacio Blanco, headed a military uprising
proclaiming the full establishment of the ecclesiastical and military
privileges, and the upholding of the Catholic religion to the exclusion
of all others. In Jalisco the friars of the monastery of El Carmen
joined with the soldiery in a military revolt.
'As was to be expected, the clericals were defeated, Santa Anna was
driven into exile and the Constitution of 1857 was proclaimed.
Article V says among other things : "The law, in consequence, does
not recognize monastic orders, and will not permit their establishment,
no matter what may be the denomination or purpose for which they
pretend to be established."
Article XXVIII. "The State and Church are independent. Congress
cannot make any laws establishing or forbidding any religion ..."
The Archbishop of Mexico, Don Lazaro de la Garza, announced in
circulars sent to the Bishops a few days after the order for the taking
of the oath had been given, that since the articles of this Constitution
were inimical to the institution, doctrine and rites of the Catholic
Church, neither the clergymen nor laymen could take this oath under
any pretext whatever. In view of this communication the Bishops of
all the dioceses sent circulars to their respective country vicars and the
parish curates and to the other ecclesiastics, informing them, First:
That it was not lawful to swear allegiance to the Constitution because
its articles were contrary to the institution, doctrines and rites of the
Catholic Church. Second: That the communication must be made
public and copies of it distributed as widely as possible. Third : That
those who had taken this oath must retract it at the confessional and
make this retraction as public as possible, and they must notify the
government of their action.
Not satisfied with this, the clericals induced Pope Pius IX to issue
a bull or mandate to disobey utterly the commands of the impious lib-
eral government. Part of this document is as follows: "Thus we
make known to the faith in Mexico and to the Catholic universe, that
we energetically condemn every decree that the Mexican government
has enacted against the Catholic religion, against the Church and her
sacred ministers and pastors, against her laws, rights and property and
also against the authority of the Holy See. We raise our Pontifical
voice with apostolic freedom before you, to condemn, reprove and de-
clare null, void, and without any value, the said decrees and all others
which have been acted by the civil authorities in such contempt of the
ecclesiastical authority of this Holy See, and with such injury to the
religion, to the sacred pastors and illustrious men."
This remarkable document of the vicar of Christ on earth had its
effect; "the friars patrolled the trenches of the revolting soldiery in
Mexico City, exciting them to fight; then as in 1847, the clergy paid
the wages of the troops, and their agents were bribing the officers of
the government that swells the ranks of the enemy."
In spite of all the excommunications and papal bulls, the liberals
were victorious in the end and on the llth of June, 1861, Juarez, the
pure blooded Indian was proclaimed Constitutional President of
Mexico.
President Juarez expelled some foreign diplomats who had meddled
in the political affairs of Mexico by favoring the reactionary elements.
This was done to the Archbishop of Mexico, the Bishop of Michoacan
and some high members of the clergy. As a consequence of this act,
the French minister Saligny, the clergy and the clericals, Jose M.
Gutierrez Estrada, Jose Manuel Hidlago and General Juan N. Almonte
10
;asked Napoleon III to intervene in Mexico. French intervention took
place between 1861 and 1865. This is what a French officer has to say
about the behavior of the French soldiers in Mexico: "First of all
they (the French) do not take any more prisoners and the wounded
are killed. It is a real war of savages, unworthy of the Europeans."
(Lieutenant G. Coine).
The United States recognized Juarez as the Constitutional president.
In 1867 the liberals, under Juarez, defeated and drove out the French
and in the same year they were victorious against the clericals who sup-
ported Maximilian. On the 19th of May, 1867, Maximilian, Miramon
and Mejia were judged and condemned to death.
Then followed the presidency of Juarez, Lerdo de Tejada and Por-
firio Diaz.
Diaz came in as a revolutionary president and ended in his old age
.as a supporter of the renascent Catholic party. During the War of
the Reform and French Intervention, three generals were at the head
of the clericals : Leonardo Marquez, Miramon and Mejia. The first
one managed to escape after the fall of the Empire and he lived in
Havana in exile until 1898, when he came back to Mexico. At this
time Porfirio Diaz was slowly, but surely, showing tendencies of going
back to the old regime and Leonardo Marquez, Don Francisco Elguero
and Sanchez Santos, who was editor of a Catholic paper called El Pais,
collaborated with Diaz in this sense, that they were the originators of
the new Catholic party of Mexico. Helping them were Francisco de
la Hoz, Francisco Pascual Garcia, Eduardo Tamariz and Fernando
Somellera. Francisco Elguero controlled the clergy in Michoacan and
represented A. and E. Noriega, Spaniards, in the question of the drain-
age of the Cienega de Zacapu (Mich) when they despoiled thousands
of Indians of their lands, including over fifty square miles. It is well
to call attention to the fact that Inigo Noriega, cousin of A. and E.
Noriega, was known by popular opinion to be a silent partner of Por-
firio Diaz. Fernando Somellera was entirely under the influence of the
Archbishop of Mexico and collaborated with him and was assisted by
Carmelita Diaz, wife of Porfirio Diaz. As Porfirio Diaz was getting
older, so the ascendency of Carmelita Diaz increased. The efforts of
the Protestants in creating industrial schools and churches in the north
of Mexico, accelerated the formation of the secret Catholic party which
laid its plans to counteract the influence of the Protestants by creating
Catholic schools all over the country, under the tuition of priests and
nuns, which were imported by the efforts of Mrs. Diaz. Priests, nuns
and friars were imported from France, the same ones that had been
expelled from their country, from Spain; some came from the United
States. In 1904 some American nuns were brought from Mobile,
and Atlanta, and they built a convent sixteen miles from the capital.
Many Mexicans became suspicious of these surreptitious immigrations
and Felix Diaz, then chief of police under Porfirio Diaz, raided the
first convent in 1905 and sent the inmates back to France. Several
raids by Felix Diaz followed and three shiploads of nuns were osten-
sibly sent back to the old country, but when the ships stopped at Pro-
greso, .the nuns landed there and after a while returned to Mexico.
11
The raids took place under the direction of Felix Diaz, and the-
round trip tickets of the peripatetic nuns were paid by Carmelita.
Diaz. It was a game of hide and seek, with the advantage on the side
of the wife of the "Old Man."
Carmelita Diaz was so certain that the religious orders had come to
stay that she informed the nuns to entertain no fear as to their safety
as she was in a position to let them know of any action which might be
taken against them.
The Madero revolution was unexpected in its suddenness and vio-
lence. It took everybody by surprise, the porfiristas, the cientificos, the
clericals, Europe as well as America.
By forcing the elimination of Diaz from power, the reactionary ele-
ment saved the day for a while, especially as the clerical and reaction-
ary F. L. de la Barra was successfully placed in the provisional presi-
dency. De la Barra prepared the way for the overthrow of the Madero
regime by working unceasingly in conjunction with the Catholic party
in Mexico and in Washington, to discredit the new political order as
represented by Madero. The new Catholic party came openly into-
being in 1911, when it put forth F. I. Madero as president and F. L. de
la Barra as vice-president. Once the ticket was in power there would
have been found a way of eliminating Madero ; unluckily for the
renascent Catholic party, De la Barra was defeated at the polls. In.
Congress the Catholic party was represented by Elguero and F. de la
Hoz and the opposition by F. Iglesias Calderon, Luis Cabrera, J. Urueta,
Serapio Rendon and others . The Catholic party had made Madero its-
candidate, hoping to use him to its ends, but when it was discovered'
that Madero was not amenable to reason, it began opposing him bitter-
ly, taking sides with every revolutionary movement which was initiated:
during the Madero regime, among which were the Orozco, Reyes,.
Felix Diaz revolts and later the Huerta treachery.
During the tragic ten days in Mexico City, when Madero was assas-
sinated, the high Catholic clergy favored the assassins in many ways
and later furnishing Huerta with forty million pesos to suppress the
revolution. The Catholic prelates did not trust Felix Diaz because of
his well known raids of convents and, therefore, they did not offer him-
the presidency, but concentrated all their efforts on Huerta, until they
succeeded in putting him in power.
Although Huerta's friends claim that he was innocent of the murder
of Madero by direct order, nevertheless it is an open secret that
Rodolfo Reyes demanded the heads of Madero, Suarez and Basso, in
revenge for his father's death ; the other members of the cabinet de-
manded the head of Gustavo Madero, who was murdered in the citadel
where Felix Diaz had his headquarters.
Huerta's professional secret is a secret of polichinelle, as every child-
knows that the murderous deed was a stepping stone to his dictator-
ship. Huerta was the tacit accessory to the crime. No matter how
many palliatory arguments the Mexican and American clericals may
give to white wash their good friend Huerta, he can exclaim as Lady
Macbeth : "Here's the smell of blood still : all the perfumes of Arabia*.
will not sweeten this little hand."
12
One of Huerta's great political blunders was the naming of the
clerical E. Tamariz as minister of public instruction, thus giving one
of the most important portfolios to the Catholics. The whole Congress
protested most vigorously and it was then that the dictator had them
all put in jail, except the Catholic members, and then named a Congress
of his own.
Doctor Urrutia, a pupil of the Jesuit College, was the lago of the
clerical party, his friendship and influence over Huerta served him
admirably, having been his political mentor and prompter since 1908.
when Diaz was still in power. The great chance arrived during
Madero's regime. As Huerta was only a soldier and not a politician,
the clerical party picked out Dr. Urrutia as a president molder and
accelerator. Up to that time Dr. Urrutia was known as the most 'bril-
liant and successful surgeon in Mexico.
When Huerta achieved power Dr. Urrutia became a member of his
cabinet and official executioner of the most important enemies of his
regime ; scores of well known victims disappeared mysteriously, among
them a senator, Belsario Dominguez and an anti-clerical deputy, the
Lie. Serapio Rendon. Dr. Urrutia was the most powerful, dreaded,
hated man in Mexico ; he was the modern inquisitor and hangman of
the clerical party ; but instead of cowing the Mexicans into submission,
he drove the best element into the arms of the new revolution.
But the clericals soon discovered to their discomfiture that Huerta,
with all his ruthlessness, his cunning, cruelties, and his much-vaunted
strength, was really losing his grip on Mexico and that he had very
little chance of being recognized by the Washington administration,
therefore, they began casting about for another clerical presidential
possibility. Dr. Urrutia was chosen as the only convenient and
obedient instrument of the Church. Thereupon the high clergy began
to conspire the "accidental removal" of the dictator. A letter from the
Archbishop of Michoacan to Dr. Urrutia revealed the intrigue. It
says in part : "My profound sympathy and affection for you make me
fear that these men's intrigues might put an obstacle on the path that
our Lord and Blessed Mother have put before you to climb to the cul-
minating position of Chief Executive of the Republic, which position
will require of you the greatest sacrifice, but will at the same time lay
before you a vast field in which to exercise your activity for the glory
and honor of God and for the benefit of our beloved country."
Huerta got wind of this little scheme to eliminate him, and sent
his agents to arrest Dr. Urrutia and the conspiring prelates. Dr.
Urrutia escaped by the skin of his teeth to Vera Cruz, where he begged
the protection of Gen. Funston against the infuriated Mexicans who
were ready to lynch him. All the Mexican Bishops and Archbishops,
involved in the plot, fled from the wrath of Huerta and placed
themselves under the protection of the clerical Brazilian minister who
represented the United States. Later they were smuggled out of
Mexico City. The American press gave as reason for their sudden
escape from Mexico an alleged conspiracy to get rid of them by the
Constitutionalists, although at that time they controlled neither Mexico
City nor Vera Cruz.
13
Vera Cruz became the center of political intrigue under the protec-
tion of the American flag, against Huerta, against the Constitutionalists
and in favor of intervention, that is to say, in favor of a quick march
and occupation of Mexico City by the American troops.
One of the reasons for the insistent demand that Vera Cruz should
be put under American control, was that that seaport was an ideal spot
for revolutionary intrigue, first for its nearness to the capital and
secondly because the clericals, under the shadow of the American flag,
could continue formenting revolts until a clerical had been placed in
power in Mexico City. The disappointment was great when the Amer-
ican troops left and Carranza's soldiers entered the city of Vera Cruz.
Nuns, friars, priests, prelates, ex-federals, ex-cabinet members, all
the revolutionary riff raff of Mexico, which had been playing politics,
left for Havana and the United States. The exiled Catholics were
received by their fellow believers in the United States and soon after-
wards all the Catholic dailies, weeklies, monthlies were filled with
stories of alleged persecutions and rapes and robberies committed by
the revolutionists.
A pamphlet, relating all these atrocities, was published in Chicago,
containing articles with replies to a pamphlet by John Lind and another
by Col. I. C. Enriquez, a Mexican Catholic who had fought under Gen-
eral Obregon and who denied the charges made by the exiles and their
friends in the United States. The answer in this lurid pamphlet was
ostensibly signed by an American Catholic priest, but had really been
written by the Mexican editor of "El Pais" (a Catholic daily in Mexico
City) and translated for the benefit of the American author who never
knew anything about Mexican history until the pamphlet was printed.
The fourth edition of this booklet ran to almost 100,000 copies, at
fifteen cents a copy, so you can figure out for yourself that this Chris-
tian shepherd reaped from the alleged sufferings of the political martyrs
a financial bonanza.
The strangest part of this so-called religious persecutions is a fact
which stands out glaringly, and that is that no Protestant clergymen
were ever molested in Mexico.
Why should the Indians and the middle class Mexicans ,who are all
Catholics, want to persecute and drive out their own "sky pilots" unless
they had. meddled in politics and taken sides with the oppressors, thus
placing themselves outside the pale of the law? Why is it that the
lower clergy has remained in Mexico and continues to attend to its
spiritual duties without being molested by the Constitutionalists?
This simple fact destroys all the statements published by the Ameri-
can Catholic press that the Constitutionalists are persectuing the Cath-
olic religion. What the revolutionists have really been doing was to
weed out and extirpate forever the political scum and interlopers in
Mexico.
While the American troops were in possession of Vera Cruz, a list
was made by General Jose Refugio Velasco, of all the ex- federal gen
erals who were in that port, this list showing that there were more
than 450 ex-federal generals plotting more trouble under the protection
of the American flag.
14
This proves the harmful influence of unwarranted foreign occupa-
tion. While the American troops were supposed to be doing good by
enforcing peace and the respect of rights, they were harboring a nest
of trouble brewers, thereby making more difficult the already difficult
task undertaken by Don Venustiano Carranza that of pacifying the
Republic.
It is also shown that Major Frank Joyce, an officer of the 14th Regi-
ment of Artillery, which was sent to Vera Cruz, showed more than the
usual interest in getting together stories told by the refugees, of atro-
cities and persecutions against monks and nuns, without troubling him-
self to find out whether those stories were true or not. They were
stories of monks having been shot in Guadalajara, and of nuns who
had been outraged by the soldiers. Allowing that anything of
the kind might have happened in isolated instances, it was the ex-
ception and not the rule, and if Major Joyce had taken the trouble, he
would have found that most of the stories told him were stories,
told for the purpose of capturing the sympathies of an unsuspecting
public, which did not know that the laws of Mexico expressly forbid
the presence of religious orders, under any pretext whatever.
Those stories Major Joyce carefully gathered and sent copies to
Cardinal Farley and to the Hon. William J. Bryan in Washington.
Father Carlos de Heredia, who, while in New York, stopped at the
Church of St. Francis Xavier, making a trip to Washington in Decem-
ber, 1914, where he had a conference with Secretary Bryan. He left
immediately afterwards for Havana, to interview the monks and nuns
in that city, under instructions of Cardinal Farley. Major Joyce
pushed his zeal to such an extent as to make a trip to Mexico City in-
cognito, just to see if he could get hold of anything on which he could
make more charges against the Constitutionalists.
Mr. S. Augusto Zubieta declared that he knew that the last effort
of the Catholic party was to back a new revolutionary movement, at
the head of which they wanted to place Felix Diaz and General Itur-
bide. The Catholic party had already put in the hands of Felix Diaz,
through an American prelate, a check for ONE HUNDRED THOU-
SAND DOLLARS, with which Don Felix was to go to Havana to
rally his followers and begin his preparation to start a new revolution.
Their plan was to charter vessels which would land arms and ammuni -
tion on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, from which they would work into
Oaxaca and there begin operation against Carranza.
All this was being done with the active support of the Catholic party
in the United States, which influenced by the false reports circulated
by the enemies of the Constitutionalists had from the beginning antag-
onized the revolution.
Herewith is printed an affidavit, written and sworn to by Mr. S. A 1 .
Zubieta, a Mexican Catholic and an ex-federal officer:
I, Salvador A. Zubieta, do hereby declare that on or about December,
1914, and January, 1915, I had occasion to meet Cardinal and
talking over the Mexican situation, we discussed several questions of
importance, among them the alleged actions of Carranza against the
Catholic Church and he confided to me that the Catholics in this coun-
15
try were disposed to back a new revolution, of which Felix Diaz was
to be the head. The instigator of this movement is the well known
murderer, Cecilio Ocon, who seems to have gained the ear and the con-
fidence of Cardinal , the said Cardinal having believed unques-
tioningly all the false representations made by this unscrupulous
murderer. The Cardinal also asked if I would help in this, probably
because he thought my family connections in Mexico and the fact of
my being a Catholic, would gain some advantage to the cause. Card-
inal also stated that many Catholic institutions in this country
were ready to back this movement with about ten million dollars.
New York City, February 27th, 1915.
(Signed) Sal. Augusto Zubieta.
State of New Yorkl S.S.
County of New York J
Sworn before me this 27th
day of February, 1915.
(Signed) W. J. Berow,
Notary Public,
New York County No. 374.
New York Reg. No. 5255.
[SEAL]
William J. Berow,
Notary Public,
New York County.
This remarkable document proves two things: one that the Catholic
party in the United States is playing politics surreptitiously, and sec-
ondly, that it is not doing it intelligently. If the history of the rise and
downfall of the political power of the Catholic Church in Europe is not
an obvious lesson to the Catholic politicians in America, certainly the
defeat of its political power in Mexico should be a warning.
The religious strength, dogmas and spirituality of the Catholic
Church cannot be discussed here as not belonging to this argument. It
is the same old story. It begins everywhere modestly, keeping to its
spiritual duties. Slowly, but surely, it acquires wealth, real estate, a
press of its own and then falls to the all-mastering ambition and is
tempted to play politics which is invariably followed by its political
elimination.
If the master minds in Rome were defeated and lost the temporal
power of the Church in Italy, where the Catholics are in a majority,
how can picayune clerical politicians in the United States hope to
control America politically, where the Catholics are in a minority?
After forty years of hostility to the Italian Government the Holy See
realized its mistake and made advances. In an interview with Italian
Catholics, Pope Benedict XV stated that the Italian Catholics should be
first of all Italians. This was said to offset the publicity given by the
enemies of the Holy See that the interests of the Catholic Church were
with Austria and its political integrity, as against Italy and its govern-
ment, which had despoiled it of its temporal power.
16
This attitude of the present Pope was not only eminently Christian
"but also statesmanlike. Pope Benedict XV ought to be and he will be
informed of the intrigues of the Mexican prelates and the Mexican
clergy to foment revolutions and bloodshed so as to incite the Ameri-
can Government to intervene in Mexico.
To prove that the Mexican prelates now exiled in the United States
are not in sympathy with Mexican aims, struggles and sufferings we
<[uote the following from the "Pueblo" in Vera Cruz, March 26th, 1915.
A protest from the Catholic priests in Mexico.
To Don Venustiano Carranza, Chief of the Constitutionalist army and
in charge of the Executive Power of the Union:
"We, the undersigned Catholic priests of the Archbishopric of Mex-
ico, take pleasure in stating that it is with regret and disapproval that
we have seen a number of Catholic refugees in foreign countries, acting
on the advice and under the influence of an association which with the
pretext of protecting the Catholic cause, has long been trying to inter-
fere in our national affairs, address a petition to a foreign government
for the protection of the Church in Mexico. We protest to you that
none of us have taken part in these measures which we consider anti
patriotic and unnecessary. It is true that we have to lament several
injuries in persons and things pertaining to the cult and service of the
Church, but we consider all this a sad consequence of the revolution
which has affected our country in its very foundations, and which, on
tearing up many harmful elements, sweeps away at the same time, with
irresistible force, others which are harmless ; but we confess that on
part of the most distinguished personalities of the revolution, we have
received attentions for which we are thankful, and many times also,
the guarantees to which we are entitled as Mexican citizens. We trust
therefore, without resorting to any foreign power, to succeed in obtain-
ing all the guarantees and rights consistent with the laws that govern
us, which will permit us, far from all political action, to devote our-
selves to the moralization of the poor and to the pacification of our
country, on the basis of the respect which is due to the constituted
authority and fraternity of all Mexicans. Please accept this mani-
festation of our feelings and our gratitude and respect."
Following are the signatures of the Catholic priests :
Dr. Antonio J. Paredes, Vicar General of the Archbishropic of
Mexico ; Jose Cortes, rector ; Silvestre Hernandez, Clemente M.
Cordoba, Francisco E. Alvarez, Manuel Rodriguez F., Edoardo D.
Paredes, Bruno Martinez, Guillermo Trischler, Gerardo Anaya, Augus-
tin Alvarez, Domingo Rojas, Felipe de la O, Manuel Cadenas, Alberto
Gosca.
Then followed the signatures of several Spanish priests.
This manifesto or protest of the Mexican Catholic priests should be a
salutary lesson in ethics and Christianity to the militant Catholic pol-
iticians and trouble-makers in the United States.
17
The historical facts in this pamphlet are taken from the following-
authors :
From Empire to Republic, A. H. Noll; Historia del Pueblo Mex-
icano, Carlos Pereyra; De la Dictatura a la Anarquia, Ramon Prida;
A Short History of Mexico, A. H. Noll ; The United States and Mex-
ico, 1821-1848, G. L. Rives; The Mexican People and their struggle
for Freedom, L. G. de Lara and E. Pinchon; Mexico a traves de los
siglos ; Compendio de la Historia de Mexico, L. P. Verdia.
Extracts from the Laws of the Reform.
The American Catholic papers have advertised the news that millions of
property belonging to the Catholic Church in Mexico, had been either destroyed
or confiscated by the Constitutionalists. The Catholic Church in Mexico has
not owned any property since 1859 and even the churches ar government prop-
erty which are rented out to the clergy. The fact that religious orders are for-
bidden to stay, in other words, are outlawed in Mexico, was never mentioned
by the Catholic clergy. All through the revolution prominent Catholics and the
Catholic press have attacked the Constitutionalists either in ignorance or bad
faith. A continuation of a campaign of misstatements, hostility and hatred by
the American Catholics, will only succeed in driving the Mexicans to do what
the Catholics fear most: they will throw thfem into the^arms of the Protestant
Church, which will act as a healthy balance against the'political designs of the
Catholic Church. .
Law of July 21st, 1859.
Art. 3. There shall be perfect independence between the affairs of
the State and the affairs purely ecclesiastical. The government will
limit itself to protecting with its authority the public worship of the
Catholic religion and any other religion.
Art. 4. The ministers of the faith for the administration of the
sacraments and other religious functions will be permitted to accept
gifts and oblations offered in return for services rendered, but neither
gifts nor indemnities shall be rendered in the form of real estate.
Art. 5. The existent religious orders, irrespective of denomination
or for what purpose created, and all archconfraternities, confraternities
and brotherhoods connected with the religious communities and the
cathedrals, parishes or any churches, shall be suppressed throughout
the entire republic.
Art. 6. The foundation and erection of new convents or religious
orders of archconfraternities, confraternities or brotherhoods of what-
ever form or appellation is prohibited. Likewise the wearing of the
garb of the suppressed orders is forbidden.
Law of December 14th, 1874.
First Section.
Art. 1. The State and the Church are independent of each other.
No one will be empowered to dictate laws establishing or prohibiting
any religion; but the State exercises authority over them, in relation
to the conservation of public order and the respect of its institutions.
Art. 2. The State in the Republic guarantees the exercise of all
cults.
18
It will prosecute and punish only those practices and acts, authorized
by some cult, which may be in violation of our penal laws.
Second Section.
Art. 14. No religious institution may acquire real estate or capital
invested in real estate with the exception of the temples to be used
solely for the public service of the cult or the buildings which may be
strictly necessary for such service.
Third Section.
Art. 19. The State does not recognize any monastic order nor can
it permit their establishment, no matter what the denomination or
object under which they may have been created.
The Secret orders which have been established shall be considered
as illegal and the authorities can dissolve them should their members
live in Communities; and in any case, their chiefs, superiors or direc-
tors will be judged as guilty of an infraction of individual guarantees,
in conformity to Article 963 of the Penal Code of the district, to be
enforced in the whole Republic.
Art. 20. All religious societies whose individuals live under certain
peculiar laws by virtue of promises or temporary or perpetual vows
subject to one or more superiors, even when the individuals of the
orders shall live in different places, shall be considered monastic orders
in conformity with the foregoing article.
Therefore the first declarations relative to the circular of the Minis-
ter of the Interior, of May 28, 1861, shall be without effect.
(1) The clergy and the army were tried by their own courts.
