The Catholic Nation under Liberalism. Perspectives on Religious Unity in Liberal Spain, 1808-1868

Abstract

The article analyzes the historical meanings of the assertion of the catholic unity of the Spanish nation by the 19th Century liberalism. From the starting point of recent assumptions, which renovate the knowledge of the relationships between religion, politics and the nation, the authors consider the wide range of meanings of the illustrated legacy in the 18th Century and the confessional uniformity, enacted by the sovereign nation that the Constitution of 1812 had outlined. Religious denominationalism didn’t prevent any possibility of individual emancipation. On the contrary, early liberalism tended to mutually reinforce both identities, religious and national. At the same time, early liberals were confident that the new social conditions, enacted by liberal governments, should broaden gradually the operational range for the free individuals. Under queen Isabel II liberals kept hope on this way to the progress in confessional matters. However, the situation in the mid-19th Century led progressive liberals to a new expression of their ideas, that weakened their former postulates concerning individual emancipation and the citizens’ ability to choice.