Who wants to be a Franciscan? Candidates to the Order of St Francis in Córdoba, Argentina (1666-1850)?.

JORGE TROISI MELEAN

Archivum franciscanum historicum Periodica Publicatio PP. collegii S. bonaventurae

PP. collegii S. bonaventurae

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2016 vol. 1-2 p. 309 - 327

0004-0665

By the end of the eighteenth century, the decline in the number of clergy produced a severe crisis of the Catholic Church in Spanish America. According to traditional historiography, both the decline and the crisis were the result of the Crown?s policies trying to limit ecclesiastical power and society?s changing attitudes towards religion.1 To assess the impact of the crisis, i have studied the Franciscan recruitment patterns in Córdoba, from the beginnings of their novitiate in the mid-seventeenth century until 1850.2 in particular, the Informaciones ?de genere, vita et moribus? de aspirantes will be analyzed: an unpublished source of the Archive of the Convent of San Jorge, in Córdoba, that includes data on the candidates for the Franciscan Order in that city of colonial Argentina. i also focus on the last decade of the eighteenth-century to show if Córdoba?s society found better alternatives for rising on the social ladder than having their children join the regular clergy.