Iglesia, sociedad y regalismo en Cuba (1685-1789)

In the period between the end of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Church in Cuba experienced a remarkable growth in its human and material structures: new religious convents, expansion of parish churches, improvements in the formation of the clergy, etc. These aspects developed in parallel to the economic and demographic progress of the island. This paper studies the relationship between this growth and the exercise of the merced or regal grace on behalf of the patronato, as well as the constant recourse to real justice on the part of the candidates struggling for the new ecclesiastical benefits. It shows to what extent we can talk about a regalist mentality within the middle and high criollo sector, who were the main protagonists and beneficiaries of this expansion, rather than the regalism of the crown.