The Church in Colonial Latin America is a collection of essays that include classic articles and pieces based on more modern research. Containing essays that explore the Catholic Church's active social and political influence, this volume provides the background necessary for students to grasp the importance of the Catholic Church in Latin America. This text also presents a comprehensive, analytic, and descriptive history of the Church and its development during the colonial period. From the evangelization of the New World by Spanish missionaries to the active influence of the Catholic Church on Latin American culture, this book offers a complete picture of the Church in colonial Latin America. The Church in Colonial Latin America is ideal for courses in the colonial period in Latin American history, as well as courses in religion, church history, and missionary history.

The Juzgado de Capellanias was the most important fiscal institution within the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. It operated in each diocese as a type of bank, receiving clerical revenues from various sources and investing them by way of loans at interest. The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico was both a cause and a victim of the political and economic chaos of this period. The liberals alleged that the concentration of much of the country's wealth in the hands of the clerical corporations hindered the political and economic progress of the nation. The clergy argued that they utilized much of their property and capital to the direct benefit of both society and the economy. Dr Costeloe examines these different views in relation to the Juzgado in Mexico. He discusses its complex internal administration, skilled employees, sources of revenue and the procedure for obtaining loans from it. Since the borrower was obliged to guarantee repayment of his loan by offering a property as security, the Church, through the Juzgado as creditor, gained control of the mortgaged property. Dr Costeloe analyses the effects of this investment and subsequent control of real estate via the clergy. In the final section, the author discusses the relations between the Juzgado and the State.

Conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and the State in Mexico became prominent soon after independence in 1821, and during the next three decades national and state governments made various attempts to reduce ecclesiastical influence in the social, economic and political life of the nation. Few of such efforts met with much success, and it was not until 1856 that a major reform was initiated. Legislation was issued which affected all spheres of clerical activity but the most vital and controversial aspect of the reform involved the measures adopted to dispossess the Church of its wealth. The extensive ecclesiastical holdings of urban and rural real estate and capital were nationalized and redistributed. Professor Bazant examines earlier attempts at nationalization, and describes in detail the implementations of the 1856 Lerdo Law and subsequent decrees. Using selected areas of the country, he traces the precise effects of the redistribution of Church property and capital, describing the terms of sale or transfer, the number of sales, the buyers, their nationality and occupation, and the total value of the amounts involved.

In the eighteenth century the Mexican Church experienced spiritual renewal and intellectual reform. This is a rounded portrait of the Mexican Church at its meridian, touching upon virtually all aspects of religious life.

R. Andrew Chesnut offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a skeleton saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees over the past decade. Although condemned by mainstream churches, this folk saint's supernatural powers appeal to millions of Latin Americans and immigrants in the U.S. Devotees believe the Bony Lady (as she is affectionately called) to be the fastest and most effective miracle worker, and as such, her statuettes and paraphernalia now outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Jude, two other giants of Mexican religiosity. In particular, Chesnut shows Santa Muerte has become the patron saint of drug traffickers, playing an important role as protector of peddlers of crystal meth and marijuana; DEA agents and Mexican police often find her altars in the safe houses of drug smugglers. Yet Saint Death plays other important roles: she is a supernatural healer, love doctor, money-maker, lawyer, and angel of death. She has become without doubt one of the most popular and powerful saints on both the Mexican and American religious landscapes.