Adaptaciones y estrategias político-religiosas locales de un jesuita expulso: Diego León de Villafañe (1731-1830) y un conflicto teológico con el clero de San Miguel de Tucumán

Abstract

Between August 1804 and June 1807 a confrontation developed in San Miguel de Tucumán between some members of the Tucumán clergy and Diego León de Villafañe, a Jesuit who had managed to return from the exile imposed by the Spanish crown in 1767 to all the members of the Society of Jesus. This priest arrived in the city in 1799 and managed to settle there until his death in 1830, witnessing the main processes of independence and the construction of the provincial state.The reason for this conflict was to determine whether or not the Tucuman faithful could "promiscuar", that is, consume meat on days forbidden by the ecclesiastical authorities. Beyond the theological details of this pastoral dispute, in this article we are interested in studying Villafañe's perception of the rest of the Tucuman clergy, as well as the strategies he put into practice to impose his authority over them. In this sense, his position within the local Church was determined not only by his belonging to one of the main families of the region, but also by a series of symbolic resources and personal influences mobilized in his favor during the confrontation.

Keywords

• Society of Jesus
• Colonial church
• theological conflicts
• expulsion
• Diego León de Villafañe