Disputes over religious freedom in nineteenth-century Brazil: notes on ultramontane uses of the concept

Abstract

This paper analyzes the uses of the typically liberal concept of religious freedom by historical actors associated with ultramontanism, with particular emphasis on Cândido Mendes de Almeida. The objective is to identify how concepts are appropriated and transformed by rival styles of thought, in this case, how ultramontanism developed its own notion of religious freedom, which came to mean the freedoms of the Catholic Church. After reflecting on the points of convergence and divergence between liberalism and the notion of religious freedom, the paper examines the actions of the ultramontanes in their struggle against the liberal state, and then analyzes how this sector of Catholicism appropriated and employed the concept of religious freedom. Among the historical sources mobilized are texts by ultramontane authors, such as books and parliamentary speeches, as well as periodicals. The conclusion is that, beyond their regular refutation of the liberal notion of religious freedom, the ultramontanes also made use of this concept, albeit in a modified form, to support their own project of catholic modernity.