Over the last half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries, rising secular liberalism led many Catholic Church leaders in Latin America and Rome to believe that the Church was in a state of crisis. As a solution, they focused on improving clerical education by reforming Latin American seminaries and by sending the best students to the Colegio Pío Latino Americano in Rome. This book examines the experiences of young clerics in Rome and the effects of their Roman education on their home dioceses after their return. Roman Virtues contributes to our understanding of the role of the Catholic Church in Latin American society and the relationships between local Latin American churches and the papacy during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Series edited by: Gladys M. Varona-Lacey