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This article conducts an analytical overview of the controversies and acts that resulted in the formation of a native clergy in Portuguese America. The analysis is limited to the secular clergy and the ways by which descendants of Africans and Indians were incorporated into this segment of the Church. The author addresses the way parts of these groups developed strategies to access the priesthood, seeking to escape subaltern positions and consolidating processes of social mobility.

The present article seeks to show the participation of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in the process of spreading literacy in New Spain during the 18th century. Through an analysis of a variety of handwritten and edited documentary sources, it shows that the order founded by St. Philip Neri contributed to the enlightened project through its work of promoting public education for both sexes and the inclusion of modern disciplines in the education offerings of its secondary and primary schools, especially in the Bajío region.

El presente trabajo explora por vez primera la práctica musical en los monasterios de monjas del Chile colonial. Partiendo de la información inédita recopilada en el archivo del Monasterio de La Victoria de Santiago, se analizan aspectos históricos y musicales tales como la imagen de la monja música en la historiografía tradicional y postmoderna; su estatus social en el período colonial; la evolución de las plantillas musicales (instrumentistas y cantoras), con sus correspondientes cambios estilísticos y la injerencia que tenían los músicos ajenos al monasterio. Por último, se cuestiona la supuesta independencia de género de las monjas y se plantea la hipótesis de que las repetidas censuras a sus prácticas artístico-musicales estuvieron motivadas no sólo por propósitos moralizantes, sino también por la necesidad del clero secular y la autoridad civil de limitar el crecimiento de las instituciones monásticas.This is the first study about the musical practice in convents of Colonial Chile on the basis of new data collected in the archive of the convent of La Victoria in Santiago. It considers historical and musical aspects such as the image of the nun musician in traditional and postmodern historiography, her social status during the colonial period, the evolution of music groups (instrumentalists and singers), the stylistic changes associated with them, and the role played by foreign mule musicians in the monastery. Finally, it questions the assumption that nun musicians enjoyed an independence from masculine gender. Furthermore, it puts forward as a hypothesis that the frequent prohibitions of their musical and artistic practices originated not only in moralistic purposes, but also in the need of the secular clergy and civic authorities of limiting the growth of monastic institutions.

This work analyzes the establishment of the secular clergy in the diocese of Mexico in 1519 and its evolution until 1650. The study is based on the career of secular clergy according to canonical and royal guidelines. The first part explores the establishment of diocesan priests on this huge diocesan territory, as well as the obstacles they faced in the exercise of the duties. The second part, presents the social origins and the intellectual background of the secular clergy which was so determining for the career of its members. Finally, the third part approaches the processes leading to the appointment of these priests and focuses on their pastoral mission. The purpose of the whole thesis is to throw some light on the activity of the secular clergy who was the spiritual guide of Mexican Catholics following the innovative outlined orientations by the Council of Trent. Never before, the specificity of the secular clergy has been taken into account for itself, when considering the development of tridentine pastoral theology, showing this theology rooted in everyday life during the first decades of the early Mexican Church.