Pública utilidad o causa pública: la utilidad de los conventos de la provincia de Veracruz, 1786-1834

Abstract

Between 1786 and 1834 the convents of Veracruz were justified with the argument of the “public utility”, that one of the neighborhood of a town, for which they used to provide the sacraments and they contributed to the maintenance of the order and the local honor. After the independence new arguments appear: the welfare and the education. At the end of eigteenth century they were also considered beneficial to the State, because they preached the obedience to the king. But then and above all after the independence, they began to be considered useless or even dangerous for the “public cause”. However, the attempt of secularization of 1834 shows us that the culture of the traditional “public utility” maintained its currency.