In Argentine history, the 1880s are famous for the public debate around the definition of secularism. In that decade, three legislative projects were discussed and promulgated, giving form to the «secular laws» of education, civil registration, and civil marriage. In 1886, a trivial conflict between a parish priest from the suburbs of Buenos Aires and the archbishop fueled a confrontation that reached the highest political and ecclesiastical spheres, attracted the attention of leading public figures, and even led to the adoption of relevant legislation measures. The story of that episode is interesting because it put on the table crucial issues that defined secularism; shows how a fortuitous event, initially inconsequential, can acquire importance in decision-making at the highest level; illustrates the intricate relationships that mediate between events, conjunctures, and structural t...

In Argentine history, the 1880s are famous for the public debate around the definition of secularism. In that decade, three legislative projects were discussed and promulgated, giving form to the «secular laws» of education, civil registration, and civil marriage. In 1886, a trivial conflict between a parish priest from the suburbs of Buenos Aires and the archbishop fueled a confrontation that reached the highest political and ecclesiastical spheres, attracted the attention of leading public figures, and even led to the adoption of relevant legislation measures. The story of that episode is interesting because it put on the table crucial issues that defined secularism; shows how a fortuitous event, initially inconsequential, can acquire importance in decision-making at the highest level; illustrates the intricate relationships that mediate between events, conjunctures, and structural t...

In Argentine history, the 1880s are famous for the public debate around the definition of secularism. In that decade, three legislative projects were discussed and promulgated, giving form to the «secular laws» of education, civil registration, and civil marriage. In 1886, a trivial conflict between a parish priest from the suburbs of Buenos Aires and the archbishop fueled a confrontation that reached the highest political and ecclesiastical spheres, attracted the attention of leading public figures, and even led to the adoption of relevant legislation measures. The story of that episode is interesting because it put on the table crucial issues that defined secularism; shows how a fortuitous event, initially inconsequential, can acquire importance in decision-making at the highest level; illustrates the intricate relationships that mediate between events, conjunctures, and structural t...

Unlike the rest of the Latin American countries —with the sole exception of Costa Rica— Argentina never legally separated the Church and the State. The «liberal» governments of the period known as the «national organization» (1862-1880) and of the so-called «conservative order» (1880-1916), including those that led the country during the bitter public debates that accompanied the enactment of the «secular laws» of the 1880s, saw in Christianity a fundamental element of «civilization» and in the Catholic Church a necessary ally for the construction of the nation, the state and the «progress.» The article, based on ministerial and parliamentary sources, analyzes the consensus and dissent in the way in which the ruling elite conceived the agency of the Catholic clergy in the process of nation-building.