“The word in the desert” the place of the canonical visits and itinerant missions in the institutional consolidation of the Buenos Aires Church (second half of the 19th C.)

Abstract

In this article, we will study the development of the canonical visits and itinerant missions in the Buenos Aires diocese, during the period of institutional consolidation of the Catholic Church. These missions proved to be important instances in the process of religious socialization. The Bishop and priests’ arrival to the villages, the previous arrangement of the activities, the participation of the local authorities and the community, as well as the socialization process it caused, disrupted the monotony of the quotidian life and transcended the religious objectives. We maintain that the practice of the episcopal visits and itinerary missions contributed to the consolidation of the institutional structure of the Buenos Aires Church, to the extent that they forced to traverse the rural environment and to visit all the villages. The knowledge and experience given from these missions were the key components to establish its material and symbolic presence in the territory.