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THE THEORETICAL ORIGINS OF CATHOLIC NATIONALISM IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2014

BORJA VILALLONGA
BORJA VILALLONGA*
Affiliation:
History Department, Columbia University E-mail: bv187@columbia.edu
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Abstract

Catholicism's contribution to the development of nationalist ideology, and more generally to the process of European nation building in the nineteenth century, has been neglected. Most previous work has concentrated instead on varieties of liberal nationalism. In fact, Catholic intellectuals forged a whole nationalist discourse, but from traditional-conservative and orthodox doctrine. This essay charts a transnational path through Latin European countries, whose thinkers pioneered the theoretical development of Catholic nationalism. The Latin countries–France, Italy, and Spain, especially–were the homeland of Catholicism and theological, philosophical, historical, and political theories originating in it had a tremendous impact on the general formation of Western nationalism. This essay examines the formation, evolution, and consolidation of Catholic nationalism through “New Catholicism,” showing how the nation-state project and modernity itself were rethought in a new conservative and Catholic form.

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Articles
Information
Modern Intellectual History , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , August 2014 , pp. 307 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank the three anonymous readers; the editorial staff of Modern Intellectual History; and, above all, Samuel Moyn, Gregorio Alonso and James Chappel. An early version of this essay was presented at the University of Leeds “Sujetos frágiles” Research Group workshop.

References

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