CILE

CHILE. —

I. Geography

A South American state formed by the narrow western slope of the Andes, and thus enclosed between these mountains and the Pacific Ocean in a strip 150 to 200 km wide and 4,300 km long from north to south. The great latitudinal extent determines different climatic conditions in the various sections. As a rule, three regions are distinguished: a northern arid region (Atacama Desert), but rich in mineral resources; a southern region, humid and relatively cold, with good pastures, extensive forests, and a sea zone suitable for fishing; and, between the two, the central Chilean region, with a warm temperate climate and moderate rainfall, extensive plains that are irrigated or irrigable. The result is a country with broad economic possibilities, both in agriculture (cereals, tobacco, hemp, and especially vines), livestock (6,100,000 head of sheep; 2,300,000 head of cattle, etc., with consequent meat and wool industries), and forestry (one-fifth of the territory is covered by forests, but almost all in southern Chile and still little exploited), as well as in mining, which boasts, alongside the enormous resources of sodium nitrate in northern Chile (and by-products such as borax and iodine), those of copper (2nd place in world production), iron, gold, coal, rock salt, etc. Industry, of recent origin, is inadequate to the country's possibilities and needs, but has made notable progress in recent years (especially in the textile, food, and steel sectors). Trade is predominantly maritime, relying on numerous ports, the main one being Valparaíso, which alone handles half of the import traffic.

The population of Chile is fairly homogeneous from an ethnic standpoint, being overwhelmingly of Spanish descent. Native Americans (Changos, Fuegians, and Araucanians) now represent only about 2% of the total, and roughly the same percentage are foreigners (of whom there are 1,000 Italians; 25,000 if children born in Chile are included). Population density (7.2 per sq km) varies greatly from zone to zone; 28% of the territory, in the central region, concentrates 86% of the total population. The capital, Santiago, is now a large metropolis (1,500,000 inhabitants in 1947), but only one other city, Valparaíso, exceeds 100,000 inhabitants. The Catholic religion is professed by 95% of the inhabitants; however, a large part of the native population still practices paganism; there are also small groups of Protestants and Jews.

Chile is a unitary republic with a bicameral legislature. Here is its current administrative subdivision:

| Province | Area in sq km | Population (1 Jan 1947) | Density per sq km | Capitals (Population in thousands, 1940 census) |
|----------|---------------|-------------------------|-------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Tarapacá | 55,287 | 107,279 | 2 | Iquique (38) |
| Antofagasta | 123,063 | 164,268 | 1 | Antofagasta (50) |
| Atacama | 79,883 | 81,573 | 1 | Copiapó (16) |
| Coquimbo | 39,889 | 236,527 | 6 | La Serena (21) |
| Aconcagua | 10,204 | 117,348 | 12 | San Felipe (18) |
| Valparaíso | 4,818 | 507,567 | 505 | Valparaíso (212) |
| Santiago | 16,988 | 666,680 | 98 | Santiago (949) |
| O'Higgins | 7,112 | 208,608 | 29 | Rancagua (22) |
| Colchagua | 8,865 | 150,630 | 15 | San Fernando (15) |
| Curicó | 5,735 | 85,412 | 15 | Curicó (20) |
| Talca | 9,640 | 159,914 | 17 | Talca (45) |
| Maule | 5,626 | 62,113 | 11 | Cauquenes (11) |
| Linares | 9,820 | 128,572 | 13 | Linares (17) |
| Ñuble | 14,211 | 219,511 | 15 | Chillán (39) |
| Arauco | 5,756 | 72,934 | 13 | Lebu (8) |
| Concepción | 5,701 | 344,970 | 61 | Concepción (86) |
| Biobío | 11,248 | 126,627 | 11 | Los Ángeles (11) |
| Malleco | 14,277 | 156,505 | 11 | Angol (12) |
| Cautín | 17,370 | 318,655 | 18 | Temuco (39) |
| Valdivia | 20,002 | 195,805 | 10 | Valdivia (35) |
| Osorno | 10,015 | 106,760 | 11 | Osorno (27) |
| Llanquihue | 18,407 | 116,964 | 6 | Puerto Montt (13) |
| Chiloé | 23,446 | 92,823 | 4 | Ancud (4) |
| Aysén | 88,984 | 19,094 | 0.2 | Aysén (2) |
| Magallanes | 135,418 | 51,863 | 0.4 | Punta Arenas (30) |
| **Total** | **741,767** | **4,792,022** | **7** | |

The structure of Chile’s economy, in Rev. économ. intern., 27 (1935), pp. 495-510; G. MacBride, Chile: Land und Society, New York 1936; E. P. Hanson, Chile, ibid. 1941; E. Fergusson, Chile, ibid. 1943; P. T. Ewersworth, Chile: an Economy in Transition, ibid. 1945.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. Evangelization of Chile

After Pedro de Valdivia in 1540 opened the northern part of Chile to Spanish colonization, the evangelization of the Indians began through the work of the Mercedarians (1548), soon followed by the Dominicans (1552) and the Franciscans (1553), and toward the end of the 16th century by the Jesuits (1593) and the Augustinians (1595). In 1561 the diocese of Santiago de Chile was erected, and in 1563 that of La Imperial. The Araucanians to the south of the Bio-Bio River, however, resisted colonization and missionary work, destroying in 1598 La Imperial (the episcopal see was later transferred to Concepción) and the few missions of the Mercedarians and Franciscans. In the 17th century, despite the continual rebellions of the Araucanians, who constantly attacked the Spaniards and the missions, the Jesuits pushed southward as far as the Chonos Archipelago and founded reductions among the Araucanians themselves.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, these reductions were taken over by the Franciscans, who, having founded the missionary college of Chillán (1756), resumed their work among the Indians. The upheavals of the wars of independence disturbed but did not destroy this mission; indeed, in 1832, with the arrival of Italian Franciscans, it gained new momentum. In 1848 Italian Capuchins came to their aid, and in 1894 the Bavarian Capuchins arrived. To these was entrusted the Apostolic Prefecture of Araucanía, erected in 1901 and elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate in 1928. Among the Indians of Tierra del Fuego, the Salesians of Don Bosco worked from 1882 onward, founding several stations on Dawson Island. The success of the mission was interrupted around 1911 by a general mortality caused by tuberculosis; few Indians survived. In 1916, with the suppression of the Prefecture of Southern Patagonia, the Apostolic Vicariate of Magellan was erected in the Chilean part, which in 1947 became the diocese of Punta Arenas.

Since 1939 Chile has been divided into three ecclesiastical provinces: Santiago, with the suffragans Linares (erected in 1925), Rancagua (1925), San Felipe (1925), Talca (1925), Valparaíso (1925); La Serena, with the suffragans Antofagasta (1928), Iquique (1929), and Copiapó (erected as an Apostolic Administration in 1946); Concepción, with the suffragans San Carlos de Ancud (1840), Chillán (1925), Temuco (1925), Puerto Montt (1939), Valdivia (1944), Punta Arenas (1947). There also exist the Apostolic Vicariate of Araucanía and the Apostolic Prefecture of Aysén, erected in 1940 with territory detached from the diocese of Puerto Montt.

Giovanni Rommerskirchen

III. Ecclesiastical history of Chile

18 September 1810 marks the end of Spanish rule, although the struggle for independence dragged on for several more years and the existence of the new state was secured only after the Battle of Maipo (8 April 1818) and the expedition to Peru; it also marks, as in the other states of Spanish America, the beginning of a difficult period in relations with the Holy See. The king of Spain, according to the bull Universalis Ecclesiae of 28 July 1508, had the right of appointment to the episcopal sees of those lands, and Ferdinand VII was not disposed to renounce II. The Holy See, for its part, was concerned about the grave situation that arose as bishops died, since the Chileans refused to accept those appointed by the king. The Holy See could not consider the king of Spain’s patronage rights as de

He wished to oppose a refusal to the requests of the Archdeacon Cienfuegos, who had arrived in Rome as plenipotentiary of the Chilean government to demand the provision of vacant sees. Cardinal Consalvi, Secretary of State, devised the dispatch of a mission whose head, as Apostolic Vicar, would have the faculty to confer upon titular bishops the governance of the three vacant Chilean dioceses. In this way, neither Spanish susceptibilities were offended nor the needs of Catholics in that distant land were neglected.

The mission itself, presided over by Msgr. Muzi and of which Canon Mastai—future Pius IX—was a member, set sail from Genoa on 5 October 1823 and remained in Chile for seven months. However, it was not possible to reach an agreement with the government due to certain claims of state interference in ecclesiastical affairs. After the entry into force of the constitution of 25 May 1833, which in article 3 recognized the Catholic religion as the state religion, it was possible in 1840 to provide for the episcopal sees. Gregory XVI indeed elevated Santiago to an archbishopric in May of that year, with the suffragan dioceses of San Carlos de Ancud, La Serena, and Concepción.

Under subsequent pontificates, relations between the state and the Church experienced ups and downs determined by frequent internal political crises, though no radical measures were taken against Catholicism, which remained the fundamental religion of the country. Ecclesiastical tribunals were abolished, lay cemeteries established, and the exercise of any cult permitted. The separation of Church and state, enshrined in the new constitution of 1925, was the logical consequence of Chilean policy in previous decades, though it did not intend to assume oppressive forms toward Catholicism. Pius XI, in the allocution delivered at the Consistory on 14 December 1925, acknowledged that “this is a separation so amicable that it may be called friendly coexistence, in which the Catholic Church, we trust, will continue its beneficent work in every field among that beloved people.”

In 1939, a new reorganization of the dioceses took place with the elevation of La Serena and Concepción to metropolitan sees. In the Consistory of 18 February 1946, Pius XII granted the red hat for the first time to the Archbishop of Santiago, Caro Rodríguez.

In Santiago stands the Pontifical Metropolitan Seminary of the Guardian Angels.

**

Silvio Furlani

IV. Art in Chile

The Chilean nation, because of its turbulent political history, was among the regions of South America the most resistant to artistic achievement. Only in the mid-19th century did sculpture and painting attain their first noteworthy manifestations. Great merit then accrued to the Italian Alessandro Cicarelli, to whom in 1849 was entrusted the founding of the Academy of Fine Arts and the teaching of painting, which he held for many years. Later, in 1876, another Italian, Giovanni Mochi, continued the didactic tradition, further aligning Chilean painting with European taste.

Among Chilean painters are remembered Nicola Guzmán Bustamante, Pasquale Ortega, and Cosimo San Martín. Among sculptors, Rebecca Matte de Iquique revealed a notable personality; her work *La Desolata* is preserved in the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Florence. Italian influence was also decisive in architecture. The first architect entrusted with public buildings in Santiago was Gioacchino Toesca, whose works long remained the exclusive model for local builders. *See* pl. CII.

For the literature of Chile: *v.* Hispano-American, LITERATURE.

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Giovanni Carandente