IV. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHURCH
This is dominated and characterized by the question of the national Patronage. Ever since the separation of Venezuela from Spain within the “Great Colombia” (Colombia, Ecuador, Panama), the new government claimed to continue exercising the Patronage as heir to the privileges granted by the Holy See to the Kings of Spain, and subsequently arbitrarily expanded. These claims were asserted and codified in the *Ley de Patronato Eclesiástico* of 28 July 1824, definitively confirmed, as regards Venezuela, by the Constituent Congress with a law of 15 March 1833, and always regarded by the government as the basis and foundation of Church-State relations. All the Constitutions, including the one in force since April 1953 (art. 59), make explicit reference to II. Some of the numerous rights that the government intends to exercise by virtue of the Patronage, such as those relating to the celebration of Councils, pastoral visits, etc., are not in practice enforced. Others, however, such as the creation of new dioceses, the appointment to cathedral and parish benefices, and the election of bishops, are exercised by the government in an absolute manner. In return, the State provides the Church with substantial economic subsidies. The Holy See has never recognized these rights but has only tolerated them. This state of affairs could not but be harmful to the life and development of the Church in Venezuela, depriving it in particular of the necessary freedom in the appointment of bishops and fostering an extensive and improper interference by state authorities in ecclesiastical matters.The Constitution guarantees all inhabitants of the Republic religious freedom under state supervision (art. 35, §6) and barely touches upon the topics of greatest interest to the Church, namely, education, marriage, the family, and social issues, continually deferring to special laws, which for the most part are still inspired by the atheistic and anticlerical principles of the last century. Civil marriage is in force, and divorce is easily obtainable. Education, both public and private, is regulated by the Provisional Statute on Education of 25 May 1949. This statute provides for such minute state intervention as to hinder the free development of private school activities and to reduce to very little the freedom of teaching guaranteed by the Constitution (art. 35, no. 13) and reiterated in art. 2 of the Statute. It must be acknowledged, however, that it marked a considerable improvement over the previous Organic Law, promulgated in October 1948, partly eliminating the odious differences between private and official education and dispelling suspicions regarding the work of Catholic schools. The same Statute also restored religious instruction in state schools, with two hours per week, for pupils whose parents or guardians request II.
By decree of the Ministry of National Defence dated 10 July 1946, the “Service of Chaplaincy of the Armed Forces” was established for the religious assistance of the military.
The Holy See established an Apostolic Delegation in Venezuela, Santo Domingo, and Haiti in 1876, with residence in the latter two republics; the first delegate was Msgr. F. Rocco Cocchia. In 1909, Msgr. G. Averse was appointed Apostolic Delegate for Venezuela, and in 1913 Msgr. C. Pietropaoli was appointed with a definitive character. Pope Benedict XV elevated the Apostolic Delegation to an Internunciature in 1916 and subsequently, in 1920, to a Nunciature; the first Nuncio was Msgr. F. Marchetti Selvaggiani, who had previously served as Internuncio from 1917 and later became a cardinal. Pope Pius XII, by an Apostolic Letter of 7 October 1944, declared the Blessed Virgin Mary of Coromoto, venerated in Guanare de los Cospes, the principal heavenly patroness of the Republic of Venezuela (AAS, 41 [1949], pp. 318-19).
V. ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISION
Ecclesiastically, Venezuela is divided into the two metropolitan sees of Caracas (with suffragan sees at Barquisimeto, Calabozo, Coro, Cumaná, Guayana, and Valencia in Venezuela) and Mérida (with suffragan sees at San Cristóbal in Venezuela and Zulia), the Apostolic Vicariates of Caroní, of Machiques or Mission of Guajira-Perijá, and the Apostolic Prefecture of the Upper Orinoco.VI. For literature: V. HISPANO-AMERICAN LITERATURE, XII.
VII. ART
Scholars of pre-Columbian civilization assign Venezuela to a region called “intermediate,” comprising, besides the republics of the Central American isthmus, also Colombia and Ecuador. Acting as a mediator between the influences of the advanced northern cultures (Aztec, Maya, Totonac) and southern cultures (Chimú, pre-Inca, Inca), the region as a whole does not reveal marked originality. The present political boundaries of the various states do not even approximately correspond to the distribution of ancient cultures. For example, the complete separation of the western provinces of Venezuela from those of northeastern Colombia would be entirely arbitrary. Systematic exploration of this vast and difficult territory has only just begun, mainly through the efforts of North American scholars, and it is therefore still impossible to draw up a complete and satisfactory picture of the primitive civilizations that once flourished there. The principal archaeological finds relate to the so-called *calzadas*, paved roads, especially frequent in the territory of Barinas (northwestern Venezuela), which reveal an advanced construction technique serving a civilization based on trade.
It seems, however, that there are no architectural monuments of any importance. In western Zulia, inscribed stones with ideograms and allusive figures have been found, dating back to a not yet well-defined civilization of the Tiotío. Other noteworthy epigraphic discoveries have been made by Aguirre and Vigriama along the coast of the Caribbean Sea.
More intensively explored, even by indigenous scholars, since the last century, has been the area of Lake Valencia, west of Caracas, where on the lacustrine peninsula of La Cabrera an important necropolis was discovered, yielding a great deal of pottery of the highest artistic interest. The same region also includes a deep stretch of mountainous territory from Barquisimeto to San Cristóbal, along the Cordillera de Mérida.
Among the most singular artefacts of the northwestern zone are the smooth grinding stones (*metates*), carved in the shape of wild animals (mostly pumas or jaguars) with borders adorned with graffiti and geometric reliefs. Ceramics have been distinguished into six different areas.
Many ceramic forms are attributed both to the art of the Incas and to that of the Mexican civilizations. In general, anthropomorphic symbolism is heightened through summary and impressionistic stylization. Yet small terracotta heads have also been discovered, executed with a refinement comparable to the products of archaic Egyptian or Chinese art (Kelemen). In short, we are confronted with another ceramic civilization, inferior to the Peruvian in the refinement of its ornamentation but equally advanced in its plastic achievements. During the first period of Spanish colonization, architecture in Venezuela experienced only modest development, both because of the limited European emigration and because the Spanish authorities sought to prevent what had occurred in Mexico, where the conquistadors had become dangerous monopolists by erecting sumptuous residences and evading the control of the mother country. Moreover, there remained the difficulty of procuring the necessary materials for solid constructions. Thus, civil architecture is predominantly in wood, and only ecclesiastical buildings employ brick.
The only religious edifices of artistic importance known to have existed in the 16th century are the convent and adjoining church of San Francisco in Caracas, now so transformed that only from the plans and drawings preserved in the Archivo de Indias in Seville can one gain an understanding of their original appearance. The designer was Antonio Ruiz Ullán (1593). The church had three naves, a solution quite rare in Spanish colonial art.
The façade’s prospect, with its central attic featuring a loggia rising above the lower spires, reveals that the architect drew upon late Renaissance models, deriving the decorative elements from the works of Serlio and Vignola.
Subsequently, the exuberant forms of Spanish Baroque triumphed. In Caracas arose the so-called Cathedral, inspired by the architectural works of the Jesuits, as well as the churches of Altagracia, the Cathedral of Coro, and San Rosalía; in Maracaibo, the church of San Francisco. Even public palaces displayed sumptuous forms, occasionally achieving results of assured taste (e.g., the Palacio de Miraflores in Caracas). Neoclassicism insinuated itself during the Napoleonic era and dominated the period of the independence wars (e.g., the Casa de Bolívar in Caracas).
In the second half of the 19th century, Venezuelan architecture followed the fate of all American countries: the frenetic building boom absorbed the most disparate European and North American influences, and in a dazzling mélange of academic bad taste and functional ineptitude, entire new districts were erected in Caracas and in cities that had meanwhile gained economic and commercial importance, such as Trujillo, San Cristóbal, and Mérida. In ecclesiastical architecture, Neo-Romantic and Neo-Gothic styles prevailed, largely following Spanish models. The most recent architecture, particularly in the new center of Caracas, possesses a formal dignity that places it among the finest achievements of modern urban planning.
In the other arts, the level remained modest until the independence wars. Sculpture and painting were practiced almost exclusively for sacred purposes and, more than reflecting any native impulse—as occurred in other regions of Latin America—obeyed an external and programmatic set of rules.
By contrast, the artisanal production was excellent, especially in carved wood (e.g., the choir stalls of the Iglesia de San Francisco in Caracas) and in sacred furnishings.
From the dramatic and glorious events of the independence wars, sculpture drew in the first half of the 19th century—and then throughout the entire century—the impetus for intense, if stilted and often dull, realism. Greater acclaim was accorded to the names of Rafael de la Cova (author of the statue and bronze monument to the Liberator) and Eloy Palacios (1847–1909), a popular sculptor of celebratory monuments scattered throughout the principal cities of the state (among his works is the famous *India desnuda*). Sacred sculpture was particularly cultivated by E. Rubin Hernández (statues of San Gabriel in Zaragoza, José Félix Ribas in Tucupido, Francisco Cabral in Aragua de Barcelona, and Padre Guasco in Valle de la Pascua).
The illustrative intent rarely surpassed the oleographic outcome in most of the painters who gathered around Pedro Lovera, Domingo de Tovar, and Antonio José Carranza, founders of the local school. Among these, the best was perhaps Carmelo Fernández. Yet exchanges with European countries soon became frequent, benefiting artists such as Manuel Cruz, who derived his genre painting’s manner and themes from the Italian milieu; Celestino Martínez, a diligent academician who executed sacred paintings for Caracas churches; and Ramón Billet, pioneer of local landscape painting.
Greater vigor is displayed by the artists of the second generation, whose renown extended beyond provincial circles, such as Tovar y Tovar, author of battle scenes reminiscent in some respects of the taste of our own Fattori, preserved in the Capitol of Caracas; Michelena, Herrera-Toro, Maury, and Rivero Sanabria.
Above the rest, however, stands Cristóbal Rojas, whose imaginative fantasy and sure handling of the palette place him among the foremost artists of South American Romanticism. His most celebrated work is *Purgatorio*, but no less worthy of attention are *Orfandad*, *La Taberna*, *La miseria*, and *Beatriz andando por la senda de los lirios*.
Tito Salas, who trained in Paris and took a keen interest in contemporary European art, also earned some merit. It was his brush that created the historical cycle adorning the Casa de Bolívar in Caracas.
RICCARDO AVERINI
VIII. SCHOOL SYSTEM
In the Republic of Venezuela, the school system resembles that of the other Central and South American republics, in all of which a growing development of education is noted, seeking to extend itself as widely as possible to rural areas and arising from the ever-increasing importance attached to educational problems in order to guide the entire population toward a cultural revival.Thus, primary education is compulsory from the age of seven to fourteen; after which one enters secondary education, which is subdivided into:
a) colleges, with a five-year course leading to university entrance;
b) various types of specialized schools, including:
a) normal schools, four-year courses for the training of teachers for urban primary schools;
b) two-year teacher-training schools for rural primary school instructors;
c) professional schools, generally three-year courses covering agricultural, commercial, technical-industrial, arts, and crafts.
Higher or university education in Venezuela comprises the Universidad de Los Andes in Mérida, the Universidad Central de Caracas (founded in the 18th century), rebuilt and modernized in 1944, the Universidad del Zulia in Maracaibo, and the Instituto Pedagógico. In addition, a workers’ university was established in Caracas in 1947.
An idea of the progress made by education is given by the two censuses of 1941 and 1950. The 1941 census indicated that 56.6% of inhabitants aged ten and under were illiterate; that of 1950 reported 1,374 centres of adult education with 33,000 attendees.