Return to the cloister: the Capuchin nuns of Zamora in postrevolutionary Mexico (1934-1948)

Abstract

This article reconstructs the process by which the common life was restored at the Capuchin Convent of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zamora, Michoacan, between 1934 and 1948. Through this case study the article aims to illustrate the way in which the female contemplative life could be renewed and practiced in Mexican Bajio and in Mexico in general after the Revolution and its anticlerical persecution. It emphasizes the ability of the capuchins to take advantage of the religious reconciliation and tolerance that were opened through the informal compromises between Church and State in the 1930’s, and shows that the nuns took an active role as Catholics and women. Doing so, they contributed to the renewal of religious practice in postrevolutionary Mexico through the restoration of the closure.