Llorente y Lafuente, Anselmo (1800–1871)
Llorente y Lafuente, Anselmo (1800–1871)
Anselmo Llorente y Lafuente (b. 1800; d. 1871), bishop of Costa Rica (1851–1871). In 1850 Pope Piux IX created the diocese of Costa Rica, separating it from the diocese of León, Nicaragua. On 7 November 1851 Llorente, a native of Cartago, was consecrated its first bishop. Aside from failing to convince the legislature to provide funds for a seminary, Llorente had a harmonious relationship with the government until 1858, when the legislature, supported by President Juan Rafael Mora, passed a hospital tax. Since clergymen were not exempt from the tax, Llorente publicly opposed it, ordering his priests not to pay it. Consequently, he was expelled from the country. He went to Nicaragua but was able to return in August 1859, when Mora was overthrown, largely due to outrage at the bishop's banishment. From then until his death, Llorente maintained a cordial relationship with civil authorities.
See alsoAnticlericalism; Mora Porrás, Juan Rafael.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Victor Sanabria Martínez, Anselmo Llorente y Lafuente, primer obispo de Costa Rica: Apuntamientos históricos (1933).
Philip J. Williams, The Catholic Church and Politics in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (1989), pp. 99-100.
Edward T. Brett