Although the Catholic religion is the state religion and is professed by so large a majority of the population, the influence of the church in the government is no more than in many countries where no such circumstances prevail. Discipline in the priesthood is limited almost entirely to ecclesiastical matters and priests otherwise speak and act for themselves. They frequently participate in politics and are often to be met in municipal councils and in Congress, and in such cases their acts indicate that they sit, not as priests representing the church, but entirely as individuals representing the constituency from which they were elected. Father Meriño, who later became archbishop, was elected president and served out his term. President Morales had been a priest, but had abandoned the priesthood when he was elected to Congress. The present head of the church, Archbishop Nouel, has also been president, under a temporary compromise.
Another peculiarity of Dominican Catholicism is its tolerant attitude towards freemasonry. It is not unusual for persons who are recognized as fervent Catholics to be at the same time enthusiastic masons. There are instances even of devout families, where one of the sons belongs to the priesthood and the other sons and the father are zealous masons, but where all live under the same roof in absolute concord. The first lodges were founded in 1858 and there are lodges to be found to-day in all the principal cities. Several of them have their own buildings, that at Santiago being especially worthy of remark. They have done excellent work in behalf of charity and education. The lodges of Santo Domingo City, Santiago, La Vega and Moca maintain free public schools, and the lodge of Puerto Plata a hospital. The lodges of oddfellows in the Republic have done similar good work.
The absence of religious fanaticism is further exemplified by the tolerance accorded other religious sects. These, it is true, are but slimly represented. Of the Jewish faith there are probably not two dozen persons in the Republic. The Protestants are almost entirely negroes from the British and former Danish islands and other foreigners, and descendants of the American negroes settled in Santo Domingo. For these the Wesleyan Methodist Church of England maintains a flourishing mission with chapels in Puerto Plata, Samana, and Sanchez and a small branch in Santo Domingo City. The principal chapel is in Puerto Plata, which is also the residence of the minister in charge of the mission. The African Methodist Church also has small stations at Samana and San Pedro de Macoris, though the word "African" does not tend to make the church popular in Santo Domingo. There is further an almost abandoned Baptist mission in Puerto Plata and Monte Cristi. In all these churches, services are generally carried on in the English language alone. In San Francisco de Macoris, Protestant services are conducted in Spanish by devotees who do not seem to be ordained by any particular sect.
CHAPTER XIII
EDUCATION AND LITERATURE
Education in Spanish times.—Work of Hostos.—School organization.—Professional institute.—Primary and secondary education.—Literacy.—Libraries.—Newspapers.—Literature.—Fine Arts.
As in other Spanish colonies, it was not the policy of the Spanish government in Santo Domingo to foster popular education. Learning was confined to the clergy and the aristocracy and was imparted only by servants of the church. As early as 1538, the Dominican friars obtained a papal bull for the establishment of a university, and in 1558 the institution known as the University of St. Thomas of Aquino was inaugurated by them in Santo Domingo City, with faculties of medicine, philosophy, theology and law, the principal branch being theology. This university acquired considerable celebrity, but practically disappeared during the colony's decline, being revived by royal decree of May 26, 1747, which gave it the title of Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Domingo. The cession of the island to France and the wars which followed weakened the famous institution, which was definitely closed by the Haitians when they assumed control of the government. The Haitian occupation and the civil disorders of the first forty years of the Republic were not propitious for the spreading of education. Beyond a theological seminary founded in 1848, there were only a few humble public and private schools, leading a precarious existence. An eminent Porto Rican educator, Eugenio M. de Hostos, was responsible for the intellectual renaissance of Santo Domingo. This remarkable man was one of those talented dreamers produced by Latin-America, a lover of the abstract ideal in government, philosophy and pedagogy, erudite, eloquent, with an enthusiasm which fired his pupils and hearers. Early in life he conceived the idea which he preached unceasingly: that of a Confederated West Indian Republic, in which the principal states were to be Cuba, Santo Domingo and Porto Rico. Inspired by the Cuban war of independence of 1868 to 1878, he wrote and spoke throughout Spanish America in behalf of the union of the Spanish speaking peoples of the West Indies, the first step to that end to be the independence of Cuba. In 1880 he arrived for the third time in Santo Domingo, where he was then less known than in South America. Having obtained from the government a commission to found normal schools in the Republic, he was appointed director of the normal school of Santo Domingo City. He came as the right man at the right time. His teachings touched a responsive chord in the hearts of the Dominicans; his unsparing condemnation of old pedagogical methods and eager advocacy of new ones gave rise to discussions which awakened a general interest in education and letters; and his aggressive enthusiasm smote the rock which held Dominican literature bound. A prominent Dominican historian, Americo Lugo, says: "I believe that what may be called national literature does not begin until after the arrival in the Republic of the eminent educator Eugenio M. de Hostos."
Hostos labored in Santo Domingo for eight years, during which time he had as pupils many who have since become prominent in the councils of the Republic. The baneful policies of Heureaux forced his departure, and he settled in Chile with his family, being appointed professor of constitutional law at the National University. Upon the conclusion of the Spanish-American war, when it became apparent that Porto Rico would be American and his ideal of an Antillan Confederation definitely shattered, he journeyed to Washington to labor in behalf of Porto Rico, returning later to his native island in the hope of uniting the Porto Ricans in a demand for autonomy. There political passion ran high, and Hostos, disappointed, went back to Santo Domingo, where his entry was almost triumphal. He again assumed charge of public education though the civil disorders filled him with sadness. In 1903 he died in Santo Domingo, but the seed he sowed lives and flourishes and his memory is revered by Dominicans.
In 1884 a general school law was passed, repeatedly modified since, according to which primary instruction is a charge upon the municipality, while the cost of secondary instruction is to be defrayed by the state. Supreme inspection over educational matters was given to the Minister of Justice and Public Instruction, who was assisted by a superior board of education with school inspectors in the various provinces. There were further special boards of education in each province, presided over by the governor, and school boards in the communes which are not capitals of provinces and in the cantons. Owing to the difficulty of finding competent personnel, the inspection of the educational institutions has generally been perfunctory and the teachers have done pretty much as they pleased. Unfortunately the financial limitations of the country have not permitted the development of the schools in the measure desired. Since the middle of 1917 numerous changes in the school system and curriculum have been decreed by the Department of Public Instruction and the system is undergoing a general reorganization.
In 1882 a "Professional Institute" was founded, the name of which was in 1914 changed to "University of Santo Domingo," and it is now called the Central University of Santo Domingo. It occupies the same building in the capital, adjoining the church of St. Dominic, where the old university was located. It confers degrees in five branches: law, medicine, pharmacy, dental surgery and mathematics and surveying. Practically all the lawyers of the Republic have graduated from this school. Most of the native pharmacists, also, have studied here. With reference to instruction in medicine and surgery, and in dentistry, the institution is handicapped by the lack of a suitable hospital and clinic. As a result those who wish to adopt any of these professions pursue their studies abroad, if possible, and all the best known physicians are graduates of foreign universities. The entire annual appropriation for the University is only about $24,000. A similar institution, on a smaller scale, is the Professional Institute of Santiago, founded in 1916. In several cities there are high schools called normal schools, and other institutions called superior schools, and the capital has an academy of drawing, painting and sculpture.