Venezuela today has very few university academic researchers capable of properly addressing historical issues related to our religious, ecclesiastical and theological past. Above all, because the Catholic Church and its religious orders have been present during the more than 500 years that our history has lasted and, therefore, our past is inseparable from the study of archives, bibliography and colonial and republican Catholic religious architecture necessary, as sources, in order to know this past integrally and to produce true historical knowledge, supported by the critical documentary analysis, rational explanations based on real evidence and historiographic interpretations of scientific value.
In this positive scenario, today, the work of the Dominican historian Dr. Oswaldo Montilla Perdomo, a large connoisseur of the history of Venezuela and. In particular, of its religious history through a prolonged study of the bibliography in Venezuela and the relevant exterior, and of the main documentary funds, mainly the Archdiocesan archive of Caracas, the General Archive of the Nation of Caracas, the Historical Archive of The Central University of Venezuela, of the Apostolic Nunciature in Caracas, the Vatican Archive in Rome and multiple parish archives of Venezuela, which are the basis of the social life of the Venezuelan Catholic Church. From these investigations, important publications, books, conferences and national and international magazines have emerged from which we will only review the two most recent in this article.
Thanks to the excellent editorial work initiated by the Iter, Institute of Theology for Religious of Caracas Venezuela, under the rector of Father Dr. Manuel Antonio Texeira, we have received the editions of Fray Oswaldo Montilla entitled: “The opposition of Monsignor Mariano Martí, Bishop from Caracas, to the foundations of a hospice in San Felipe (Yaracuy) and another in San Carlos de Austria (Cojedes) by the Dominicans in the 18 Its theological research center (CIT). And the second work: “The Church of the Santa Cruz and Our Lady of Candelaria de Caracas. A historical vision from the Government Books of its Parish Archive ”, also edited by the Iter and the CIT, equal to 2024 and extended by Dr. María Soledad Hernández.
Both books by Dr. Montilla OP (in addition to his previous works on the history of the Dominicans in Venezuela), contribute in a documentary way and criticizes the construction of a true history of the Venezuelan Catholic Church from the so -called colonial times until the twentieth century , The documentary force of these works, their academic language and as can be seen in their extended titles of both books, they indicate that they are not works for all audiences, although anyone can read them, pro to be able to take advantage of them academically speaking is required of training prior to the history of Venezuela and the Catholic Church. However, both works are worthy of an example for the new historians of the 21st century and guide, such as saving time and work, for all researchers interested in the subject of the history of the Church and the historical formation of Venezuela same
Oswaldo Montilla Perdomo, was born in the city of Barinitas, in the Barinas state to the west of the Republic of Venezuela, which teaches us that this state also produces good and valuable men. He was born on August 31, 1968, a year of world youth rebellion, context in which he grew up in a Christian home towards the priestly vocation, highlighting his early studies in Rome that gave him the degree of bachelor in theology in theology in 1994 of the University Pontifical Salesiana of Rome, where he later obtained degrees of a graduate in Ecclesiastical History in 2001 and the doctor in Ecclesiastical History in 2006. This whole training overturned her in her works as a researcher and university professor in many higher institutions, standing out in the iter , where it was its rector, the Andrés Bello Catholic University of Caracas where he was dean of the Faculty of Theology. Extraordinary professor at the Salesian Pontifical University of Rome (UPS) and with a large number of presentations, courses and conferences in the United States, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, etc. And finally, not least, as a professor at the School of History of the Central University of Venezuela, where he issued courses to introduce theology, documentary research techniques and history of political ideas.
However, all men pursue us some temptation and sin and I share with him the taste for Coca-Cola, minor sin and harmless to others, although I have changed for the Pepsi Cola without sugar and not that’s why I am better than him whom I owe a lot of intellectual and spiritually.
ANB Chronicler of the UCV
