Universidad de Mérida y el fortalecimiento del clero secular en Yucatán, siglos XVII-XVIII

In the 17th century there was a wave of university openings in Hispanic America by Jesuits and Dominicans. In historiography, much remains to be known about the role that these universities, in the hands of religious, played in societies. This article gives the example of the University of Merida of Yucatan, in charge of the Society of Jesus, which opened its doors in 1624. On the one hand, it analyzes the importance of the professorships and degrees of the Jesuit university in the formation and ecclesiastical rise of the secular clergy of the bishopric. And on the other, it explains the great interest that the bishopric of Yucatan had in the smooth running of that university, as it was the main hotbed of the clergy and part of a larger project to secularize Franciscan doctrines for the benefit of the diocesan Church.