Mariano Soler [SEP] position held
Mariano Soler
Monsignor Dr. Mariano Soler (born 25 March 1846 in San Carlos - deceased 26 September 1908 in Gibraltar) was a Uruguayan cleric and the first Roman Catholic archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay.
A student at the South American College in Rome, he obtained his doctorate in Canon Law.
He was an outstanding intellectual in the area of the scientific and philosophical culture of Uruguay, and a strong defender of the ecclesiastical institutions ("i.e.", the prerogatives of Roman Catholic church). He was known to
Mariano Luis de Urquijo and Miguel Cayetano Soler, the Secretary of the Treasury (who had held that position during the government of Manuel Godoy, removed from power six months before). Charles IV obtained permission from the Vatican to expropriate land belonging to the Jesuits and other religious entities, including hospitals, hospices and residential colleges. Altogether, the confiscations accounted for one-sixth of the Church's property.
Francisco Tomás y Valiente called the Confiscation of Godoy a turning point in linking confiscation to the problems of public debt,