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uring most of the exceptionally long Era of Tru-
jillo (1930-1961), the Roman Catholic Church
and the Trujillo dictatorship were engaged in a
successful symbiotic relationship. For most of
the dictator’s regime, the Church supported the regime, and
the regime supported the Church. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo
energetically cultivated an image of a devout Roman Catho-
lic dedicated to preserving and expanding the influence of
Catholicism in the Dominican Republic. The Church, which
was not a large landholder in the Dominican Republic and
lacked extensive economic resources, solicited and received
extensive judicial and economic favors from the regime.
Despite its institutional and fiscal weaknesses, the Church
“served as a factor of social and political cohesion to Domin-
ican society” throughout history, historian Emelio Betances contends.
1
Dependent on the support of the
dictatorship, the Church, until near the end of the dictatorship, was quite pro-Trujillo and an ardent sup-
porter of the dictatorship. According to political scientist Howard Wiarda, Italian-born “Archbishop Ricar-
do Pittini, especially, was outspoken in his praise of the Generalissimo.”
2
Ricardo Paolo Pittini Piussi was born on April 30, 1876 in the small
frazioni
(the Italian name given in
administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a municipality) of Colgallo in the municipality of
Tricesimo in northeastern Italy. Influenced by his deeply religious mother, Pittini had viewed the priest-
hood as his destined vocation since childhood.
3
In 1887, he began preparing for the priesthood at the Udine
diocesan seminary. In 1892, he went to Turin to study with the Selesians of St. John Bosco at Valsalice, their
seminary for overseas missionary work, which was established by Italian priest Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco
(commonly known as Don Bosco) in 1887.
4
Pittini made his first profession of religious vows in 1893 and
immediately departed for missionary work with the Salesians in Uruguay. The Salesians had been working
in Argentina since 1875, Uruguay since 1876, and Chile since 1877. From Uruguay, the Salesians spread to
Brazil in 1883 and to Paraguay in 1896. On January 22, 1899, Pittini was ordained a priest in Montevideo,
Uruguay. From 1923 to 1927, he served as the Provincial (head) of Salesian activities in Uruguay and Para-
guay. Much of his work involved the conversion and education of the Indians in Paraguay’s Chaco region.
Pittini was appointed Provincial of New Rochelle Province (New York) in 1927. According to fellow
CHAPTER 9
Ricardo Pittini: Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Santo Domingo (1935-1961)
By Michael R. Hall, PhD
Professor of Latin American History and U.S. Foreign Relations at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia
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