«FUI, VI Y GOCE POR LAS CONQUISTAS DE LA RELIGION Y DE LA CIENCIA))1 Viajes y relatos de un obispo latinoamericano por Oriente (1885-1908)

The article studies Uruguayan bishop Mariano Soler's travels through the Middle East and the main works they gave rise to. Its purpose is to exa¬mine the intersections between orientalist representation and ultramontane discourse. It argues that these travels and texts respond to a «glocal» logic: the defense of Catholicism in the Rio de la Plata and its globalization in La¬tin America. In this sense, the «global» and the «local» converge in Soler's works, making the Middle East a symbolic place from which to counter an¬ti-clerical culture and reassert ultramontane Catholicism. Soler's experience allows a more profound understanding of the construction of an ultramonta¬ne imaginary in Latin America and its capacity to relate to other centers of reference beyond Rome.