History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 3/Chapter 33

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

CHAPTER XXXIII.

RELIGIOUS ORDERS.

1601-1803.

Royal Consideration for Friars — Their Privileges — Abuses — Collision Between the Church and the Orders — Causes — Dissensions Among the Orders — Gapuchin and Creole Friars — Their Unseemly Quarrels — Vice and Immorality — Great Increase in Number of Regulars — Nunneries and Nuns — Missions — Church Secularization — Routine Of Duties — Progress of the Franciscans — Efforts in Sierra Gorda — The Augustinians — Division of their Provincia — Internal Dissension — El Trénio Feliz — Disturbance in the Convent at Mexico — Arrival of Barefooted Augustinians — Dominican Labors — Minor Orders — Orders of Charity.

During the sixteenth century, when the spiritual conquest of the country was as yet unaccomplished, friars were so much needed that they were sent to the Indies by the king free of expense; they were conveyed thither by governors, viceroys, and bishops upon the same terms, and assisted and provided for on their arrival in New Spain until the members of different orders were enabled, by their sufficient numbers and increased prosperity, to establish themselves in communities.^[1] Nor was the encouragement which they received limited to personal convenience and requirements; both king and pope extended privileges and protection to them in order to facilitate the labors of their calling. Viceroys and prelates were instructed to aid them; civil authorities were commanded not to molest them or interfere with their administration; aid in founding convents was afforded them, the poorer of such establishments receiving presents from the king of chalice and paten, wine and oil,^[2] while the sick among them were supplied with medicines.

Papal concessions to members of the regular orders in New Spain were on a scale still more liberal. The peculiar position of these missionaries required that they should be endowed with prerogatives which had hitherto belonged solely to the church. Hence the pope conceded to them rights and powers which the regulars in Europe could never obtain. The secular clergy were too few in number to perform the rites of the church throughout the length and breadth of the land, and bulls were issued granting to friars the privilege of exercising, in the towns where they established themselves, all the duties of a parish priest. They could hear confessions, and give absolution and dispensations; could administer the sacraments and celebrate marriages; could preach, teach, and confirm.^[3]

Such concessions appeared desirable at first, but when the church became more fully established, and bishoprics were erected in widely distant provinces, a collision was the inevitable result. To the humble isolated convents of the first missionaries year by year others of costly structure were added, and custodias created. These in turn had developed extensive provincias, and broad lands and much treasure had been acquired by the orders.^[4] Monastic simplicity gave way to luxury, assumption of authority, and abuses. At an early period the friars of New Spain appear to have displayed much of the indifference to laws and independence of action which was assumed by the colonists. Quickly amassing wealth, many of them returned to Spain without permission, while others, attracted by the comforts and ease offered by a residence in the larger cities of the New World, took up their abode in them, and failed to proceed to their destination.^[5] Nor did they refrain from intruding upon the occupations of classes outside their own profession. They bought and sold and opened shops; they dealt in cattle,^[6] and made the natives toil for them without payment; private individuals acquired property,^[7] and monastic communities, in common with the secular clergy, possessed themselves of estates bequeathed to them by persons whose unbiassed action was interfered with to the detriment of their own heirs.^[8] Moreover, in their zeal for self-aggrandizement, they encroached upon the prerogatives of the government by meddling in secular affairs,^[9] and were frequently engaged in disputes with the state and civil authorities.

But it was with the church that the regular orders were most hotly engaged, and the struggle between them and the secular clergy, of which mention has already been made, lasted with more or less bitterness on both sides down to the time of the independence. As the Catholic church in New Spain extended her operations, and was able to appoint parish priests in towns more and more remote, she felt herself competent to administer her holy rites in those places without further aid of the friars, and was unwilling longer to divide alike authority and spoils with allies whose usefulness had become limited. But though she wished to reassume absolutely her own prerogatives, and removed friars from doctrinas, she met with firm opposition from the orders, who were extremely jealous in maintaining the privileges which had been conferred upon them. The regulars, therefore, refused submission to the bishops whenever they considered their rights invaded, and disputes with parish priests expanded into a contest with ecclesiastical jurisdiction.^[10]

But the church was powerful; many privileges were annulled, orders were issued enjoining the obedience of the regulars to the bishops, and laws passed affecting their jurisdiction and internal administration, and regulating the appointment to doctrinas of those duly qualified.^[11] The outcry was loud and long, and much scandal ensued, but the king and pope conjointly had raised up a great power in the land, and the objections of the frairs to royal cédulas and the commands of the bishops were so persistently urged, and their own claim to privileges so ably argued, that modifications of the restrictions were obtained.

While the regular orders were thus united in their opposition to church and state, it was otherwise among themselves. Dissensions between different orders and discord among the members of individual institutions were incessant. In the internal government of the orders the two prominent causes of disagreement were the election of provincials and other officers, and the interminable quarrels between Spanish and creole members.^[12] Spanish friars who had taken the habit in Europe displayed an ungenerous rivalry toward members of orders who, though of their own race, had been born in America, and would have excluded them from the right to hold office. Such views were indignantly opposed by the creoles, who denied that they were in any way inferior to the Europeans, while the latter refused to admit them on terms of equality.^[13] In order to adjust differences which led to actual animosity between the two classes, the system of alternation in office was established by papal bulls and royal decrees. Some of the orders at once complied with this regulation. The arrangement had, however, its exact counterpart in many cases, entire communities being composed wholly of creoles and others wholly of Spaniards.^[14]

Although the alternation system, repeatedly insisted upon by the crown, secured to creoles the right to official appointments, it was not faithfully carried out, and frequent were their complaints of partiality to Spaniards and injustice to themselves.^[15] It utterly failed to produce harmony. Criminations and recriminations prevailed down to the nineteenth century, and instances are not wanting of these teachers of peace and humility proceeding to acts of personal violence among themselves.^[16]

In the zealous assertion of their privileges the action of friars was not unfrequently marked by turbulency and opposition to the civil authorities,^[17] and orders were repeatedly issued from the throne that such characters as well as vagabond friars who had been unfrocked or expelled from their convents should be sent to Spain.^[18]

With regard to the private life of the friars it cannot truthfully be said that it was in keeping with the simplicity and abstinence which their vows required. The contrast between them and the earlier missionaries is striking. Many indulged not only in the pleasures and luxuries of the laity, but also in their vices. Instead of abstemiousness, feasting and carousal prevailed among them, as among the secular clergy; instead of humble garb and bearing, pompous display in embroidered doublets and silken hose of bright color; instead of study and devotional exercises, dice-throwing and card-playing, over which the pious gamblers cursed and swore and drank.^[19] Immorality too often usurped the place of celibacy,^[20] and murder that of martyrdom.^[21] It must not, however, be concluded that there were no righteous men among the friars. The records of the chroniclers show that many excellent and worthy members, of high principle and noble intent, labored in New Spain during this period of backsliding. But their numbers were comparatively few, and they were unable, by the exemplary lives which they led, to leaven the heavy mass of ungodliness into which they had been cast.^[22]

So rapidly did the number of the regulars increase,^[23] and so tempting were the inducements to the idle and vicious to join societies which offered to them opportunities of indulgence in indolence, lust, and pleasure, that the king in 1754 decreed, in accord with the holy see, that for the ten succeeding years no person should be admitted into any of the religious orders in New Spain under any pretext.^[24] Of the actual number of friars resident in the country previous to the close of the eighteenth century, little information can be obtained. According to Alzate,^[25] in 1787, there were in the city of Mexico alone 1,033 regulars, and Humboldt states that in 1803 in the twenty-three convents of friars then existing in the capital, there were about 1,200 members, 580 of whom were priests and choristers. The same author estimates the number of friars throughout the country, including lay brothers and servants, at between 7,000 and 8,000.^[26]

While convents and friars thus multiplied, religious sisterhoods increased in a corresponding degree. The several orders established during the sixteenth century founded additional nunneries in various parts, and the number of such institutions was further swelled by the arrival at intervals of sisters of other orders. In 1615 a convent of the barefooted Carmelite nuns was founded in the city of Mexico, and in 1666 that of the Capuchinas.^[27] During the period between 1588 and the middle of the eighteenth century the number of such religious houses increased from seven to twenty, of different denominations.^[28]

Nunneries were also founded in Puebla, Querétaro, Guanajuato, Michoacan, and Jalisco, the most notable of which were those of La Merced arid the Capuchinas in Michoacan, the first being established at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the second in 1737.^[29]

It would be supposed that these religious establishments, designed as peaceful retreats for females, would be free from strife; but truth compels me to say that the nuns were as contentious as the friars. All the orders, in fact, incessantly endeavored to shake off' the control exercised over them by the provincial prelates, and free themselves from their supervision.^[30] Conspicuous among these restive female communities was the nunnery of Santa Clara. The governing members of that organization claimed exemption from the payment of tithes;^[31] they quarrelled with the Franciscan vice-comisario so that the civil authorities^[32] had to interfere, and they bore themselves haughtily toward prelates and authorities.

While female superiors and their chapters thus contended for jurisdiction, the nuns and novices under their charge were rigidly protected against the contamination of the world, encouraged in the suppression of worldly inclinations by uncompromising codes, and relentlessly punished in case of transgression. Having renounced the devil and all his works, and the pleasures and innocent pastimes of life,^[33] they fasted, and prayed, and worked, having all things in common, even to their clothing, and laboring for their reward in heaven.

 

Although the friars as a body were not men of such sanctity as their calling required, it was by their labors that the gospel was carried into remote and ever more remote regions. Whenever it was required to bring a savage tribe into the fold, it was the regular and not the secular orders that braved the dangers, endured the hardships, and performed the preliminary work. The missions undertaken by them extended to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and fardistant California; and from the banks of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.^[34] But before they reached those regions the spiritual conquest of a vast territory had to be undertaken, and during the seventeenth century numerous missions were established in various outlying localities. The importance of these forerunners of the church was fully recognized by the crown, and in 1709 a royal cédula was issued enjoining viceroys, governors, bishops, and prelates of the regular orders zealously to aid in increasing the number of missions.^[35] The impulse thus given was not without effect, many missions being established from the Atlantic to the Pacific by different orders.

Though few in number in proportion to their zeal, the Jesuits had previously to their expulsion already penetrated into Sonora and California, and during the two decades from 1723 to 1742 they established no less than eight missions in the wild district of Nayarit.^[36] The Franciscans, however, may lay claim to having founded more institutions of this kind than any other order. In 1789 they occupied no less than one hundred and fifty-eight missions scattered over the territory lying to the north of Mexico, while others in great number had been secularized by the church.^[37]

The system of church secularization of missions, however successful and profitable when applied to the more civilized pueblos of New Spain, was attended with failure when extended to the remoter regions. But the Catholic hierarchy was blinded by the desire of aggrandizement, and whenever a mission was deemed of sufficient importance thither was sent a secular priest, and the friars were relieved of their charge and sent about their business. Their successors, however, were not men of like spirit with themselves. Their devotion was generally lukewarm, and they showed little real solicitude in watching over the moral and material well-being of the Indians. Thus many missions, which under the conduct of the friars had thrived, were soon abandoned, the buildings fell to ruins, and the natives relapsed into idolatry.^[38]

Yet the stipends allowed by the crown to even successful friars was a mere pittance, and paid grudgingly or not at all.^[39] Nevertheless the routine of duties was punctually performed at the permanently established missions. Daily at sunrise the bells summoned the Indians both male and female to church, where the padre, after prayer, explained the chief mysteries of the faith. Then the little children from five years old and upwards were instructed in the first rudiments, while the catechumens and those more advanced listened morning and afternoon to explanations of the grace whereby they should be saved.^[40] The progress made by the Franciscans had ensured to them at the close of the sixteenth century an influential position which was further developed in the following years. From their first entry into New Spain their aim had been the extension of their order throughout the entire country; and not confining themselves to any special district, their convents were found in almost every town or pueblo of importance, though naturally those in the capital and neighborhood were most prominent.^[41] At the beginning of the seventeenth century the extension of the order had assumed such dimensions that, in 1604, the provincia de San Francisco de los Zacatecas was established, and in 1607 that of Santiago of Jalisco.^[42] To illustrate how vast was the influence of the Franciscan provincials at Mexico, I may mention that on several occasions the king requested them to support viceroys in their administration.^[43] Indeed, such was the appreciation of the order by the crown, that the authorities in New Spain were instructed not to interfere in the least with its internal government.^[44]

While the Franciscans were thus steadily gaining ground in Mexico and its environs, their progress encountered more serious obstacles in the missionary field of the central and northern regions. Effective aid in this direction was obtained from the Franciscan college for missionaries of Querétaro, established in 1683, under the name of Colegio de propaganda fide, by Fray Antonio Linaz de Jesus María.^[45] The object of this institution was the preaching of the gospel to the natives, especially in the district of Sierra Gorda, but during the first years of its existence, the members confined their labors to the more civilized regions extending from Querétaro to Oajaca and Yucatan. In later years they also established houses in the city of Mexico, under the name of San Fernando, the Hospicio de Nuestra Señora del Destierro at Puebla, and at Zacatecas, the college of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.^[46]

From these establishments and the regular convents of the order issued the Franciscan missionaries, who unceasingly devoted their energies to the conversion of the savages in the northern districts. Missions in the district of Rio Verde were founded in 1612 and succeeding years, and an independent custodia, under the name of Santa Catarina Mártir de Rio Verde, was temporarily established,^[47] but more effective labors were delayed till 1686. From that time the gospel was also preached with alternating success in the more remote parts of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, and Nuevo Leon, the result being freqently jeopardized by the extortions of the Spaniards, who ever followed the steps of the advancing friars.^[48]

It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century, after the conquest of the Sierra Gorda by Escandon, that Christianity became more widely spread and more firmly established there, the missionaries, after that time, being only exposed to such cause of failure as emanated from the generally poor condition of the Indians. These were often unable to furnish the means requisite for the maintenance of the friars, and occasionally it was even necessary to supply some of the missions established after 1744^[49] with provisions and tools to prevent the Indians from deserting the settlements. Notwithstanding the great interest displayed in such cases both by private persons and friars,^[50] in several instances the padres either abandoned the missions or delivered them to the secular clergy. But the secularization system was also applied, and eighteen establishments of the Tampico jurisdiction, merely because of their advanced condition, were transferred to the ecclesiastics of the church.^[51] That such changes were not always advantageous is certain, for in several instances missions were subsequently restored to the orders, and at the close of the century only a portion of those secularized were in charge of the secular clergy, the remainder being intrusted to the friars.

In Yucatan the Franciscans were almost the only order represented, for though the Jesuits attempted to establish colleges in that province, their influence was only temporary and never important. With the field of labor to themselves the Franciscan friars gained almost absolute direction.^[52] Their missionary zeal led them on several occasions to undertake the conversion of the wild tribes in the centre of the Peninsula, but their labors were only partially successful, and several of them gained only the crown of martyrdom.

Less prominent than the followers of St Francis of Assisi were the barefooted friars of the same name belonging to the province of San Diego. They also spread toward the north, founding establishments in Querétaro, Zacatecas, and Guanajuato. They moreover directed their attention to the Sierra Gorda region,^[53] but with less success, and consequently prosecuted their labors more generally in the province of Mexico, where they possessed the college of Pachuca^[54] and the house of Recollects at San Cosme.

By the close of the sixteenth century the Augustinians had founded so many convents in localities scattered over so wide a range of country, that it was found necessary to divide the provincia into two separate jurisdictions. Accordingly, permission having been obtained from the general of the order, together with the king's sanction, in 1602 the division was effected, the new provincia comprising the territories of Michoacan and Jalisco, under the name of the provincia de San Nicolas Tolentino,^[55] while that of Mexico retained the former title of Santísimo Nombre de Jesus. On the 22d of June, 1602, the first chapter was held at Uquareo attended by twenty priors, presided over by Padre Pedro de Vera, who had been elected provincial.^[56]

It is unnecessary to pursue in detail the history of the provincia of San Nicolás. The conditions and mode of progress were similar to those of other orders; the friars founded new convents and missions, struggled against the authority of viceroys and audiencias, opposed ecclesiastical encroachments, and were internally agitated by the vexed question of equality of Spaniards and creoles.^[57] The years between 1623 and 1626 were marked by prosperity and peace both internal and external. This period was accordingly signalized by the appellation of 'el feliz.' The debt with which the provincia had been encumbered was paid off, and money accumulated in the coffers of the convents; twenty-five thousand pesos were expended on a chapel and sacristy for the convent at Valladolid; work on nine different churches was vigorously carried on, and the new priories of Guadiana and Ytuquaro established. About the year 1626 the prosperity of the provincia of San Nicolás appears to have reached its culmination.^[58]

 

In the annals of the provincia of Santísimo Nombre de Jesus the year 1650 is memorable on account of an extraordinary disturbance occasioned by disputes as to the successor of the provincial Fray Diego Pacheco who died during his term of office. On his demise the friars Francisco de Mendoza and Diego de los Rios provincial ad interim, together with the definidores, elected Fray Andres de Oñate of the provincia of Guatemala as vicar-provincial. Thereupon Fray Juan Guerrero presented a memorial to the viceroy setting forth that he was in possession of letters credential from the general of the order appointing him successor in case of the death of the provincial; that he had hitherto withheld them, as there had been no necessity to produce them, but that Oñate being blind and incapacitated for service, he now claimed his right to the office. This memorial was sent by the viceroy to the definitorio, and caused Padre Rios and three definidores to recognize Guerrero as provincial and formally declare him as such. This gave offence to Padre Mendoza, who hastened to attach to his party the archbishop, inquisitors, and nobility. He moreover immediately communicated with Oñate tendering his obedience to him as provincial. Oñate at once proceeded to Mexico, performing various duties pertaining to his office during his journey. On his arrival, however, the letters of the Augustinian general which had been in the keeping of Rios were produced, and Guerrero's party refused to recognize Ohate. Mendoza now represented to the viceroy the true state of the case, maintaining that Guerrero ought to have produced his credentials earlier, and thus have avoided all cause for dissension. This view was adopted by the viceroy, who despatched an order by the officers of the criminal court, supported by the palace guard, commanding the recognition of Oñate. A great commotion ensued, Rios and the three definidores refused to obey the order or open the doors of the convent. At nine o'clock at night the alcaldes and guard again brought the commands of the viceroy to the refractory friars, but without any better result;^[59] nor did they yield until a notification of banishment to the port of Acapulco was served upon them. Oñate was then instated in his office, and meeting with further opposition he banished the contentious members to the pueblo of Oquituco, within a week of his installation. Some degree of peace was thus restored in the convent.^[60]

In 1606 the order of barefooted Augustinians was first represented in New Spain by the arrival of twelve members of that society with Padre Juan de San Gerónimo at their head,^[61] They first established their hospital at Tlatilulco and afterwards removed to the capital, occupying a house which had been left to them by the presbyter Bartolomé Lopez.^[62]

The Dominican friars, as the reader is aware, obtained almost undisputed possession of Oajaca, their establishment in that region having been formed into a separate province under the name of San Hipólito, They were now bent on extending their influence in a northerly direction from the capital, and with such a view established as early as 1604 a convent at Zacatecas, and another in 1610 at Guadalajara. Subsequently they began to work as missionaries in the region of Sierra Gorda, the present Querétaro, where the Franciscans had so far been unable to establish themselves to any extent. The Dominicans commenced the conversion of the Chichimecs blancos in 1686, and about fifteen years later they had at least so far succeeded as to found six missions to which was gathered the greater part of the population. Unfortunately a revolt of the Indians at the beginning of the eighteenth century drove them back from the district which they had gained with so much labor, but in 1740 fresh efforts were made in unison with other orders,^[63] to reëstablish the missions. The attempt was so successful, that in 1756 the mission of Pugniguia was in a condition to be delivered to the secular clergy, a change apparently injurious to the settlement, which decreased in number of inhabitants considerably during the following years.^[64] This course was nevertheless persisted in, and, in 1787, of all the Dominican missions in the Sierra Gorda district, only that of San Miguel de las Palmas remained under the control of the order.^[65] Strange as it may appear, this transfer of jurisdiction seems not to have encountered opposition on the part of the friars, though as a rule the regulars were loath to release their hold when once they had acquired control in a new region.

Of the minor orders, such as the Carmelites and friars of Our Lady of Mercy, there is little to be said. After founding their convents in the capital, they spread over portions of the country, but in no special direction nor to any considerable extent. They possessed establishments in the larger towns, as Puebla, Vera Cruz, Valladolid, Colima, Oajaca, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas,^[66] and other places, but their importance and influence always remained inferior to those of the Franciscans or Jesuits.^[67] The charitable order of San Juan de Dios was established in Mexico in 1604 by Cristóbal Muñoz, who together with four other friars had been sent from Spain for that purpose.^[68] The building originally intended for them having been given to the Hipólitos, after some negotiations they obtained the foundling hospital of Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados, and there they established their hospital on the 25th of February. The laudable object of the order—the assistance and care of the sick—and the zeal displayed by the members in the discharge of their duties, soon gained the sympathy of the population, and in 1606 one of the brothers was sent back to Spain to obtain from the king licenses to found new establishments. Almost simultaneously requests for more friars were made and acceded to by the prior. Henceforth the number of hospitals increased rapidly, especially to ward the north, and before many years had elapsed the society possessed houses in most of the principal towns.^[69] All the different hospitals were united as the provincia del Espíritu Santo, under the jurisdiction of a commissary-general, appointed in Spain. In 1636 an attempt was made to establish a government independent of the order in the mother country, but the effort failed, and ever afterward the society in New Spain remained subject to its control.

 

Among the special monk-chronicles of the sixteenth century a prominent place must be given to that of the Franciscan province of San Diego de Mexico. Chronica de la Santa Provincia de San Diego de Mexico de Religiosos Descalzos de M. S. P. S. Franciscan, Fray Balthassar de Medina. Mexico, 1682, folio. In common with writings of this class it is mainly devoted to recording the saintly lives and virtues of prominent friars, but in connection therewith, and in separate chapters, a vast amount of political and church history is given; in part compiled from existing authorities, and in part from original documents. Compared with most of the religious chronicles, however, it is superior in style and treatment, being more concise, and giving dates for nearly all events mentioned. On page 230 is found a curious map representing a topographical view of New Spain, with the various Franciscan convents. Some space is devoted to a general description of the cities and towns wherein were situated convents of the order. A list of works used by the author is given, and also a list of writers of the province who had flourished during the preceding century. Medina, who was a native of Mexico, occupied a prominent position in the Franciscan order. He was lecturer on theology and philosophy for fifteen years, successively held the offices of definidor and guardian of various convents, and in 1670 was appointed visitador of his order in the Philippine Islands. Returning to Mexico, he devoted the remainder of his life to literary pursuits and died in 1697. Besides the work already cited, which was the most important, he wrote several others, all of a religious character, the most complete list of them being given by Beristain.

As early as 1550 the history of the Dominican province of Mexico was begun, and continued by successive writers, being first written in Spanish, and subsequently translated into Latin, but it was not until forty years later that it assumed its present form and was published under the title of Historia de la Fundacion y Discurso de la Provincia, de Santiago de Mexico, de la Orden de Predicadores Por las vidas de sus varones insignes y casos Notables de Nueva España, por el Maestro Fray Augvstin Davilla Padilla. Madrid, 1596, folio. This author, born in Mexico City in 1562, his parents, Pedro Davila and Isabel de Padilla, being among the first families of conquistadores, was, as a child, remarkable for his precocity. At four years of age he astonished all by his intelligence; at twelve he had not only studied grammar but rhetoric; at thirteen he was a philosopher; and at sixteen had taken his degrees as doctor in the university of Mexico. The walls of his apartment falling in on one occasion, he was saved from being crushed to death by taking refuge in a window; and attributing this miraculous escape to Our Lady of the Rosary, who was the object of his special devotion, he resolved to devote his life to the service of God. Entering the Dominican order in 1569, he was appointed professor of philosophy, and distinguished himself in the pulpit. Subsequently he held the office of Qualifier of the Inquisition. Alcedo, Bib. Am., MS., i. 321. In 1589, by order of the Dominican chapter-general of Mexico, he began the Historia de la Fundacion. The history thus far written was in Latin. After its translation into Spanish it was found so incomplete as to require much research. According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bib. Mex. Guat., 53, Davila-Pad ilia is said to have drawn some of his material from the then manuscript work of Duran, published in 1867 by Ramirez. The work was finished in 1592. The lack of paper, however, prevented its pubbcation in Mexico, and it was taken to Spain in 1595, whence Davila-Padilla proceeded as procurator-general, and published the following year. A second edition with the same title was issued at Brussels in 1625, both of which have become exceedingly rare, and still a third edition, in 1634, at Valladolid, with the title changed to Varia Historia de la Nueva España y Florida, which are cited by Nicolás Antonio, Bib. Hist. Nova, iii. 175.

As shown in the title the work consists of a series of biographies of the more prominent Dominican friars who flourished in Mexico between 1540 and 1590, in connection with whose lives, which consist largely of tedious and prolix descriptions of saintly virtues and miracles, occasional historical facts are given, but often without dates. The style, which was not uncommon among the religious writers of that period, is rather that of a sermon than of a historical narrative. While in Spain Felipe III. appointed him general chronicler of the Indies and royal chaplain, and he was also named general chronicler of his order. In 1599 he was made archbishop of Santo Domingo, where he died in 1604. According to Alcedo, Bib. Am., i. 321, he received the appointment of bishop of Santo Domingo, but Nicolás Antonio, Bib. Hisp. Nova, iii., whose statements are to be preferred, says of him, 'fervidus atque facundus ecclesiastes, insulæ Sancti Dominici tandem creatus archiepiscopus.' A manuscript work entitled Historia de los Antigüedades de los Indios is also attributed to Davila-Padilla by Alcedo.

Cyriaci Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbit et Ordinationum Apostolicarum ad Indias pertinentium breviarium cum Adnotationabus Venetiis, 1776, 4to, pp. viii. 642, is the pseudonyme of a Spanish Jesuit named Domingo Muriel, who was a professor of his order at Tucunsan. He prepared his work in Italy, after the expulsion of his order from the Spanish dominions. He died at Faenza in 1795, and the book was published by A. Zatta. The first part of the volume is a brief compendium in chronological order of the chief events connected with the history of the Spanish American colonies from the discovery of America until 1771. This is valuable chiefly because of the author's correction of errors made by other writers. Then follow in chronological order the papal ordinances on questions of ecclesiastical government and the like, arising between those dates. Most of these ordinances apply to America in general, while a few are entirely local. Many of them are accompanied by valuable notes in which the author has brought together all papal decrees and royal ordinances bearing upon the subject under consideration. He also quotes frequently and extensively from a vast array of authors who contain matters german to those discussed.

Disturbios de Frailes, fol, 2 vols, the first with 525 pages, and the second with 465 pages, is the title given to a collection of documents, printed and in manuscript, mostly of the latter, relating to the religious history of America, chiefly New Spain, and embracing the period between 1524 and 1811. A large portion of the collection refers to the constant bickerings between friars born in Spain and friars born in America about the distribution of offices in their respective orders, and the measures upheld by some and objected to by others to settle the question and secure peace and harmony. Another large portion treats of the differences between the regular and secular clergy on the subject of curacies of parishes, with a long list of complaints by Indians of Puebla against the bishop and his clergy. Among the most important documents are those relating to trials of religious by the secular judiciary, and claims of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in favor of the accused; one of the cases being that of a friar who murdered his prelate in 1789, and the other of three Augustinian friars for political offences in 1811. General information is given on the Franciscan province of the Santo Evangelio in 1702, and on two parish churches in 1789. The state of society in Mexico is described in letters answering a pastoral letter of the archbishop in 1803.

Papeles Franciscanos, MS., fob, in two volumes, the first with 568 pp., and the second with 342, is the general title given to a collection of letters, orders, and other documents connected with the church in general, and the Franciscan order in particular, nearly all being original, and furnishing not only most important data upon ecclesiastical history and affairs from the earliest days of the religious orders in Mexico and Central America down to the early part of the nineteenth century, but also complete lists of the prelates that ruled the Franciscans.

Providencias Diocesanas de México y Otras Superiores, MS., 4to, 521 pp., is a collection of copies and memorandums of decrees issued by the archbishop of Mexico to the clergy of his archdiocese, including other documents, among then> some royal and viceregal orders, for the eighteenth century, the first few years of the nineteenth, and a few papers dating back to the seventeenth century. Much of the material is important, throwing light not only upon ecclesiastical but also on secular affairs of New Spain.

Ayeta, Defensa de la Verdad consagrada á la luz de la Justicia (about 1683), fol. 302 1. The king by cédulas of 1678 and 1682 having empowered the bishop to enforce a surrender of certain curacies to the clergy, the Franciscans of the Jalisco provincia became alarmed and indignant. Their remonstrances took the form of a ponderous printed tome of argument upon the respective rights of bishops and friars, the pages of which are laden with learned extracts from civil and ecclesiastical law, and the margins bristling with Latin citations. The author. Fray Francisco de Ayeta, was procurador general of the order, and about the same time addressed to his Majesty a memorial Representacion por los Franciscanos, fol. 154., on the subject of the privileges of friars, at the conclusion of which he implores the king to relieve his order from the oppression to which it was subjected, or grant that the question might be carried to Rome. Leon, Martin de, Manval Breve, y Forma de administrar los Santos Sarramentos á los Indios, Mexico, 1640, sm. 4to, 11. 54. A rare book, which as its name implies contains regulations as to the mode of administering the sacraments to the Indians. Ribadeneyra, Antonio Joaquin de, Manual Compendia de el Regio Patronato Indiano. Madrid, 1755, 4to, 11. 22, pp. 531. A prolix work on church patronage of the crown, designed for the assistance of governors and rulers in the Indies. It contains, moreover, some information on the working of the religious orders. Various papal bulls are cited, copies of which in Latin, with Spanish translations, are supplied at the end of the volume. Bernal y Modo, Waldo Indalecio, Alegato presentado en el año de 1792 al Escmo e Illmo Sr Arzobispo. This is a treatise in defence of ecclesiastical privilege. The occasion which gave rise to its production was the murder of the comendador of the Merced order in Mexico by Fray Jacinto Miranda. The manuscript having fallen into the hands of A. V. y Moya, he had it printed and published in Oajaca in 1844.

Figueroa, Fr Fran^co Ant^o de la Rosa. Becerra Get^l Menológico y' cronológico de todos los Religiosos que. . . ha habido en esta Sta Prov^a del Santo Evangelio, MS. (copy), 1764, fol. 33 pages, in Pap^s Franc^nos I., 1st ser. 13-51, no. 1, contains a great deal of information on the foundation and workings of the Franciscans in the various provinces of Mexico, Michoacan, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Yucatan, Guatemala, Florida, and the Philippine Islands down to the year he wrote. It was evidently a much longer work, giving the names of aU the friars who served in said provinces, and particulars respecting them—all this is missing. Beaumont, Friar Pablo de la Purísima Concepcion. Crónica de la Provincia de los Santos A póstoles San Padro y San Pablo de Michoacan. . . Mex. 1873-4, 12mo, 5 vols. (pp. 582, 544, 567, 630, 632, respectively); fol., MS., 1 vol., pp. 1183, and 8 sheets of Indian paintings.

The author had been educated in Paris as a physician, and afterward became tired of the world and joined the Franciscan order. Having come to Mexico he was assigned to Michoacan, where he served; but his uncertain health not allowing of his devoting himself to the more active duties of a missionary, he undertook the work of recording the chronicles of his province. He had intended to bring them down to 1640, and had prepared a vast plan, that he was not permitted to accomplish, sickness and death putting an end to his labors when he had recorded events only to 1565-6, though in some parts of his narrative are mentioned those of a later date. The work was probably written in the latter part of the 18th century—the last dates spoken of therein being of 1777—and breaks off with only a few pages in the third book. He was not satisfied with merely fulfilling the pious duty (of itself a laborious one) of chronicling the missionary life and services of the Franciscan and other religious orders, as well as of the church in general, within the region comprised in the Franciscan 'custodia' (as first constituted), and 'provincia' (as it became in 1566), of Michoacan and Jalisco, but taking up history from the earliest time of the western continent, gave an introduction, called by him Aparato, containing a narrative of events from the discovery of America to the capture of the Aztec capital by Cortés.

For the purpose of his work he gathered, as he tells us, a large quantity of MSS. and authentic documents, from which and from pertinent printed material (some 30 standard writers, with whom he at times disagrees) he drew his information, forming a collection of historical facts relating to the interior provinces, as far as New Mexico, and even to general history. Of many of the documents he gives full copies. The last part gives general remarks on Michoacan, physically and politically considered, from 1525 to 1566, and quite full information on agriculture, food of the natives, etc. The style of the work, bke that of most writings of churchmen of that period, is too prolix, and confused at times; the writer's judgment is often open to doubt, and his Spanish somewhat defective, which Beaumont himself attributes to his education in Paris; but such drawbacks must be overlooked, and the importance of the material chiefly considered. The Indian paintings at the end of the MS. copy give incidents of the first visits of the Spaniards to Michoacan, their reception by the Tarascans, labors of Franciscan priests, establishment of the episcopal see, litigation anent the capital of the province, and the last sheet gives colored drawings of coats-of-arms of the principal cities of Michoacan. My manuscript copy was taken from the Mexican archives. Of the Aparato above alluded to, Bustamante (C. M.) published an edition, Historia del Descubrimiento de la America Septentrional por Cristóbal Colon, escrita por R. P. Fr. Manuel de la Vega, of the Franciscan province of the Santo Evangelio de México, Mex., 1826, 4to, an incomplete, untrue, and useless edition. Vega, placed as the author, was but the owner of the MS. which served Bustamante as original. Beristain does not know of the Crónica, but refers to the author as a doctor and man of the world before he took the habit.

The authorities I have consulted on church affairs, utilizing facts pertinent to the subject, have been; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Eclesiástico, and Torquemada. Monarchia Indiana, on the history of the older dioceses and the religious orders; Concilios Provinciales, 1° y 2°, and Concilios Mexicanos, iii. iv., for the general rules adopted by the several episcopal councils of Mexico for the government of the church, and for biographies of bishops; Vetancur, Tratado de la Ciudad de México, and Vetancurt, Menologio; Grijalva, Chrónica de San Agustin; Medina, Chrónica de San Diego; Michoacan, Provincia de San Nicolás, Basalenque, Historia de San Nicolás, Florencia, Historia de la Compañía de Jesus, and Alegre, Historia de la Compañía de Jesus; for the chronicles of the religious orders to which the authors respectively belonged. Humboldt, Essai Politique, has furnished much valuable matter on general history and statistics. Another contributor, valued for his well considered opinions upon religious policy and history is Lúcas Alaman, Historia de Méjico, and Disertaciones. Other writers of more modern date, and entitled to more or less credit for arriving at the view taken by them of ecclesiastical policy and conduct from both the Spanish and Mexican standpoint, have been duly considered. Among these the chief one is Francisco Sosa, Episcopado Mexicano, who gives biographies of the archbishops of Mexico from the earliest colonial time to the latest days; out of this work I have obtained a great deal of information on the rule of each archbishop, and consequently on the relations of church and state, thus at the same time furnishing much interesting matter of a secular nature. As the reader will perceive, a very long list of writers has been carefully read, and some important item culled out of each. But among the sources that have afforded me useful and incontrovertible data, and to which I must give a prominent place, have been the several collections of papal briefs or bulls, and royal cédulas for the government of the church, that I possess; some of them being in print, such as Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbi, Recopilacion de Indias, Beleña, Recopilacion, Montemayor, Sumarios, and Zamora, Biblioteca de Legislacion Ultramarina, and a large number in manuscript; the reports of several viceroys to their immediate successors, and edicts of the court of the inquisition issued with the view of checking immoral practices of the clergy, and generally for the promotion of public morals. Some of the original manuscripts throw light upon the mode of procedure of that dread tribunal. Other important sources have been also the Gacetas de Mexico, from 1784 to 1805, and several preceding and succeeding numbers. The manuscripts alluded to are: Papeles Franciscanos, Figueroa, Vindicias de la Verdad, Providencias Diocesanas, and Disturbios de Frailes, which are filled with ecclesiastical matter, particularly laws and decrees; Órdenes de la Corona, Rescriptos Reales, Disposiciones Varias, Cedulario, Reales Cédulas, Providencias Reales, Varias Anotaciones de las Leyes, and other collections, the names of all of which indicate their contents. For broader references the reader may consult the following: Ordenes de la Corona, MS., i. 31 et seq.; ii., passim; iii. 81, 1.34, 169-73; iv. 21 et seq.; v. 1-7, 31-85, 100, 106-9, 121-7; vi. 65, 117-30, 143-6; vii. 11, passim; Dávila, Continuacion, MS., 193 et seq.; Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 1-80, 114-25, 129-38, 148; Disturbios de Frailes, MS., L, passim; ii. 1-5, 37, 129-227, 242-5, 331-40; Papeles Franciscanos, MS., i. 13, 64, 80, 222-46, 375, 378, 414, 473, 564; ii. 67-72, 154, 178-200, 253-07,312-13; Ananza,Ynstruc., MS., 95-103; Providencias Reales, MS., 52 et seq.; Sierra, Dictámen, MS., 351501; Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 27-35, 73-83, 90-2, 192-6, 200-13; ii. 53-4, 116-18, 124—58, 239-41; Provincia de S. Diego, MS., 148-67; Papeles de Jesuitas, MS., 1-31; Pinart, Col. Doc. Misiones, passim; Id., Doc. Son., MS., i. 6-14; Id., Doc. Chih., MS., i. 6-7; Veitia Linage, Cuatro Imagenes, MS., passim; Proceso sobre Religiosos, MS., passim; Enriquez, Proceso y Causa Criminal, MS., passim; Mex., Providencias Diocesanas, MS., passim; Dur., Doc. Hist., MS., 51-9; Ximenez, Inquisidor fiscal contra, MS., passim; Fund. Prov. Santiago, MS., 7; Sigüenza y Góngora, Carta al Almirante, MS., 10-15; Id., Glorias de Quer., 11-37; Id., Parayso Occid., 39, passim; Nueva España, Breve Res., MS., i. 141; Rescriptos Beales Ecles., MS., 8, passim; Bernal y Malo, Defensa Prov. Merced., MS., passim; Morfi, Col. Doc., MS., 26-33; Tamayo, Al Regente Romá, MS., passim; Lobo, Relacion, MS., 1; Monumentos Domin. Esp., MS., 19 et seq.; Galvez, Informe del Visitador, MS., 64-81; Grambila, Tumultos, MS., 1; Coloquio entre Sophronico y Leonido, MS., passim; Concilio Prov., MS., iv. 206; Vireyes de Mex., Instruc., MS., 3, 12; Recop. de Indias, i., passim; Cedulario, MS., i. 49-77; iii. 63, passim; Doc. Ecles. Mex., MS., i. 1,5, 8; ii. 1-3; iii. 1-3; iv. 2-5; v. 1-3; Reales Ordenes, i. 447-9; v. 167-72, 244-59; vi. 65-8; Branciforte, Instruc., MS., 44-6; Col. Doc. Inéd., xxi. 469-85, 512-18; Gomez, Diario, 20, passim; Robles, Diario, i.-ii., passim; Rivera, Diario, 11 et seq.; Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii. tom. i. 7-100; iv., passim; Colon, Juzgados Militares, i. 224—43; Diezmos de Indias, nos. iv. vi. x.-xiv.; Constitucion Fiel y Literal, passim; Breve Apostolico, passim; Fabian, Col. Providencias, passim; Zavaleta, Carta, passim; Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., MS., i., passim; Id., Bandos, 2, 4—14, 54, 60, 81-2; Arévalo, Actas Ayunt. Guat., 128-9; Montemayor, Sumarios, 3-56; Cedulario Nuevo, i. 390; Nuevo Mex., Cédulas, MS., 301-2; Guijo, Diario, i. 4, passim; Disposiciones Varias, i. 78; iii. 152; v. 13, 533; vi., passim; Leyes, Varias Anotaciones, 4, passim; Guat., Col. Cédulas Reales, passim; 03-202; Beleña, Recop., i. 212-17, 291, 336-40; ii. 387-8; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 324; xvii. 290-1; Gonzalez Dávila, Theatro Ecles., i., passim; ii. 15-16, 33-43, 64; Arlegui, Prov. Zac., 49, passim; Puga, Cedulario, 27, 78, 112, 210; Calle, Mem. y Not., 45, passim; Vetancurt,Chron. Sto. Evang., 24-135; Id., Menologio, 11, passim; Id., Trat. Ciudad Mex., 26-53; Alegre, Hist. Comp., i. 201-3; ii. 15, passim; iii. 8, passim; Salguero, Vida, passim; Medina, Chron. S. Diego, 11, passim; Id., Vida Rodriguez, passim; Castro, Diario, 6 et seq.; Espinosa, Chron. Apost., 12, passim; Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 151, passim; Juarros, Guat., i. 324, 360; Id., Compendio, 288-98, 322-6, 359; Santos, Chronologia Hospitalaria, 433-98; Mota Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, 178, 184, 346, 509; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 180-7; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 302-15, 473-4, 693-9, 704-8; Torquemada, i. 337; iii. 337-82; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, i. 28-53, 241-58; ii. 28, 205, passim; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 540; Robles, Vida Cuevas, 122-34, 304-5; Gage's Voyage, ii. 67-50; Iglesias y Conventas de Mex., 65-8, 245-61, 310-20; Iglesia Catedral, Reglas y Ordenanzas, passim; Iglesias San Miguel, Relacion Sencilla, passim; Gonzalez, N. Leon, 15, 98-107, 122, 152, 373-7: Tumultos de Mex., MS., 2-7; Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 134-0; Fernando VII., Decretos, 86-90; Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii 112-13; iii. 1-5, 29-30; iv. 175-9; Alcedo, Dicc., i. 108, 493; ii. 245-0; iii. 141; Arricivita, Crón. Seráfica, passim; Cabrera, Escudo Armas, 97-106, 170-1; Campillo, Nuevo Sistema, 43-51; Zúniga y O., Calendario, 34-79; Ladron de Guevara, Manifiesto, 14, passim; Navarrete, Trat. Hist., 295-6; Id., Rel. Peregrina, ii. 14, passim; iii. 3, passim; Prov. Mich., 111-215 Beaumont, Crón. Mich., 866, 911; Id., MS., 829; Florencia, Hist. Comp, de Jesus, 232-3; Dávila, Mem. Hint., 19-182, 228-9; Garcia, Hist. Beth., iii. 20-30, iv. 1-27; Palou, Vida, 24-39; Burgoa, Palestra Hist., 78-267; Id., Geog. Descrip. Oaj., i. 7, 92-192; ii. 1-18, 210-27, 286-366, 410; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., 206, passim; Cortes, Diario, 1812, xii. 348; Alm. Calendario 1842, 61-4; Id., 1862,,35-6; Id., 1794, 11-13; Gaz. de Mex., i.-x-vi., passim; Arévalo, Compend., 30, passim; Alzate, Gacetas, i. 34; ii. 450-7; iii. 351-3; iv. 1-6; Humboldt, Essai Pol., 105, 127-8, 195-6; ii. 473-8; Id., Tablas Estad., MS., 41; Zavala, Rev. Mex., 13-16, 33-4, 66; Zerecero, Mem. Rev., 157-9, 255-7, 457-98, 506-13; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult, v. 43-61; vi. 65-6; Arze y Portería, Informe, 305; Ylzarbe, Informe, 345-51; Buedo, Informes Misiones, 367-96; Villuendos, Estado de la Mission, 7-14; Martinez, Estado, 357; Maséres, Informe, 201-24; Garcia, Informe, Misiones Rio Grande, 49; Ballido, Faxardo, Informe, 397-407; Nayarit, Informe, 61-87; Bejarano, Informe, 1-4; Navarro, Misiones de Nayarit, 463-82; Arias, Informe, 31943; Mich., Obispo de, Informe Misiones Rio Verde, 101-51; Fonseca y Urrutia, Real Hac., iii. 89-135; v. 276-8; vi. 303-20; Alvarez, Estudios, iii. 385-422; Mora, Rev. Mex., i. 269; iii. 267-72, 358; iv. 58; Id., Obras Sueltos, i. 1, et seq.; Arrongoiz, Mex., iii. 74; Laet, Amer. Descrip., 253-69; Alaman, Hist. Mex., i. 13, 68-84, 121; ii. 96; iii. 381; Id., Disert., ii. 221-2; iii. 302-.36; Arroniz, Biog. Mex., 152-5, 232-5; Id., Hist, y Crón., 85-8; Rivera, Gob. Mex., 120-22, 130-5, 159-61, 172-92, 200-63; Origen del Santuario de San Juan, passim; Covadonga, Constituciones, passim; Las Casa, Peregrina solar, passim; Conventos de la Ciudad, passim; Defensa de la Verdad, l-6; Id, Juridica, passim; Inigo, Funeral Gralitud, passim; Inguisidores contra la heretica, passim; Beaufort, Hist. Papas, v. 320-30; Beristain, Elogio, MS., passim; Eguiara y Eguren, Vida de Arellano y Sosso, passim; Gandara, Vida de Lazcano, 1-130; Ladron de Guevara, Manifesto, passim; Grijalva, Chrón. de San Augustin, 217-18; Lascano, Vida P. Oviedo, passim; Ossuna, Periginacion, passim; Quiroga, Compend., passim; Martinez, Sermon Panegirico, passim; Orozco, Carta Etnografia, 260-89; Leon, Manual breve, passim; Osorio, Americano Seráphico, passim; Ponze. de Leon, La Azucena, passim; Sales, El Sacerdote Instruido, passim; Sanchez, Informe, passim; Romero, Not. Mich., passim; Carriedo, Estudios Hist., 67-73, 114-17, 121-2; Stephen's Yuc., ii. 193-4; Ancona, Hist. Yuc., ii. 200-67, 321-52, 389-96, 456, 562-4; Lacunza, Discursos, nos. xxxv.-vi.; Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., 297-8, 313; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 92-3, 112, 118; Sosa, Episcop. Mex., 55-102, 126, 145, 151, 160, 214; Zamacois, Hist. Mex., v. 277-9, 309, 335, passim; vi. 21, 30, 39, 48, 191, 608; vii. 38, 194; viii. 27-8; x. 513; Palafox, Vida del Ven., 27-119; Gil, Fund. Obru Pia, passim; Iglesias de Dur., 1-85; Gomez, Vida Madre Antonia, passim; Velasco y Tejada, Hist. Imagen, passim; Velasco, El Pretendiente, passim; Vallejo, Vida del Señor Jose, passim; Velasco, Manifesto, passim; Verona, Paramologia, 8-10; Zavala, Venerable Congreg., passim; Constituciones de San Hipolyto, passim; Dávila, Vida de Perez de Barcia, 24; Convento de San Lorenzo Reglas, 1-146; Beccatini, Vida Carlos III., ii. 49-62, 88-9; Bernal y Malo, Indalecio, passim; Certificacion de las Mercedes, MS., 23-33, 84-90; Alcalde, Elogios Funebres, 1-49; Archicofradia del Arcangel Constituciones, passim; Florencia, de Leon, Hist. Vida Molina, passim; Castillo, Dicc. Hist., 9, 52-8, 127-54, 178, 183, 296-314; Escudero, Not. Son., 40; Id., Not. Chih., 32; Id., Not. Dur., 23; Michoocan, Prov. S. Nic., 2, passim; Mexico, Arancel Parroquial, 1-16; Maltralamiento de Indios, passim; Ayetta, Informes, 273-93; Soriano, Prólogo, MS., 4-23; Vilaplana, Vida Portentosa, passim; Texeda, Representacion, passim; Sigala, Discurso, passim; Tornel Mendivil, Aparicion, ii. 183-97; Torrubia, Examen Canonico, passim; Castro, Exaltacion Magnifica, passim; Id., Directorio, passim; Hernandez, Estad. Mex., 257-8; ii. 6, 8, 16-23, 42-4; iii. 23; viii. 175-7, 493-4, 547-9, 628-40; ix. 49, 140, 151, 167; Id., 2da ep. i. 286, 486-95, 565-73, 649, 830-41, 921-25; iii. 21; iv. 153-69, 639-40; Id., 3ra ep. i. 257, 650-1; Album Mex., i. 18.3-4, 291, 308, 352, 409, 422, 455, 58^8; Dic. Univ., i.-x., passim; Mosaico, Mex., ii. 385-92; iii. 6, 21-4; iv. 10, 263; vi. 161-2; vii. 228; Museo Mex., i. 8, 50, 133, 337, passim; ii. 356-7, 409-14; iii. 80-2, 101-5; iv. 93-4, 260, 430-4; Registro, Yucateco, i. 158-9, 228-30; ii. 81-108, 331-43; Pap. Var., i. 6; v. 14-35; ix. 9-37; xli. 32-3; cxxi. 45-56; cxlix. 14-20; clxiv. passim; clxxxiii., passim; Harper's Mag., xlix. 179-80; Niles' Reg., xxiii. 156; Ward's Mex., i. 331-5; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, i. 202; Id., MSS., 1-4, 55-61; Estalla, xxvi. 261-83, 326-8; xxvii. 9-10, 47-8, 110-11, 191-5, 233-71; De Smet's Western Missions, 240-2; D'Avity, Descrip. Gen. Am., ii. 23-4, 80-1; Domenech, Hist. Alex., i. 269-82; Doyle's Hist. Pious Fund, 7, 8; Ahrens' Mex., 33-44; Abbot's Mex., 98-100; America, Pict. Hist., 125-8; Stricker's Bibliothek, 49-50; Touron, Hist. Gen. Am., iv. 348-52; vii. 60-72, 229, 292-386; viii. 240-69; America, Descrip., MS., 116-18; Ogilby's Amer., 226, 245-6; Pinkerton's Mod. Geog., iii. 158; Ponce de Leon, Abeja Mich., 1-147; La Cruz, iii. 303, passim; iv. 184-7; v. 400, 657-69; vi. 137-8; vii. 689-722; Bustamante, Voz de la, Patria, v. 6-25, 75-81; Id., Elogio Hist., passim; Mexico, Disturbios, MS., i. 1-15; Diario Mex., i. 48, 269-72; ii. 142, passim; vi. 94, 187-95, 366-8; vii. 233-4; viii. 27 et seq.; ix. 115, 177, 271-5; x. 330, 571-2; xi. 67-8, 207-9, 351-78, 565; Frejes, Hist. Breve Cong., 162, 272; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 166-7; Queipo, Col. de Doc., 1-65; Ribas, Hist, de los Triumphos, 4:4:7-51; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., ii. 169-70; Mexico, Defensa Juridica, passim; Ytta, Dia Festivo Propio, passim; Libro de las Constituciones de V. Orden, passim; Alontaña, El Corazon de las Rosas, passim; Sanchez, Villa Pueb. Sagrad., 150-1.

 

 

1. Laws prescribing the mode of rendering aid to friars, and regulations to be observed by them on going to the Indies, will be found in Recop. de Ind., i. 104-6, 128-9.
2. Recop. de Ind., i. 17-21. Monasteries established on royal encomiendas were built at the king's expense. Id., i. 18. Consult also Id., i. 114, 122-3. In 1674 the queen regent ordered that the amount to be expended for purchase of wine and oil should not exceed 40,000 pesos a year. Montemayor, Sumarios, 4. It was ordered in 1561 that convents should be at least six leagues apart; nor could they be founded where there was a parish priest. This law was passed in 1559, Recop. de Ind., i. 95, when a considerable number was already established. In 1595 friars were protected by papal bull against interference by the ordinaries, or judges of ecclesiatical causes. Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 312.
3. Id., 184-92, 218-22; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 473-4.
4. Convents, in many of which an inadequate number of friars resided, so multiplied during the sixteenth century that in 1611 Paul V. issued a bull suppressing all that were not occupied by eight resident friars. Guat., Col. de Cédulas Reales; Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 353. According to Torquemada, iii. 381-2, in 1612 the Franciscans possessed about 172 monasteries and religious houses, divided into the five provincias of Mexico, Michoacan, Zacatecas, Nueva Galicia, and Yucatan; the Augustinians had about 90 monasteries in two provinces, that of Mexico and that comprising Michoacan and Jalisco; and the Dominicans 69 monasteries in the provincias of Mexico and Oajaca.
5. Laws were passed in 1558 and 1566 prohibiting friars returning to Spain from bringing with them more gold or silver than was sufficient to meet the expenses of their passage. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 33; Morelli, Nov. Orb., 200. Great restrictions were laid upon their returning to Spain. Recop. de Ind., i. 93, 107-8, 127-8. The rules on this matter were frequently broken, as is evident from the repeated repetition of them.
6. Id., i. 125, 129.
7. In 1568 a law was passed ordering that the papal brief forbidding individual friars to hold private property should be observed. Id., i. 117; Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 229. The practice of making Indians work without paying them was forbidden in 1594, Recop. de Ind., i. 125, but in 1716 the same practice prevailed, the friars going so far as to impress upon the natives, who worked for them, that they were exempt from paying the royal tribute. In November of the above named year a cédula was issued ordering such abuses to cease. Guat., Col. Reales Céd.
8. In 1754 the king expressly forbade any member of a religious order to interfere in the drawing-up of last wills and testaments, Castro, Diario, 55, and in 1775 a cédula was passed prohibiting confessors or their convents from being heirs or legatees. Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 194-6. In 1796, however, a decree was passed allowing friars to inherit estates. Rescriptos Reales, Ecles., MS., 28-56, 99-151, 177.
9. Medina, Chron. de S. Diego Mex., 189; Recop. de Ind., i. 121, 130.
10. A prominent cause of dispute was the jurisdiction exercised by the bishops over the doctrinas. In 10-13 the bishop of Yucatan excommunicated certain Franciscan doctrineros for disobeying his orders relative to the payments made to them by Indians. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., 662-73. In 1669 a quarrel between Archbishop Rivera and the orders gave rise to 'un disturbio que se temió fatalidad,' the former having appointed canonical ministers to 16 doctrinas, the presentations to which were claimed by the provincial of the Augustinians. Robles, Diario, ii. 83-4. I have in my collection the original of a report made by Fray Antonio Ayetta, the representative at Madrid of the provincia de Santo Evangelio. The document bears date of March 9, 1688, and sets forth the difficulties Ayetta had encountered, arising from the hostility of the bishop of Guadalajara. Informe, in Prov. de Sta Evang., MS., 273-91. The same father in a memorial to the king argues against the claim of said bishop that the causes for changes in ministros doctrineros should be laid before him, the king having decreed that this should be done only to the viceroy as vice-patrono. Ayetta, Represent, por los Franciscanos, 15.
11. The restrictions were principally confined to the administration of the sacraments, hearing confession, and preaching. Recop. de Ind., i. 66-7, 84, 117, 124—5, 487; Medina, Chron. de S. Diego, Mex., 194; Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 383-4, 386-7, 394-5; Montemayor, Sumario, 24-6, 37-48; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., ii. 157-8. For a number of laws bearing upon friars as doctrineros see Recop. de Ind., i. 131, 133-6, 138-40. With respect to irregularities prevailing in the doctrinas and the action of Bishop Palafox see this vol. pp. 100-1. A principal cause of grievance, was the transferring the doctrinas from the orders to the secular clergy by the bishops.
12. These quarrels in the Dominican order became so violent that in 1627 the visitador of the society ordered that no more habits should be given to creoles. The king disapproved of such injustice. Disturbios de Frailes, i. no. 4; Cédulario Nuevo, i. 390.
13. Mancera, Instruc., in Doc. Inéd., xxi. 479-85.
14. The decrees sent from Rome and Spain ordered alternation every three or four years. For the reason that for some time no natives of Old Spain applied for admission into the order of the Hermitaños de San Agustin of Mexico, the prelates of that society finally admitted only creoles. A royal cédula dated November 28, 1667, ordered the viceroy to investigate and reform the irregularity. Id. The convent of the Carmelites and the apostolic colleges of San Fernando, Cruz de Querétaro, and others were composed entirely of Spaniards; the communities of Guadalupe de Zacatecas, and those of San Juan de Dios and San Hipólito of the hospitallers, were creole. Alaman, Hist. Méj., i. 13, 70. Pope Urbano VII. defined, by brief of November 12, 1625, the observances to be used by the Franciscans in the distribution of offices among the three different classes of which their order was composed, namely, the 'criollos,' the 'hijos de provincia,' and the 'capuchines,' who are thus respectively defined. The first were those who were bom in the country of Spanish parents and had taken the habit; the second were Spaniards who took the habit in New Spain, and the third were Spaniards who entered-the order in Europe. Urbano VIII., in Disturbios de Frailes, i. 146 et seq.
15. The three classes mentioned in the preceding note were distinguished by different habits. Sierra, Dictamen, in Id., i. 347-63. A royal order dated September 11, 1766, confirming previous ones issued in 1691, 1697, and 1725, directed the admission of Indians into the religious orders. Providencias Reales, in Mex. Ordinanzas de esta N. C., MS., 178-82.
16. A notable case occurred in the city of Mexico on the 9th of July 1780 when a serious riot occurred in the convent of San Francisco, occasioned by the seizure of the 'guardian Fray Mateo Jimenez, a gachupín.' The two parties came to blows, 25 friars fled, and it required the employment of a military force to effect the release of Jimenez, his captors having twice refused to obey the summons sent by the viceroy to surrender him. Gomez, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., 2da'série, vii. 89, 91-2.
17. A tumult was occasioned in 1664 by the rescue of a negress who was being led to execution for the attempted murder of her mistress. The friars who attended her raised the cry of 'To the church,' whereupon a crowd of negroes, mulattoes, and others, in spite of the resistance of the guard carried her into the cathedral. Attempts of the authorities to release her failed. She was afterward conveyed to the convent of La Concepcion and escaped punishment. Guijo, Diario, 551.
18. Ordenes de la Corona, iv. 84-5; vii. 11, 84-5.
19. Gage, i. 82, tells a story of a priest who, having won a large sum, held open one of the sleeves of his habit and swept his gains into it with the other, jocularly explaining that he had taken a vow neither to touch nor keep money, but that his sleeve had permission to do so. Delaporte, x. 198-268, 307.
20. The inquisition in 1742 instituted proceedings against Fray Lázaro Jimenez del Guante, a Franciscan of Querétaro, for soliciting women—some of whom denounced him—and other immoral practices. Being found guilty he was deprived for life of the right of hearing confessions and otherwise punished. Ximenez, Fray Lázaro, Inquisidor fiscal contra, MS., fol. pp. 281.
21. In 1789 Fray Jacinto Miranda, of the order of la Merced, stabbed and killed the comendador Padre Gregorio Corte. Miranda had been placed under severe discipline by the comendador; he was tried before the archbishop for his crime. The order made strenuous efforts to save him from capital punish ment, and he was probably sent to Spain. Miranda, Causa de Homicidio, in Disturbios de Frailes, MS., ii. no. i. pp. 37-128; no. 8, pp. 331-40; Bernal y Malo-Waldo, Indalecio, Aleyato, 1-86. The kings of Spain were unwilling that the excesses committed by friars should become-public if it could be avoided, and left their punishment, as far as possible, to the jurisdiction of the several orders. But it being discovered that such license led to abuses, instructions were issued to the archbishop and bishops, enjoining them, in case merited punishment was not meted out to delinquents by the superiors of the orders, to assume the jurisdiction with which they were invested by the council of Trent. Recop. de Ind., i. 123.
22. A modern author thus describes the moral condition of friars during the seventeenth century: 'Generalmente vivian entregados á los vicios, hallándose sin embargo muchos sacerdotes dignos en las congregaciones de S. Pedro, S. Francisco Javier y S. Felipe Neri; pero la mayor parte del clero era ignorante, relajado en sus costumbres y se cuidaba poeo de la conveniencia en el trage y los alimentos, notándose desde entonces propensiones en esa clase á las rebeliones y motines.' Rivera, Gob. de Mex., i. 239.
23. According to Calle, Mem. y Not., 45, in the middle of the seventeenth century there were more than 400 convents of all orders in New Spain. The bull of 1611 ordering that each convent should have at least eight inmates, was constantly disregarded. The pope issued briefs to the same effect in 1693 and 1698, and in 1703 the king commanded viceroys to enforce the order. Ordenes de la Corona, vii. 8-10.
24. Castro, Diario, 53-5.
25. Gazetas, i. 34.
26. Essai Pol., i. 127, 129.
27. Sigüenza y Góngora, Parayso Occid., 39-47. In 1678 a daughter of the alcalde de corte, Saenz Moreno, only five years of age, entered the order of the Capuchin nuns. Robles, Diario, ii. 272. Felipe IV. gave permission for the founding of this nunnery in 1664. Montemayor, Sumarios, 10.
28. San Vicente, Exacta Descrip., 27; Hist. Mex., ii. 737, this series. In 1787 there were 1,055 nuns in the city of Mexico. Alzate, Gazetas, i. 34. Humboldt gives 923 as the number in 1790, while in 1803 there were in the 15 nunneries then existing in the capital about 2,100, of whom 900 were professed nuns. Essai Pol., i. 195.
29. Iglesias, Rel, 239, 241-2; Romero, Not. Mich., 27, 45. In 1754 the convent of la Purisima Concepcion was founded in Guanajuato. Gomara, Exemp. Relig., 11-18.
30. Viceroy Mancera informs the king that the nuns caused constant trouble to the government in such attempts. His Majesty instructed him not to allow himself or the civil authorities to intervene in cases of the kind. This relieved the government of much annoyance. Instruc., in Doc. Inéd., xxi. 479-85.
31. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iv. 15.
32. Providencias Reales, MS., 134-42. This occurred in 1717. The king, by royal cédula of November 3, 1722, decided adversely to the nuns. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iv. 140-5.
33. It was ordered by royal cédula that nunneries were not to be disturbed by visits or amusements. Reales Cédulas MS., i. 83, 111. Even the wives of members of the audiencia were prohibited from entering such establishments. Procidencias Reales, MS., 52-3; Convento de S. Lorenzo, Reg, y Constiluc., 1-140.
34. An account of the establishment of missions in tliese states will be found in I list. North Mex., i., this series; Hist. Cal.; and Hist. New Mex. and Arizona.
35. Ordenes de la Corona, vii. 14.
36. Villa-Señor narrates that in 1718 a Nayarit chief visited the city of Mexico and tendered his submission to his Catholic Majesty, requesting that missionaries accompanied by a sufficient force might be sent with him on his return. This was done; but preparations were hardly commenced for founding the mission under the superintendence of Jesuit fathers, when the worthy chief and his people abandoned their new friends, carrying off with them most of the Spaniards' baggage. The soldiers pursued them into the mountains, where they found that human sacrifices had been recently offered. Here, too, they discovered seated on a throne the skeleton of an ancestor of the existing chief, 'el qual estaba ricamente adornada de pedrer. . . con tahalí, brazaletes, collares, y apretadores de plata,' with a crown of many-colored feathers and all the insignia of royalty. Having captured some of the Indians they returned to the capital, where the prisoners were tried for sacrilege. In 1723 they were 'penitenciados' at an auto de fé, and on the following day the skeleton, an object of their former worship, was burnt in the plazuela de San Diego. A presidio company was then formed, and missions established by the Jesuits. Teatro Amer., ii. 268-71. On the expulsion of the Jesuits their missions were placed under the charge of the Franciscans in Jalisco. Razon de Misiones, 1768 & 1789, in Soc. Mex. Geog., 2da ep., i. 572. The author of the Razon mentions only seven missions.
37. Id., 570-3.
38. Viceroy Revilla Gigedo, in a full report to the court of Spain in 1793 on the subject of missions, disapproved of the secularization of missions. 'No estoy muy conforme con las misiones que se han secularizado ni tomaré esta proudencia sin que precedan seguridades visibles de su buen éxito, porque los curas elérigos no pueden hacer mas que los religiosos.' He thus describes the condition of certain missions that had been secularized: 'Es muy lastimoso el estado de las que se pusieron d cargo de sacerdotes clérigos, pues las mas se hallan sin ministros, y los existentes eu calidad de interinos, sirven contra toda su voluntad, haciendo repetidas renuncias.' Carta dirigida á la corte, in Dic. Univ., V. 439, 469.
39. The stipend allowed each misionero was 300 pesos a year. Venegets, 232-3. In 1705 the allowance for the missions of the Jesuits not having been paid for three years, a council was held by them at which it was determined to abandon their missions and surrender them to the secular clergy. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 141-2. Revilla Gigedo urged the necessity of not regarding too closely the expense of stipends for missions, not merely for the sake of justice but also of safety. Carta, in Dicc. Univ., v. 470; Mayer MSS., no. xi.
40. On feast days care was taken that all should attend mass, the Indians being called up one by one to kiss the padre's hand so that the absent ones could be noted. The more intelligent were exhorted to frequent communion. Palou, Vida, 25-6. These regulations were observed in the missions of Cerro Gordo, Querétaro, and Zacatecas.
41. In 1691, in the province of Santo Evangelio alone, they had 83 convents and monasteries. Truxillo, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii. tom. i. 9-10. Vetancurt, Chrón., 30, says 86. For description and names see Id., 30 et seq., and Sierra, in Disturbios de Frailes, MS., i. 359.
42. For details about that region see Arlegui, Chrón. Zac., 393-438.
43. Cédulas in Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iv. 132, 106, 190-1.
44. Cédula of February 10, 1714. Cedulario, MS., iii. 63-4.
45. He had been sent to Spain to attend a chapter of the order, and there obtained on April 18, 1682, the king's license for the establishment, the convent of Santa Cruz at Querétaro being granted him for that purpose. In the following mouth the pope issued a confirmatory bull, and in 1083 Linaz left with 22 companions for New Spain, taking possession of the convent assigned him on the 15th of August 1683. Espinosa, Cron. Apost., 38-50. For rules to which the members were subject, see Id., 52-4.
46. This hospicio was closed in 1772 for want of funds. Arricivita, Crón. Seráf., 431-7.
47. Erected as such in 1621, but later reunited with the province of Michoacan, owing to insufficiency of means. Arias, in Pinart, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., 319-20. Revilla Gigedo in his report on missions says the founding of Eio Verde took place in 1607, but this indicates probably the first date when missionary labors began in that region.
48. See N. Mexico, Cédulas, MS., 196-9; also Revilla Gigedo, in Dicc. Univ., v. 458.
49. Friars of the college of San Fernando at Mexico had established the missions of Xalpa, Purísima Concepcion, San Miguel, San Francisco, and Nuestra Señora de la Luz, but they declined owing to the death of several friars and the return of others to the college. In 1750, however, others were sent, among them the famous California missionaries Junipero Serra and Francisco Palou, who resumed the work with good success. Palou, Vida, 24-9, 34-5. See also Arias, in Pinart, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., 329-30.
50. The settlement of Divina Pastora in the jurisdiction of Rio Verde was made at the expense of the count de Santa Maria Guadalupe del Peñasco and maintained by him for about 20 years. Michoacan, Informe, in Id., 136-7; Arias, in Id., 323.
51. See Pinart, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., 457. The total number of missions in Tamaulipas in 1787 was 48, partly belonging to the custodia of Tampico, partly to that of New Mexico. Ylzarbe, in Id., 345-60.
52. In 1687 a mission of 20 friars was sent to Yucatan, and the king granted them the usual alms of oil and wine. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., ii. 58.
53. In about 1757 the order wished to resign its settlements in that district, but was refused license to do so. Soriano, Prólogo, MS., 5.
54. Founded by virtue of a bull of Pope Benedict XIII. of April 3, 1727, and confirmed in July 1733 by Clement XII. Soriano Prólogo, MS., 4.
55. Torquemada, iii. 333; Grijalua, Chron. de S. Augustin, 217-18; Salguero, Vida, 12. The king of Spain gave his permission in 1601; the act by which the division was made was issued by the 'padre maestro' in Mexico on the 17th of March, 1602.
56. Prov. Mich. Agust., 111-13. The author of this work states that the viceroy had previously objected to the division.
57. For 20 years the society of San Nicolas was ruled by the former, and habits of the order were prohibited from being granted to the latter class. Provincia, in Disturbios de, Frailes, MS., i. no. iv. 167. About the year 1630, however, the Capuchines were compelled to yield to the pressure brought to bear upon them, and the alternative system came into force. Mich., Prov. S. Nic., 189-96. In 1029 a violent dissension occurred owing to the appointment of Juan de Leivana as provincial, without any attention being paid to the 'alternatia.' Eleven voters immediately proceeded to Mexico, and by order of the viceroy formed themselves into a chapter, admitted the alternative system, and elected Padre Vergara provincial. Vergara returned to Michoacan accompanied by an oidor. Fray Leivana opposed his taking possession of the office, and attempted to place Vergara in confinement, whereupon a chapter was held at Valladolid, and Leivana was sentenced to be banished to China. He was afterward sent to Acapulco, but the ships had sailed before his arrival. Salguero, Vida, 87-9; Prov. Mich., August., 192-4. Veraga died in the first year of his office, and was succeeded by P. Pedro de Santa María, for the concluding two years. In 1632 the majority elected P. Damian Nuñez provincial. Id., 194-6. Nuñez was a creole, and appears to have been the first of that class who occupied the office.
58. The increase of rental was estimated at 300,000 pesos. The income of the provincial treasury during these three years was 54,378 pesos, of which 27,236 pesos were expended on the repair of churches and the erection of the Valladolid chapel; of the remainder, 3,000 pesos were allowed the provincial for expenses; 2,136 pesos were spent in supplying assistance to sick and needy friars; debts amounting to 3,323 pesos brought forward from the preceding triennial were liquidated, and 1,360 pesos were transmitted to the general of the order, making the outcome amount to 37,055 pesos, and leaving a balance in favor of the treasury of 17,323 pesos. Salguero, Vida, 19-21.
59. 'Con que se fueron los alcaldes y guardia, y quedó el convento en un infierno de disturbios.' Guijo, Diario, 143.
60. 'Quedó el con vento algo sosegado y sus parciales con algunos teraores.' Id., 145. During the years 1652 to 1654 the Augustinians were engaged in disputes with the bishops owing to their removal from doctrinas. Royal interference was necessary and commands on the matter were issued. Frailes Doctrin., in Disturbios de Frailes, MS., ii. no. ii. 129-88. In 1676 the Augustinian church in the capital was burnt down. Much popular superstition prevailed relative to this disaster and its significance. Sigüenza y Góngora, Carta al Almirante, MS., 15. A royal cédula was issued in 1741 ordering the provincial definitorio to be held every two years. No appeal from this decree would be admitted. Reales, Cédulas, MS., 130-2.
61. Nine of these friars were ordained priests, the remaining three being lay brothers. Vetancurt, Trat, de Mex., 38-9; Medina, Chron. de S. Diego, 11.
62. The pope granted extensive privileges to this order in 1704: 'Ut Rectores Provinciales Discalceatorum Ordinis S. Augustini Congregationis. . . gaudeant eisdem privilegiis quibus Provinciales absoluti.' Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 511. In 1744 the mission of Paculawas transferred from the Augustinians to the barefooted order. Soriano, Prólogo, 3.
63. Friars of San Fernando from Mexico and others from Pachuca. Orozco y Berra, Carta Etnog., 260.
64. Of 200 families which composed the settlement in 1756 only four remained in 1767.
65. The incorporation of a mission into the jurisdiction of the secular clergy was generally effected when a certain degree of political and religious inter gence had been acquired by the Indians; but on account of its isolated situation or for some other reason—perhaps the insignificant perquisites to be obtained—San Miguel was not claimed by the bishop. Pinart, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., 271-3, 457-60.
66. The Mercenarios founded in 1628 or 1629 a convent at Guadalajara, and in the first years of the eighteenth century another at Zacatecas. In 1617 they formed the provincia de la Visitacion de la Nueva España.
67. Nevertheless the Mercenarios were able to pay in 1785 $100,000 into the royal treasury to be used by the government in Spain for ransoming captive christians. To obtain alms for that purpose was an object of their order.
68. Medina, Chrón. S. Diego, 11, followed by Vetancurt, Trot. Mex., 37 gives Gerónimo de Seguera as the founder, and says that the original number was 16, but that only four arrived in Mexico.
69. In 1605 they entered Colima, where the hospital de la Concepcion was given them; three years later they gained a firm footing in Zacatecas and Durango. During the years from 1611 to 1623 they founded establishments at San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Leon, Guadalajara, and Celaya, while their introduction into Puebla and Yucatan was delayed till about 1630, and into Oajaca till 1702. Santos, Chronologia, ii. 446-91. On the same and following pages are also some details about the establishment of hospitals in other places.