MOTU PROPRIO
602
MOUCHY
was so great that llu" coiunuTdr i-ommissioncd him to
see that "no risiiiK took place in Mexico or the other
provinces" during liis absence. Motohnia subse-
quently made a journey to tiuatemala, where he made
use of the faculties which he had to administer con-
firmation, and thence passed to Nicaragua. Re-
turning to Mexico, he was guardian successively at
Texcoco and Tlaxcala, and was chosen sixth provin-
cial of the Province of Santo Evangelio. When Don
Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, president of the sec-
ond Audiencia, decided to found the settlement of
Puebla, Fray Toribio, who had joined in requesting
this foundation, was one of the commissioners chosen
to carry out the work, with the auditor Don Juan de
Salmeron. In association with the guardians of
Tlaxcala, Cholula, Huexotzingo, and Tepeaca, and
employing a large number of Indian labourers, they
built the city. Motolinia said the first Mass here on
16 April, 1530, and with his companions made the al-
lotments of land, choosing for the convent the site
upon which is still to be seen the beautiful church of
San Francisco. He himself left in writing the total
of baptisms performed by him, amounting to 400,000,
"which," says Padre Torquemada, "I who write this
have seen confirmed by his name." The Indians
loved him tenderly for his virtues and, above all, for
his ardent charity. He died in the convent of S.
Francisco, in the City of Mexico, and the crowd at his
burial had to be restrained from cutting in pieces the
habit which his corpse wore, pieces of which they
would have taken as relics of a saint.
Among the writings of Motolinia is his famous letter to Emperor Charles V, written on 2 January, 1555. It is a virulent attack upon Bishop Barto- lome de las Casas, intended to discredit him completely, calling him "a grievous man, restless, importunate, turbulent, injurious, and prejudicial", and moreover an apostate in that he had renounced the Bishopric of Chiapas. The monarch is even ad- vised to have him shut up for safe keeping in a mon- astery. WTiile it is impossible to save the memory of Motolinia from the blot which this letter has placed upon it, .some explanation of his conduct can be given. He may have foreseen the extremely grave evils that would have resulted to the social system, as it was then established in New Spain, if the theories of Las Casas had become completely dominant. In- deed, when it is remembered that these theories Jeopardized the fortunes of nearly all the colonists, not only in Mexico, but also throughout the New World — fortunes which they had perhaps amassed illegally, but, in many instances, in good faith and at the" cost of incredible labours and perils— it may well be understood why so tremendous an animosity should have been felt against the man who not only had originated the theories, but had effected their triumph at Court; who was endeavouring with in- credible tenacity of purpose to put them into practice, and who, in his directions to confessors, asserts that all the Spaniards of the Indies must despoil them- selves of all their property, except what they have acquired by commerce, and no longer hold encomien- das or slaves. The theory of encomiendas was not in itself blameworthy; for the Indians, being like all other subjects bound to contribute towards the ex- penses of government, it made no difference to them whether they paid tribute direct to the government or to the holders of royal commissions (encomiendas). What made the system intolerable was the mass of horrible abuses committed under its shadow; had las Casas aimed his attack more surely against these abuses, he might perhaps have been more successful in benefiting the Indians. It is certain that the "New Laws", the greatest triumph of las Ca.sas, remained virtually inoperative in Mexico; in Chiapas and Guatemala they led to serious disturbances, and in Peru they resulted in a civil war fraught with
crimes and horrors, amidst which the aborigines
sulTered greatly. Such was the man whom Motolinia
sought to oppose, and his attitude was shared by
men of the most upright character, e. g. Bishop
Marroquin, the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza,
and the fisitador Tello. However pardonable the
intention, it is impossible to forgive the aggressive
and virulent tone of the aforesaid denunciation.
He wrote some works which were of assistance to
Mendieta and to Torquemada, one of the chief being
his "Historia de los Indies de Nueva Espaiia".
Beristain, Bihlioteca hispano-americana aeptentTional (Ame- cameca, 1883): Icazbalceta. 06ras (Mexico, 1905): Alaman, Discrtaciones (Mexico, 1844): Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Hisloria rerdaflcra de la conquista de la Nueva Espafla (Mexico, 1904): Betancourt, Menologio franciscano (Mexico, 1871); C.\rri6n, Hist, de Puebla (Puebla, 1896) : Mexico a travis de los siglos. II: Mendieta, Hist. ecUs. Indiana (Mexico, 1870) : Colec- cidn de Documentos para la historia de Mexico, I (Mexico, 1898).
Camillus Crivelli.
MotU Proprio, the namegiven to certain papal re- scripts on account of tlu- chiuse »tolu proprio (of his own accord) used in the document. The words sig- nify that the provisions of the rescript were decided on by the pope personally, that is, not on the advice of the cardinals or others, but for reasons which he himself deemed sufficient. The document has generally the form of a decree: in style, it resembles a Brief rather than a Bull, but differs from both especially in not being sealed or countersigned. It issues from the Dataria Apostohca, and is usually written in Italian or Latin. It begins by stating the reason inducing the sovereign pontiff to act, after which is stated the law or regulation made, or the favour granted. It is signed personally by the pope, his name and the date being always in Latin. A Motu Proprio was first is- sued by Innocent VIII in 14S4. It was always un- popular in France, where it was regarded as an in- fringement of Galilean liberties, for it implied that the sovereign pontiff had an immediate jurisdiction in the affairs of the French Church. The best-known recent example of a Motu Proprio is the instructions issued by Pius X on 22 November, 1903, for the re- form of church music.
The phrase molu proprio is frequently employed in papal documents. One characteristic result of its use is that a rescript containing it is valid and produces its effect even in cases where fraud would ordinarily have vitiated the document, for the words signify that the pope in granting the favour does not rely on the rea- sons alleged. When the clause is used in dispensa- tions, the latter are given a broad interpretation; a favour granted motu proprio is valid even when coun- ter to ecclesiastical law, or the decisions of the pope himself. Consequently, canonists call the clause the "mother of repose " : "sicut papaver gignit somnum et quietem, ita et haec clausula habenti eam." (See Rescripts.)
Rebuf, Trad, concordatorum: De forma mandati apostol. (Paris, 1538), s. v.; RiGANTl, Comment, inregul. cancellaricc apost. (Rome, 1744), s. V. Cratiamotu propria; Gibaud, Bibt. sacra (Milan, 1835),
8. V. A. A. MacErlean.
Mouchy, Antoine de (called Demochares), theologian and canonist, b. 1494, at Ressons-sur-Matz, near Beauvais, in Picardy; d. 8 May, 1574, at Paris. In 1539 he was appointed rector of the University of Paris. He was also professor at the Sorbonne and canon Pcenilentiarius of Noyon. As inquisiior fidei he exerted his influence against the Calvinists. In 1562 he accompanied the Cardinal of Lorraine to the Council of Trent, and in 1564 was present at the Synod of Reims. Mouchy wrote a work in defence of the Ma-ss (Paris, 1562), and edited the "Corpus juris canonici" (3 vols, fol., including the glo.'s.sa, Paris, 1561; 4 vols. 8vo, without the glo.ssa, Paris, 1.547-50; 7 vols. 12mo, Lyons, 1554).
ScHERER in Kirchenlex., 8. v.
Leo A. Kelly.
