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man, some distance from the actual site of the town of
that name. For many years the Diocese of Porto Rico
had only these two centres of worship, with little in-
crease in population, owing to the larger opportuni-
ties then found in Mexico and South America.
The location of the actual cathedral of San Juan marks the site of the first church there erected in 1520 or 1521 by Bishop Manso. This wooden structure was replaced by Bishop Bastidas, who began the work in 1543, and in the year following informed the king that the building was still unfinished for lack of funds; that he "was assisted by the new dean, by four bene- ficiaries, some clerics, parish priests, chaplains, and an able provisor". Again in 1549 the bishop informed the same sovereign that the cathedral, upon which had al- ready been spent more than six thousand caslellanos, was still unfinished; that he had celebrated a synod, and that the diezmos amounted to six thousand pesos payable every four years on instalments. Successive structures have been destroyed by cyclones, earth- quakes, and foreign invaders, to be replaced by others, each surpassing in beauty the former and continuing for four centuries on this spot the hallowed sanctuary of the mother church of the diocese.
The present cathedral, which is comparatively mod- em in its principal part, dates back to the early part of the eighteenth century. The rear portion, however, gives evidence of a distinct style of architecture of a much more remote period. On 12 August, 190S, the remains of Don Juan Ponce de Leon were solemnly conveyed from the church of San Jos6 to the ca- thedral, where a suitable monument now marks the resting place of the intrepid soldier and Christian cavalier.
Church and State. — On the withdrawal of Spain from Porto Rico, and the assumption by the United States of control over the island, many prob- lems arose affecting the welfare of the Catholic Church. For four centuries the civil and religious au- thorities had been intimatelyas-sociated, first by reason of the right of patronage over the Church of the Indies conferred on the kings of Spain by Julius II in 1508, and then by reason of the existing concordat.
Three distinct concordats or solemn agreements between the Holy See and the kings of Spain had been drawn up at various times relative to the mutual in- terests of Church and State in Porto Rico. The first was dated 13 May, 1418, between Martin V and John II of Castile. The second, between Philip V and Innocent XIII, may be regarded as the forerunner of the agreement made 2 Januarj', 1753, by Benedict XIV and Ferdinand VI, which remained the basis of the union of Church and State in Spain and her colo- nies until the death of Ferdinand VII in 1833.
That concordat recognized in a solemn manner the right of patronage as appertaining to the Crown, the Church in consequence reserving to itself fifty-two benefices for its own appointment without any inter- vention of the State.
On the accession of Isabella II her adherents seemed to assume that Rome was unfavourable to the new dynasty, and, together with a vast portion of the Spanish clergy, was leaning towards the pretender Don Carlos. Eventually there followed a complete rupture with the Holy See. In the subsequent civil war opportimity was afforded the Isabellists to de- spoil the Church of her rights and suspend the allow- ances guaranteed by the Crown for the maintenance of religion.
Porto Rico felt in a very special manner the effects of this. In 1833 the saintly Bishop Pedro Gutierrez de Cos had died, leaving the diocese vacant until the nomination in 1 846 of Bishop Francisco de La Puente, O.S.D. During this interval the Church was sub- jected to violent measures on the part of the governors of the island, who, taking advantage of its unsettled condition and of the Laws of Confiscation (applicable
only to Spain), despoiled the Church of much property
and disbanded the only two communities of rehgious
men, the Dominicans and Franciscans, appropriating
to the State their convents and properties.
On 8 May, 1849, the Cortes authorized the Govern- ment to conclude a new concordat with the Holy See. This was done, 17 Oct., 1851, and, with mocUfications duly admitted in amendments (1859, 1867), was the law of Porto Rico at the time when it passed under American rule. The Spanish captain-general, besides being civil and miUtary governor of the island, was also vice patron of the Catholic Church.
The question of the patronage previously exercised by the Crown of Spain seemed to offer Uttle difliculty ; on the part of the Ignited States, there was no disposi- tion to avail itself of this privilege, nor did the Church desire to have the civil or mihtary government inter- vene in matters spiritual. The continuance of the concordat as to the support of Divine worship and its ministers was not claimed by the Church from the new government. It was tacitly admitted by both parties that the nature of the American Government made such continuance impossible. With this under- standing the Catholic Church, through its Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Chapelle, proceeded. But it was urged that the new government, in extending its authority over Porto Rico, should fulfil all obliga- tions of justice towards the Catholic Church.
The maintenance of religion and its ministers in Spain and her colonies was not an act of mere piety or generosity towards the Church, but a partial and meagre compensation to the Church for repeated spoliations, particularly during the last century. On the acceptance by the Spanish Government of its obligation to support religion and its ministers, the popes, particularly Pius IX, had condoned many past acts of spoliation. In view of this act of the pope the Church in Porto Rico could not reclaim anything from the American Government. But there were cer- tain church properties, particularly the former pos- sessions of the now suppressed communities of re- ligious men, which, by the distinct agreement between the Holy See and the Crown, should have been sur- rendered to the diocese; these, however, still remain in possession of the government. Both in Cuba ancl in Porto Rico claims were made for properties which in every sense of law and justice belonged to the Church, though administered by the government, w-hich was repeatedly pledged by the terms of the concordat to restore the same to the Church.
The support of religion was the only title whereby in the past usufruct of these properties by the Crown of Spain could have been condoned; the failure of the American Government to assume this obligation de- prived it of all title or pretext to these holdings.
Hence the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Cha- pelle, and the then Bishop of Porto Rico, Riglit Rev. James H. Blenk, made claim to the United States Government for the devolution of these properties or their equivalent, together with a rental of the edifices from the date of the American occupation of Porto Rico, as well as a small amount of censos. The L'nited States military government in Cuba had speedily ad- justed a similar claim involving a much larger amount, through the appointment of a commission. The prompt establishment of civil government in Porto Rico obliged Bishop Blenk to appeal to the civil tri- bunals on account of a special act of the legislature (12 March, 1904) conferring original jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court of the island to determine all ques- tions at issue with the bishop of the diocese. This measure immediately led to a series of civil suits which involved the claim here mentioned as well as the own- ership of the proijerties of the diocese, the episcopal residence, the seminarj- building, the cathedral, sev- eral parish churches, and the hospital. By the people of Porto Rico the claims of the Church were not die-
