of the one in that country. They built a chapel for it, and endowed it with funds, agreeing to bequeath their estates to the new establishment.[1] In 1582 the brotherhood of the Descendimiento y Sepulcro de Cristo was established under the advocation of Saint Magdalen.[2] In 1584 a similar organization was founded under the title of the Cofradía del Rosario. It is related that Friar Tomás del Rosario when very ill saw Lucifer coming toward him with a terrific and threatening aspect. The frightened monk called on the virgin to protect him. She forthwith appeared and takmg his hand in hers, said: "Arise, recite my rosary, and I will favor thee." The devil disappeared and the monk was cured, and from that moment began to exert himself to establish the cofradía, and succeeded in obtaining many brethren. A. silver image costing over five thousand pesos was made. Offerings arrived from all parts, and the worship of the vírgen del Rosario increased rapidly after 1584. A cofradía was soon founded in Puebla, and another in Oajaca.[3]
In 1588 there were seven nunneries and one school for girls in the city of Mexico, all under the ordinary. One of the nunneries, of the order of Saint Jerome, was used as a place of detention for married women undergoing trial, and for those who had been sentenced for violation of their marriage vows.[4]
During Bishop Guerra's pastorate was founded in Valladolid, Michoacan, the convent of Santa Catalina de Sena of Dominican nuns. A convent of Capuchin nuns existed in Oajaca at the end of the century, and in 1589 a convent of the order of Santa Clara was founded in Mérida, Yucatan.
- ↑ A brotherhood was organized, and the pope granted it the same rights enjoyed by the one in Catalonia. Iglesias y Conventos, 113-14.
- ↑ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd., 561.
- ↑ Fernandez, Hist. Ecles., 99-10.
- ↑ The convent of Jesus María, finished in 1588, was built for the poor descendants of the conquerors and early settlers. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 38; Sigüenza y Góngora, Parayso Occid., 5-11.
