to the provincial in Mexico, to whom, they said, the affair had been submitted. A request to obtain in the interim permission to preach and to confess was denied. Notwithstanding a reiterated injunction, however, on the 8th of March Father Luis Legaspi delivered a sermon, which had been announced for several days. The bishop, now thoroughly roused, ordered a decree to be published, imposing the greater excommunication and ecclesiastical censures on the Jesuits, who were described as transgressors of the tridentine council. At the same time the inhabitants were warned against attending their sacrilegious ministrations.[1]
The Jesuits obeyed the episcopal orders, and during the remainder of lent neither confessed nor preached; but meanwhile they made active preparations in Mexico, to vindicate their cause. At a meeting convoked for that purpose by the provincial, Pedro de Velasco, the appointment of jueces conservadores[2] was resolved upon. The difficulty in finding persons willing to accept such an office, which necessarily would arouse the wrath of the visitador and bishop, was solved by the eagerness of the Dominicans, who somewhat recklessly offered their services.[3] Two prominent members of their order, Juan de Paredes and Agustin Godines, were elected;[4] a memorial in defense of such policy was published, and, if we may credit the Jesuit chroniclers, was received with general approbation by the most influential religious orders.[5] The bishop
- ↑ An order that the decree be fixed on the church doors was not carried out, perhaps from fear of scandal, the people being already wildly agitated, Alegre, ii. 283; but printed copies were distributed all over the country. The full text of the decree is given in Palafox, Obras, xii. 20-47.
- ↑ This name was given to judges appointed to defend the rights and privileges of a convent, church, or religious corporation against any violent acts from without.
- ↑ 'Desde luego ofrecian hasta los cálices de su iglesia. . .para el socorro y gastos de la defensa.' Alegre, ii. 286.
- ↑ Bribed by a gift of 4,000 pesos, says Palafox.
- ↑ So says Alegre, followed by a number of writers; he also gives extracts of the testimony obtained in favor of his society. Hist. Comp. Jesus, ii. 289-91. Guijo, however, a contemporary and probably more impartial author, says that opinions were divided as to whether the appointment was a prudent step. Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., 1st ser., i. 11.
