and in defiance of the pope of Rome. It was during the administration of the marqués de Croix that New Spain, as well as the other dominions of the Spanish crown, was subjected by Cárlos III., their king, to this catastrophe which brought to thousands humiliation and distress.
I have given, with sufficient detail, the origin and progress in Mexico of the society of Jesus to the end of the seventeenth century. The order continued to spread during the next hundred years, and its hold on the country was such that, to all appearances, no power could shake it so long as it pursued its established policy.[1] In 1732 the Jesuits entered the field of Guanajuato, and took initiatory steps toward founding a college in the city of that name. The site was determined, and the appurtenances received in September,[2] but it was not until 1744 that the royal authorization was obtained.[3] The corner-stone was laid in 1747, fifty thousand pesos having been secured, besides four haciendas valued at double that sum.[4] The church of the college was consecrated in 1765. There was at Leon in Guanajuato a beaterio of Jesuit women for the education of girls, the only one in America. In Michoacan the order had a mission in San Juan Puruándiro of the district of Pátzcuaro.[5] The college of San Javier was given to the society by the bishop of Michoacan. In Jalisco, the conversion of the natives of Nayarit was taken in hand by the Jesuits in 1720.[6] They labored in that barren field
- ↑ The society's extraordinary privileges had been at various periods—1708 to 1757—renewed by the papal court, the last extension being for twenty years. Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 518-625.
- ↑ It is stated that as early as 1616 the people there had asked for Jesuits; and there was a tradition that for fifteen days before a priest named Vidal visited the place, the form of a Jesuit was seen in the pulpit of the parish church. Vidal vanquished and drove out the devil, who had declared that he would prevent the Jesuit entry. Lazcano, Vida del P. Oviedo, 270-5.
- ↑ Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 241-3, 284-6.
- ↑ As many as 500 miners helped at the work on certain days without wages, and yet the college and its magnificent temple cost over half a million pesos. Romero, Mich., 160-1.
- ↑ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, ii. 28.
- ↑ When these people earnestly asked for them. They had since 1635 refused
