discovery and possession, and the introduction of Christianity, followed by the building and endowment of churches, convents, and monasteries. To this were added the privileges conferred by popes Alexander VI. and Julius II., confirmed by later briefs of the holy see.[1] The decision of the first ecclesiastical council of Mexico reserving patronage to the king was advanced as an additional reason. The prerogative was claimed as one to be forever held inalienable. No person or persons, ecclesiastical or secular, no church or monastery, was to use the patronage, except under the crown's authority, and severe penalties were provided against infringements of the royal privilege.
The nomination of archbishops and bishops and the bestowal of benefices in the Indies belonged exclusively to the crown, and were consequently confirmed without demur. The king became ipso facto the head of the church in America, and no bull, brief, or other order emanating from the holy see or its apostolic nuncios could be published or carried out without being first submitted to and passed by the council of the Indies.[2] Repeated cédulas issued from 1644 to 1672 inclusive reiterated those orders, and enjoined viceroys, audiencias, governors, and other rulers to send back to the council of the Indies all documents
- ↑ Ribadeneyra, Id., 51458. Antonio Joachin de Ribadeneyra, Manual Compendio de el Regio Patronato Indiano (Madrid, 1755). The author filled high judicial offices in Nueva Galicia and Mexico, and was a member of the king's council, a man fully competent for the work he undertook. He furnished a complete and exhaustive dissertation in clear and laconic style, on the royal patronage, both canonical and civil, in the Indies, with the view of rendering the matter comprehensive and practical. The work contains all the papal bulls, royal orders, and opinions of reliable authorities bearing on the Subject and going to sustain the compiler's statements.
- ↑ Cédula of Felipe IV., April 25, 1643, reiterating others of his predecessors and his own issued between 1564 and 1633. Recop. de Ind., i. 36, 49, 50, 70, 76, 78, 115, 118-19; Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 27-8; Órd. de la Corona, MS., i. 1; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., v. 43; Leyes, Var. Anot., MS., 23. The same rule was applicable to patentes of the generals or superiors of the religious orders. The only ones excepted were such as were for the internal domestic government of the religious within their cloisters. Montemayor, Sumarios, 36-38.
Ribadeneyra, Manual Comp., in address to the king, 3-4; Palafox, Instruc., in Morfi, Col. de Doc., MS. . 26.
