1816.[1] Having been nominated by President Santa Anna as the successor of Bishop Becerra at Puebla,[2] his preconization took place the 23d of March, 1855; and on the receipt of his bulls, he took the constitutional oath before the president, and was consecrated in the cathedral church of Puebla, by his friend Bishop Munguía, on the 8th of July. The new diocesan prelate devoted himself vigorously to the duties of his office, applying his exertions especially to the acquisition of sisters of the sacred heart. Two months later he started upon a pastoral visit of the diocese, which was presently interrupted by the annulment by political events of ecclesiastical privileges. It is unnecessary to repeat here the particulars of his expatriation, which have been set forth in narrating the occurrences of that period. Suffice it to say that it is believed the motives prompting his action were pure, and in keeping with the good qualities of his heart and mind. He did, or allowed to be done,
- ↑ His parents, Manuel Luciano de Labastida and Luisa Dávalos y Ochoa, were of pure white blood, in good social standing, and possessed a moderate fortune, which was inherited by their son. In 1831, after a course of preparatory instruction, young Labastida entered the ecclesiastical seminary of Morelia, where by his superior talents, application, and amiable character he soon won himself a distinguished place. At the consecration of Bishop Portugal he was afforded the opportunity for a display of his attainments in philosophy, mathematics, and belles-lettres, being rewarded therefor with a scholarship, to which was added permission to study law, though it had been founded exclusively for that of theology. On the 18th of July, 1838, he received the order of subdeacon, and the next year was admitted to the bar. About this time he was appointed professor of grammar, belles-lettres, and philosophy, a position that had been declined by Clemente de Jesús Munguía, who later became bishop, and first archbishop of Michoacan. These two personages bore for each other a life-long friendship, and in their career, both literary and ecclesiastical, advanced side by side. They not only held professorships in their alma mater, but also important ecclesiastical offices in their diocese. They became prebendaries, and five years after canons. Finally they were proposed together for the mitre of Michoacan at the death of Bishop Portugal. Munguía became the bishop, and had Labastida with him as his provisor, vicar of nuns, and in his absences left him as guardian of the diocese. The latter was also proposed for the new mitre of San Luis Potosí, which was not conferred on him, as it seems, he was reserved for higher places. Sosa, Episc. Mex., 229-32; Alm. Calend. Galvan., 1864, 47-50.
- ↑ For what it may be worth, reference is made to a report circulated at this time, that he paid the pope's legate 400 doubloons, or $6,400, for his mitre. Lefêvre, Doc. Maximiliano, 318. This statement, together with other things not creditable to the archbishop, was secretly communicated to Maximilian. Maury, Bioy. de Monseñor Labastida, 53-62.
