but the order was not carried out at once. Many of the missions had ceased to exist for the want of means and missionaries. At last the government sold the mission property, and disposed of all funds which had been provided in early times for their support.
Among the several religious fraternities worthy of mention that existed in 1861 were the following: Siervos de María, Archicofradía de la Purísima Concepcion, San Juan de Dios, excloistered; Archicofradía de San Miguel, Muy Ilustre Congregacion de Esclavos, Esclavos Cocheros del Santísimo Sacramento; Archicofradía del Santísimo Sacramento, and another of the Inmaculado Corazon de María — all of which had their constitutions and by-laws, and had had a recognition and the protection of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Their names indicate the chief object for which they were respectively instituted. Most of them were also mutual aid associations.
Of the immense wealth possessed by the clergy in the first decade of this century, the Spanish government seized a portion in 1805 and 1806; other large sums in money and plate were taken from time to time for the requirements of the war in supporting troops in the field to uphold the royal sway;[1] and still another slice was swallowed up by the directores de obras pías during the ensuing confusion. The values set by many writers on ecclesiastical estates were much exaggerated even for the period preceding 1833. They probably were so in several cases from that time to the year of the final sequestration.[2] From 1832 to 1860, the clergy sold many estates, both urban and rural, whose former value was estimated at $85,000,000,
- ↑ Córtes, Diario, 1811, v. 6, 19, 23-5; xxii. 212; Córtes, Col. Dec., i. 155–9; Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 519-20, 525-6.
- ↑ Some of the property had been seized in 1829 for public defence. Dispos. Var., ii. 72; Mex., Doc. Import., 1–53. The estates depreciated after 1832, particularly in 1833, owing to the large mortality from cholera of tenants who had brought buildings and lands to a ruined condition, and owed largely for rents. The law of Oct. 27, 1833, doing away with civil co-action in the collection of tithes, together with a scarcity of laborers, disenabled the clergy to repair the buildings or improve the lands.
