The Viceroy of New Spain (Volume 1, No. 2) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913. Excerpt: ... of the Holy Cathedral Churches and the Royal College of Guadalupe, well served by distinguished, cultivated, and exemplary priests, dedicated to the fulfilment of their sacred offices.... with that decorum, propriety, and apostolic zeal and magnificence which induced true sentiments of religion and piety into the hearts of the faithful."" It would be easy to increase the number of citations of this kind, if it were worth while, but enough has surely been given to indicate that a great change had come over the relations of the viceroys and the archbishops from the earlier to the later period. The crushing blow dealt to the Jesuits in 1767 was in no sense a disadvantage to the rulers of the secular clergy; while, in general, the church in America escaped those attacks upon its privileges and property which Charles III had instituted so vigorously in Naples and had later applied, in a somewhat milder form, in Spain itself. This almost perfect harmony between the clergy and the civil government during the last days of the Spanish rule will help to explain the extreme loyalty of the church to the Spanish government, when the wars of independence broke out. It would seem easy to account for the loyal support which the church so uniformly gave to the government by pointing out the advantages conferred on the latter by the former, but it should be remembered that there were two sides to this. The church in America, though it was able to amass great wealth, was also obliged to contribute very liberally to the support of the government. As was explained in the preceding chapter, the salaries of the ecclesiastics were taxed by the collection of the media-anata and the mesadas, and in two other ways was the church made to pay a share for the expenses of the state. Th...