Josè sought the cause of this dereliction. Fidel Avila was living with a woman, by whom he had three children. The priest summoned him to the parish house.
“Fidel,” he questioned sternly, “Jacinta, the woman you live with, is your wife?”
“Yes, Señor Padre.”
“And you were married by the Church?”
“No, Padre.”
“But was there a priest here when you began to live with Jacinta?”
“Yes, Padre. The Cura, Don Diego Polo, was here.”
“Then why were you not married by him? Do you not know how wicked it is to live as you are doing? Think of your children!”
“Yes, Padre, and I asked the Cura, Don Diego, to marry us. But he charged twenty pesos oro for doing it; and I could not afford it. I loved Jacinta. And so we decided to live together without the marriage.”
“But––!” Josè stopped. He knew that the Church recognized no marriage unless it were performed by a priest. The civil magistrate had no jurisdiction in such a case. And a former priest’s rapacity had resulted in forcing illegitimacy upon half the children of this benighted hamlet, because of their parents’ inability to afford the luxury of a canonical marriage.