[XXXVII‑26] Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 146-8, contains the lengthy document in extenso, in addition to its recital of the dire consequences of the visitations. Arana's report of the matter is briefly referred to in Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 179. See also Juarros, Guat., i. 208-9; and ii. 208; Alzate, Gaceta Literatura, iii. 442; Album Mexicano, i. 418.
[XXXVII‑27] It was especially prayed that Indians might be allowed to work on the indigo plantations, this being the chief reliance of the provinces of Guatemala. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 148, 151-2.
[XXXVII‑28] In Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 6, he is styled D. Echevers y Subija. He had been chamberlain to his Majesty and was a knight of Calatrava.
[XXXVII‑29] Alluding to these disturbances, we find in Gac. Mex., Jan. 1728, and in Arévalo, Compend., 5-6, that these riots were suppressed by the prudent determination and dignified but firm measures of the marques de Casa Fuerte, viceroy of New Spain.
[XXXVII‑30] In this instance the alcaldes were deprived of their offices by the king, and made to pay a fine of a thousand reales de ocho. Providencias Reales, MS., 300-9.
[XXXVII‑31] In 1723 Bishop Juan Bautista Álvarez de Toledo was succeeded by Nicolás Cárlos Gomez de Cervantes. During the administration of the former the king had found it necessary to issue a cédula, dated November 15, 1717, ordering that no new churches, convents, or hospitals should be founded without his permission, since they were already so numerous as to interfere with each other's usefulness. Providencias Reales, MS., 207-8.
[XXXVII‑32] Among other charges made against the clergy of this period may be mentioned the following: sick persons were compelled to go to the church to receive extreme unction, many dying on the road thither; Indians were compelled to marry at a tender age in order to increase their contributions; fraternities were organized, to the members of which great pecuniary loss was occasioned; curates absented themselves without permission, and the priestly office was sold to the highest bidder. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iv. 155-7.
[XXXVII‑33] Up to 1730 the tithes collected in the bishopric had never exceeded 3,000 pesos; but from that time they increased, until in 1750 they amounted to 30,000, and ten years after they were estimated at 60,000 pesos. Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 78. Pedro Pardo de Figueroa, seventeenth bishop and first archbishop of Guatemala, was born in Lima of noble parentage. He assumed the religious habit of the Franciscans at the age of sixteen. Having filled the chairs of philosophy and theology, he was sent by his order to the courts of Madrid and Rome, occupying the position of secretary-general of his order. He was elected bishop of Guatemala in 1735, and on the 13th of September of the same year was consecrated by the archiepiscopal viceroy of New Spain, Juan Antonio de Vizarron y Eguiarreta. In these dates the Concil. Prov., 1-2, 297, is followed according to Juarros, Guat., i. 291. Figueroa was consecrated on September 8, 1736, and on Nov. 18th Manuel Falla, precentor of the cathedral, took possession of it in his name. On the 22d of September 1737 the bishop made his public entry into the cathedral. Escamilla, Not. Cur. de Guat., 16, confirms Juarros.
[XXXVII‑34] Dec. 17, 1740, the king decided that at all receptions of bishops the two alcaldes should occupy the chairs of the dean and archdeacon in the choir. Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 9-13.
[XXXVII‑35] Concil. Prov., 1-2, 297-8. Juarros, Guat., i. 292, states that the bull was issued in December 1743. A copy of it is given in Nueva España, Breve Resúmen, 370-5.