About the middle of the sixteenth century the affairs of the church underwent several important changes. Soconusco, which as we have seen was assigned to the bishopric of Chiapas, was subsequently included in the see of Bishop Marroquin, though again affiliated with the bishopric of Chiapas in 1596. Soon after their arrival the Dominicans sent to Soconusco a mission of several friars; but unable to withstand the excessive heat most of them fell sick, and the death of one of their number so dispirited the remainder as to cause the abandonment of the province.
The see of Chiapas remained vacant until 1550, when Father Tomás Casillas, at the suggestion, no doubt, of Las Casas, was appointed to fill it. He visited the greater part of his diocese, including Tabasco; built an episcopal palace, and attended the provincial councils in Mexico in 1555 and 1565. After his decease in 1567, the see again remained vacant until 1574, when Fray Domingo de Lara was designated as his successor. The intelligence of the honor fell strangely upon the recipient; he prayed that he might die before it was confirmed; and curiously enough before the pope's bull came to hand, and while in the midst of preparations for consecration, he expired.[XXI‑37]
AN HONEST BISHOP.
The next occupant of the see, Pedro de Fería, was called from the convent of Salamanca, and early in February 1575 was actively engaged in diocesan work. At his invitation the Franciscans sent some friars into the province, and a convent and church were soon erected. Chiapas had the rare fortune to possess in Fería a bishop who was an honest man, and one not greedy for gold or power. Finding himself too feeble for the work he begged the king to name another. In consequence of an order of the king that secular priests must not be displaced by Dominicans, or others who held a temporary dispensation from the pope, Fería appointed seculars to several vacancies to the no small chagrin of some of the friars. In 1592[XXI‑38] Don Fray Andrés de Ubilla was appointed successor to Fería, and continued in office until 1601, when he was promoted to the see of Michoacan.
At a Dominican provincial chapter held in 1576, at Ciudad Real, the convent of Santo Domingo de Chiapas was accepted as that of the province, and Pedro de Barrientos chosen as first vicar. At chapters held in Chiapas and Guatemala prior to 1600, it was forbidden the friars to sign their family name; to write to the president of the audiencia or to the oidores without showing the letters first to the superiors, and so in regard to writing to Spain under penalty of fifteen days' imprisonment. No moneys were to be sent to Spain through the hands of the religious.
Ciudad Real, where the last provincial chapter was held, had in 1580 two hundred Spanish vecinos. There were about ninety Indian towns in the province, within a radius of sixty leagues, containing some twenty-six thousand tributaries. The largest one, Chiapas de los Indios, had twelve hundred Indian vecinos.
In 1559, through the influence of Las Casas, the bishopric of Vera Paz was established, and Father Angulo appointed its first bishop. He accepted the charge and repaired to his see a year or two later, but died early in 1562 before proceeding to consecration.[XXI‑39] The establishment of this see was unwise in the extreme, and must be attributed solely to the representations of Las Casas. As already shown the country was barely capable of sustaining its inhabitants, and in 1564 the cabildo declared to the crown that it would be well to suppress the bishopric as it could not support a prelate; an opinion borne out by subsequent experience.[XXI‑40]
Angulo was succeeded by Father Tomás de Cárdenas, a Dominican. The date of his appointment according to Gonzalez Dávila was April 1, 1565, and according to Remesal he continued in possession until his death, in 1580.[XXI‑41]
DEATH OF MARROQUIN.
In 1555 Bishop Marroquin, now old and wearied with over twenty-five years of constant service as priest and bishop, sought to retire, but though President Quesada recommended to the crown that his petition be granted it was refused, and he died at Santiago on holy Friday of 1563,[XXI‑42] and was buried with the highest honors in the cathedral of Santiago.[XXI‑43] His successor was Bernardino de Villalpando, bishop of Cuba, who arrived in Santiago in 1564.[XXI‑44]