[23] The context would seem to require here the amount of the fee for burial of a child; this has apparently been omitted in the MS. by a clerical error. The general appearance of the MS., and various memoranda on the back, suggest the probability that this was one of the copies furnished to the Jesuit Borja.
[24] Spanish, possas. At funerals, prayers were read at different points on the way to the cemetery; for instance, at the church door, midway on the route, and at the cemetery gate—if not oftener. Of course the procession halted while prayers were being read or chanted; so for each halt (posa) a fee was due.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
[25] Spanish, missas de nouenario; the novenary is a nine days’ condolence for the deceased. The same term is also applied to a nine days’ devotion offered to some saint.
[26] Spanish, el velo; literally, the “veil,” or the “veiling;” evidently referring to the old-time usage of placing a veil over the married pair (see note 16, ante), as a part of the ceremonies at the nuptial mass. I am told by one of our fathers here at Villanova, who lived in Spain years ago, that at marriages in that country the bride wears the usual wedding-veil, and continues to wear it in public for one week after the marriage; it is white, sometimes plain, sometimes adorned with ribbons or flowers of various colors.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
[27] Spanish, cruz alta con su manga. The processional cross was carried on a staff, as used in the United States in processions; at funerals the crucifix was covered with black, this funeral trapping (manga) covering or veiling the cross as a sign of grief. Sometimes the sacristan bore only a small cross, without staff; this depended wholly on his fee. In all Catholic churches in the United States, we use the crucifixes covered in Holy Week; but we do not veil crosses at funerals.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
[28] Spanish, por titulo de justicia. Parroco de justicia, so frequently used in this document, is the Spanish rendering of the technical Latin phrase, parochus de jure—words which show that the cura had a right to his office, had been instituted according to the canons, and was canonically and legally in office. It is practically the same as the English phrase “by right and title.” Other equivalents are: “by title of law,” “by right,” and “ordinary.” The parish priest, whether secular or regular, was an official of the Church.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
[29] See account of the allotment of diocesan titles in VOL. I, p. 244, note 188. Baluffi, there cited, adds: “Relative to the two ninths that were given to the king, the first bishop of Mechoacan [in Mexico], Mons. Vasco de Quiroga, when organizing his cathedral [clergy] in 1554, speaking of the two shares of the tithes that were given to the king, remarked that they were thus awarded to his most serene Majesty in token of his lordship (superioritalis) and right of patronage.”
[30] In text, oneroso, but evidently a transcriber’s error for onrroso.
[31] In the text, projimos, “neighbors”—in allusion to the Scriptural injunction, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” a duty strictly inculcated in the training of candidates for ordination, especially in the Jesuit order.
[32] Alluding to Paul’s precept in I Corinthians, vii, v. 20.