The venerable ex-prefect Padre Francisco Vicente Sarría, of the Fernandinos, died in 1835; and his associate, Francisco Javier Uría, had died the year before. These are the only changes to be noted in the missionary personnel, except that Padre Perez of the Zacatecanos disappears from the records after 1835. I do not know what became of him.
By submitting to heavy discounts, certain friars seem to have succeeded in collecting a portion of the sums due them on account of sínodos this year. This was accomplished through the agency of Virmond, who for approved missionary drafts on the pious fund obtained others on the national treasury which were paid in custom-house orders negotiable at 25 or 30 per cent discount for cash. As usual, the accounts are incomplete, and it is impossible to state exactly what sums were obtained; but at one time $7,200 were paid to the padres of six missions; and the college of San Fernando seems to have got a bill accepted for the sínodos of nine friars from the beginning of 1830 down to the respective dates of their decease. Meanwhile the pious-fund estates remained, not yet rented according to the law, in the hands of a directive junta. Of the revenue from June 1832 to March 1834, amounting to $56,250, the sum of $25,691 had been expended on the colony; $23,567 had been taken as a loan by the government; $4,713 paid out in miscellaneous expenses; and $1,523 paid over in missionary stipends.[1]
- ↑ Mexico, Mem. Relaciones, 1835, p. 36-7, no. 10. May 2, 1835, F. to the govt says that Deppe, Virmond's agent, had paid $7,200 to padres of S. Antonio, Sta Inés, Purísima, S. Miguel, S. Juan Capistrano, and S. Francisco, for 1831-2-3. He advises a suspension of such allowances, or of such payments, on the ground that the padres manage the missions in their own way and have plenty of resources. In cases of actual necessity, the sínodos could be paid from the mission products, and the whole considered as a loan to the govt. (In view of the secularization laws already enforced or to be enforced
Sept. 23, 1871, gives a very exaggerated account of the destruction and shipment to Spain of all the property at S. Juan Capistrano by P. Zalvidea; and Taylor, Cal. Farmer, Feb. 1, 1861, tells us that the padre of S. Gabriel unroofed the buildings, used the timbers for firewood, had the cattle killed on halves, and distributed the utensils to the neophytes, who were ordered to cut down the vineyards, but refused.
