Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/357

Seven of the Bishoprics, and Seventy-nine of the benefices attached to the Cathedrals, are now vacant. Some of the Chapters are reduced to two or three individuals; many of whom are old, and unable to execute the duties of their situations. Of the three remaining Bishops, (those of La Pūēblă, Yŭcătān, and Ŏăxācă) One (the Bishop of Yucatan), is absolutely in his dotage; and the other two, from their position in the Southern part of the Republic, are unable to ordain those who wish to enter into orders in the North, without compelling them to undertake a journey of three or four hundred leagues, in order to undergo the necessary examinations. The Primate, Don Pedro Fonte, Archbishop of Mexico, has, from political causes, forsaken the country, and is now residing in Spain, as are the proprietors of a number of other inferior benefices, the annual income of which, (amounting to 371,148 dollars) has been sequestered by the Government. The Parochial Clergy distributed amongst the 1194 parishes, into which the country is divided, are those who suffer most severely from the present disorganization of the Church. They are not only deprived by it of the preferment to which their services entitle them, but many, who accepted in 1821, livings in Tierra Caliente, or other unhealthy districts, upon an understanding that they were to be held, (as before the Revolution) for a short term of years, are compelled still to retain their situations, until the