divided. It was a novel spectacle to the people of Mexico, upon whom it made a deep impression. The dean, officiating at the main altar, pronounced the dedication, to which the canónigo magistral responded in a sermon, which lasted several hours. At night the cathedral and city were again illuminated, and so every night during the ten days which the celebration lasted,[1] the sermons being preached in turn by members of the different religious orders. Every day viceroy, audiencia, and other principal magistrates were present, and the same undiminished enthusiasm was shown by the people.
Alburquerque continued the work on the cathedral, and in October, 1659, a number of houses surrounding the building were demolished in order to allow more space for the majestic pile. His successors Baños and Osorio inherited his sympathy but not his zeal for the work, and it advanced but slowly under their administration. Under Mancera, however, a notable change took place, and such progress was made, that in the beginning of 1667 he was able to inform the king approximately when the whole interior of the church would be finished. In reply the sovereign expressed his thanks for the energy displayed and requested him to continue his efforts. The viceroy had not promised too much; for on the 22d of December the second, solemn dedication of the temple took place. It was a festival similar to the one held eleven years before, though the solemnities did not last so long.[2] The total cost up to that date exceeded a million and three
- ↑ The daily consumption of wax alone amounted to 150 pounds, and its cost was defrayed by the Cofradía del Santísimo Sacramento. Guijo, Diario, 349.
- ↑ The 22d of December was selected, it being the birthday of the queen of Spain. The festivities were essentially in the same style and on the same scale as under Alburquerque. One of the sermons was delivered on that occasion by the Doctor Isidro Sariñana, a parish priest of Mexico, and in 1668 he published it together with a description of the celebration and an historical account of the cathedral since its beginning. The title is Noticia breve De La Solemne. . .Dedicacion del Templo Metropolitano de Mexico, pp. 50, 28. The work is dedicated to the consort of the viceroy, Leonor María del Carreto, and contains, besides its historical records, a panegyric of the Christian religion, the sovereigns of Spain, and their representatives in New Spain.
